Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy Cook Up a Unique and Visceral Experience in 'The Menu'
The film is a glance at an upscale culture while serving a plate of dark satire whilst also giving a look into a classism and its impact on the culinary world (and our modern world) at large. The film follows a young couple, Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) who seemingly is in a newer relationship though we quickly discover that Tyler is a massively obsessed foodie. So much so, that at times, it is almost troubling how much the guy knows about celebrity chef at the Hawthorn, Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes). The couple joins other fellow customers along the short boat ride over to the Pacific Northwest location such as famous food critic (Janet McTeer) and her subordinate (Paul Adelstein); three tech-bros (Rob Yang, Arturo Castro & Mark St. Cyr); a once-famous dwindling movie star (John Leguizamo) and his assistant (Aimee Carrero) and an elderly couple who are frequent guests at the Hawthorn (Reed Birney and Judith Light).
One can see once the guests indulge themselves within the island that not everything seems as joyous as it may seem especially for its pricey engagement. While the meal costs the consumers upwards in the thousands, there is a showmanship and craft to what Chef Slowik's staff commits to in order to create the mysterious intricate "menu" that Slowik sets daily. Things start to turn on their head almost immediately for Margot though as its apparent she was never intended to be one of the "guests" to Slowik's punishing game he sets everyone else on. We then begin to see a real shift in tone when Slowik engages in one-on-one talk sessions with Margot asking who she truly is and what is she doing at Hawthorn which leads to some interesting reveals throughout.
Through Mark Mylod's (Succession, Game of Thrones) tight feature directorial debut, we begin to see the unraveling of the complex, cuisine-filled evening where the laughs are almost as satisfying as the chills down your spine in the horror-satire. The Menu acts as a teardown of the elite while also serving as an appalling look at the lengths one will go to annihilate the division of the wealthy elites from the everyday customers that would savor the importance of a restaurant such as the Hawthorn.
The Menu is an experience that one could relish in anchored by great performances for all involved but standouts from Fiennes, Taylor-Joy and Hong Chau. Embedded with terrific cinematography and a humor-filled shadowy script, it is a film in which I recommend. It satisfied me with its unique locale, gripping editing choices and commentary as a whole on the dichotomy on the economics of our modern society.
Overall Score: 7.8
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