Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE MENU [Fantastic Fest 2022 - Austin,Texas]

The aspect of a destination foodie complex for the rich and privileged is an interesting metaphor for the idea of boundaries pushing the edge of experience. In many of these scenarios on screen or in real life, it is how can the boundaries be pushed and where does the irony of the people involved and their hypocrisy perhaps crack the veneer of the actual establishment. “The Menu” (as shown in the trailer) makes no pretense to actually what it is though the reasoning and the execution of said scenes is about the slow burn and the structure. Of course at the crux of the story is Chef (played by Ralph Fiennes). It is a masterful performance because it is so aware of itself and yet existing within its own world where the result and metaphor is the same. The participants in a way are arbitrary in terms of the tropes they are inhabiting: a narcissistic foodie, an overindulgent food critic, an ego-ridden yet failing actor, a magnate who has 2 lives and a gaggle of bros who cover up illegal financial dealings with machismo. Again the texture is all forms of gluttony, greed...literally pick one of Dante's circles. The different actors play them well.

Anna Taylor Joy is obviously the key in for the audience, the one that is out of place and yet could be there in reality. Joy has been approaching these kinds of characters of late but almost lets herself get too porcelain in the idealized look of the process (see “Last Night In Soho” or likely “Amsterdam” – both of which point to a character with a hidden veneer). That is likely the case her too. Hopefully “Furiosa” will make sure her fingernails get dirtier. Nicolas Hoult plays her would-be date who invites her along but is just a scab. Hoult has the ability to play thirst, obsessiveness, earnest and pathetic at the same time. John Leguizamo as the failing actor is an interesting choice but doesn't transform the role though that might be part of the point. Hong Chou as Elsa actually is the one that dances the parallel function to Fiennes. She sees the essence of Chef (and although her motivations are less than clear), the intention is laser-focused despite its single-mindedness at times. “The Menu” follows the courses but as in metaphor they all have their reasons which become not necessarily more gruesome but perhaps more deserved yet more in the intuitive aspect of Sartre's No Exit. It resolutes in the functionality of the mind infusing the body. Chef recognizes this irony and Fiennes in playing that passion combined with the sense of nihilism realizes that the journey (in a way similar to “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover”) can only end one way. “The Menu” knows this intrinsically but also wraps it up in a gift basket disguised as a Russian doll where it is only a matter of time before it explodes. B+

By Tim Wassberg