Food art you never knew you wanted

★★★ out of ★★★★

The Menu (2022)

Runtime: 107 minutes

MPAA: Rated R for strong/disturbing violent content, language throughout and some sexual references.

When I first heard about "The Menu", and this was way before any trailers were released, I thought: maybe it could be a film where guests dine in and throughout the film the chef sends a message or tells a story to them with each course? My prediction is, to some degree, fairly accurate, but what I didn't expect was a horror/thriller that also functioned as a commentary of the super-wealthy. Even with a rather relaxed pace throughout, "The Menu" establishes that sense of dread, leaving an uneasy feeling in your gut. It's an adequately tense film.

Spoilers ahead as the questions I raise concern the plot in the film. You have been warned.

The Menu opens with a foodie Tyler Ledford (Nicolas Hoult) and his date, Margot Mills (Anya Taylor-Joy) boarding a ship to a private island. We learn that they are two out of twelve guests who have paid $1,250 each to dine at Hawthorn's, a prestigious and exclusive restaurant owned by venerable chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes).

Several characters are introduced, namely: food critic Lilian Bloom (Janet McTeer) and her editor Ted (Paul Adelstein), extremely wealthy regulars Richard and Anne Leibrandt (Reed Birney and Judith Light), a washed-up movie star (John Leguizamo) and personal assistant Felicity Flynn (Aimee Carrero), business partners Bryce (Rob Yang), Dave (Mark St. Cyr) and Soren (Arturo Castro, I knew I remembered him as the worst translator!), and last but not least, Slowik's alcoholic mother Linda (Rebecca Koon).

Before everyone sits down at the luxury restaurant to savour on the meticulously prepared and designed food, the restaurant's maître d’hôtel, Elsa (Hong Chau) gives them a fancy tour of the island, like one of those trips through the suburban-forest areas with the tour guide ahead of you. The first suspicious thing occurs: Margot was not Tyler's designated guest for the evening.

During dinner time, the tension relaxes, and the chef's cooks prepare their meals with perseverance and perfection. They reflect the quality of the film when it's at its most focused; every element is crafted and executed to the second. Numerous montages of the presentation of each course is also a visual treat and may leave some of the viewers hungry for bread afterwards.

Then, slowly, the tension builds up. Several guests are handed tortillas with imprinted pictures, some representing questionable and mysterious things, some exposing their affairs or fraudulent schemes. It is said that the business partners are presented with evidence of making invoices for fake charges. What is it for and who is it directed to?

In a turn of shocking events, the fourth course involves a chef committing suicide in front of the guests. This causes all of them except Tyler to frantically panic, and one minor issue that sticks to "The Menu" throughout is that most of the characters are only in panic and don't express much more. However, the two outstanding performances are from Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy. Fiennes maintains a ferocity in Slowik, which reminds me of high-ranking commanders in the brigade that effortlessly instill fear. He also pulls off the right notes when "The Menu" offers to dive in to his personal territory. Anya Taylor-Joy remains engaging throughout, with brutally honest expressions of her character, and a smart and sassy portrayal throughout.

With the tone getting much darker, a severed finger and a murder by drowning, "The Menu" satirizes the pretentious foodies and the cooks that are involved in it. When Slowik explains how the guests have either made him lose his passion for cooking or have exploited him, parts of it seem razor-sharp and clear, the other parts of it vague. How does an actor who has lost passion for his films relate to your passion for cooking and your justification of killing him? I wouldn't attempt to murder Kevin James just because he was phoning in Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.

Fortunately, the strongest part in "The Menu" is the cheeseburger scene, one that will only get better with time by analysis. Slowik's obsession for his craft reminds me of the torturous and unrewarding journey of Andrew Neiman in the brilliant Whiplash. He no longer has joy as he's cooking without love and trying to satisfy people who can't be satisfied or whom he doesn't know (think of it as the confrontation of Nicolas Cage's character in Pig when he sits in the restaurant). Taylor-Joy's character, Margot, makes a smart move and requests a cheeseburger from Slowik. It's also an ironic moment as she's a service worker, and yet she made Slowik feel great once again as he relives the experience of making simple food he used to genuinely enjoy cooking decades ago: the cheeseburger.

I've read many reviews complaining that the ending, where the S'mores are set on fire and killing everyone except Margot, ruined the film. Given that the film had already been constantly hinting it, I'm once again saddled with a question in an ending in which I feel is rather vague: killing everyone is part of The Menu. It's for the chef to skewer the ultra-rich by exposing them with hard-hitting truths. But to what end?

In some ways, "The Menu" looks suspiciously familiar to Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, thematically and narratively. If there's one thing "The Menu" achieves, it would be that I would fear sitting in a cinema the next time, with eleven people beside me, then the director and his crew show up.