YNOT at the Movies

Fine dining can be either enchanting or intimidating, depending on how often you go and how deep your wallet is. Even if you have not been to a Michelin starred restaurant, you probably have seen those presentations of colorful dishes that are miraculously arranged on a plate, or on something else. You will definitely see more of those artistic displays in the director Mark Mylod's ridiculously delicious film "The Menu" (USA 2022 | 106 min.). Of course, like looking at some photos of dishes at a fancy restaurant, although you can only imagine the deliciousness, you definitely can marvel at the visuals, the dialogues, and how the story unfolds. It brings the fine dining experience to a whole new level.

The restaurant is called Hawthorn, located on a private island in the Pacific Northwest, only accessible by boat, with no Wi-Fi or phone service. The head chef of Hawthorn is the worldly renowned Chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes), originally from Iowa where he flipped burgers. He and his composed head server Elsa (Hong Chau), along with a group of dedicated staff who live on the island like a family, offer a seasonal menu to their guests. Each night, for $1,250 per person, a dozen guests can have the luxury of the tasting menu, which lasts a few hours.

In the early evening, a group of carefully chosen rich guests board the boat heading to the island. In a fashion like that of Robert Altman's "Gosford Park" (2001), we are introduced to some of these privileged guests: the enthusiastic foodie Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) brings his enigmatic date Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), who is the only one that doesn't really belong to the group and is not an expected guest by the restaurant staff; a wealthy elderly couple Richard (Reed Birney) and Anne (Judith Light) are Hawthorn's frequent guests; a prominent food critic Lillian Bloom (Janet McTeer) and her editor (Paul Adelstein) think that they contributed to Chef Julian's fame; a failing movie star (John Leguizamo) rants on with his ego and his assistant Felicity (Aimee Carrero); three arrogant tech employees Soren (Arturo Castro), Bryce (Rob Yang), and Dave (Mark St. Cyr), who work for Hawthorn's owner, behave like obnoxious brats; and Chef Julian's alcoholic mother.

Once the dinner starts, Chef Julian and his team unveil an unimaginable menu for the diners and make shocking statements with his creations in the kitchen and the dining room.

With hit shows like "Succession" and "Game of Thrones" on his resume, the director Mark Mylod masterfully crafted a thrilling drama that keeps shocking the audience with twists and turns. Since the audience cannot sample the food that the characters eat, he transcends the aroma and taste into the exquisite visual and the arresting storytelling. With the help from Dominique Crenn, the chef and owner of the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, each dish in the film looks marvelously elegant and artful, except the course of dessert.

The razor sharp and hilarious dialogues are penned by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy. Given the fact that they are among the writers of terrific shows such as "The Onion," "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver," and "Succession," it's no surprise that they know how to organize their words to stylishly poke fun at the absurdity among the super rich.

Even though the food looks fantastic in the film, I bet no one would want to spend $1,250 to eat at Hawthorn after watching the film, even if you are hungry.

"The Menu" opens on Friday, November 18, 2022.