What the Heck did I just watch? is a line I said on multiple occasions while watching The Menu.
I went into this movie knowing nearly nothing about it except that it is a psychological thriller/horror flick and that Anya Taylor joy is in it. And I can say without a doubt that while it’s not perfect, it is a thoroughly enjoyable surreal bit of storytelling.
Fox Rating: 8/10
The Plot
Our story begins with a group of people on a boat, on their way to one of the most exclusive restaurants in the world. For a unique dining experience you’ll need to own at least one Ferrari and an NFT to afford by the sounds of it.
The group consists of a millionaire couple, a B-list actor and his date, a food critic and her publisher who’s nose is firmly stuck in her bum, 3 frat bro’s who works for the restaurants investor and Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) a ‘foodie’ who is ultra-excited to be here and sounds like he’d rather sleep with the head chef of the restaurant than his date the absolute hottie that is Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy).
So this Head Chef, a man named Slovik (Ralph Fiennes) is the Superstar of the culinary world. The Picaso with a Plate, the Mozart with a Microwave, The Socrates with a spatula and a man who is considered an artist, a story teller and for anyone with normal social skills, a psycho cult leader with a frying pan.
Chef Slovik has set up his restaurant on a deserted island inhabited only by himself and his cult…er I mean, culinary team and he has prepared a very special Menu for today’s guest.
And wouldn’t you know it the Menu is mostly avant-garde bullshit food, a plate without any bread and Murder. (Why is it always Murder)
Turns out Chef Slovik got tired of people saying his gazpacho soup was too cold one too many times and decided the only rational thing to do now was to turn his fine dining restaurant and staff into a murder cult, in a final menu in which he and his team dying along with every single person who even slightly annoyed him in life being the main course of the evening.
A Well Put Together Dish!
Now before we dive deep into this, the movie is brilliantly made, if a bit surreal. The direction and cinematography, even the editing are all spot on. The director (Mark Mylod) has done a superb job in setting an eerie tone throughout the Movie while playfully flirting with idea’s of dark comedy and suspense before slowly diving into full on psycho killer horror. All the more surprising considering he is also the director of Ali G InDaHouse(there’s some nostalgia).
So what is all this about. It’s simple; the story is about a creative/ artist in this case a Chef who has lost the love for his art. Even though he became the very best in his field he feels the things he had to do, to reach there for money and fame and his ego, took away the purity of his art and hence his love for it in this case cooking.
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