THE MENU
Added 2023-01-17 23:09:20 +0000 UTCWho has seen it? I saw it a couple weeks ago and quite enjoyed it for what it was. Quite a prickly little satire/thriller with a lot of fun ideas. I wish the direction had been a lot stronger, and I had my issues here and there, but found myself thinking about a lot of aspects of the characters after the fact. Lots of movies in 2022 about trapping the rich on a cruise or island lol. What were your thoughts if you've seen it? Let's discuss.
Comments
It's a very well known doco about a sixties artist who has Asperger's. The documentary is simply called crumb
anthony scully
2023-01-23 20:08:46 +0000 UTCNo I havent. But just looked it up and it looks interesting!
Deepfocuslens
2023-01-23 18:44:59 +0000 UTCI am not aware of the documentary unfortunately.
Deepfocuslens
2023-01-23 18:44:02 +0000 UTCHi Maggie What do you think of the documentary on Robert crumb? Do you think that his work is mysoginist
anthony scully
2023-01-23 02:55:23 +0000 UTCHi Maggie Have a look at the Australian film suburban mayhem. It's virtually unknown outside of Australia. It's a Tarantino style crime film
anthony scully
2023-01-21 22:20:02 +0000 UTCI saw a quote from Phil Tippet about his stop-motion nightmare “Mad God” (which I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on) where he said something to the effect of “the end result isn’t the film I produced, it’s the feeling you get afterward when you’re thinking about it.” I think that about sums it up for”The Menu.” It’s an “ideas” film (class consciousness, the “gentrification” of art, myopic pursuits) that uses archetypes instead of developing characters. Even when we go deep on these characters, there’s just not that much to see; although I’ll be thinking about Ralph Fiennes’ cheeseburger epiphany for a long time. That was great. But as a thriller, it could have been more…thriller-y? I think the tension in the dining room during act one was fantastic, but then it started to die down when the actual danger was included—the knife fight had very little payoff; the “Most Dangerous Game” chase scene just didn’t do anything for me at all. For me the film was strongest in some of the middle sections. There were a couple of moments where Tyler and the food snobs were too tied up in their critical exegesis of the food to admit to themselves that they were being taken hostage. That seemed to approach both some interest “human nature” themes and the class critique (plus it was hilarious). It reminded me of certain parts of S2 of “White Lotus,” which I’d ague is maybe the ideal all of these “kill/eat the rich” stories should aspire to.
Trevor Lisa
2023-01-21 04:32:28 +0000 UTCtotally agree with you on the female chef. But yes, more meat on the bone is an on the nose metaphor and yet...I feel the same way. I was "still hungry" afterwards haha
Deepfocuslens
2023-01-20 18:48:24 +0000 UTCshe's really great for sure.
Deepfocuslens
2023-01-20 18:47:30 +0000 UTCI think he's one of the great filmmakers and stage directors/choreographers.
Deepfocuslens
2023-01-20 18:47:02 +0000 UTCI do agree, but I also think there's some interesting things about it too. The smugness could've been handled better. But, I really think some of the ideas are worth arguing about. The execution could've really helped there.
Deepfocuslens
2023-01-20 18:46:33 +0000 UTCI actually found myself thinking about it more with time. The smugness was part of the experience for me, and deceptive in that way. But for sure, I can also see where you're coming from at the same time. The satire didn't always land.
Deepfocuslens
2023-01-20 18:45:04 +0000 UTCYep me too. Struggled with some of the peripheral characters while really loving others.
Deepfocuslens
2023-01-20 18:44:21 +0000 UTCYeah I'm right with you. the heavy chamber-style effect of the direction dragged it down for me. Very british seemingly in style, without enough to break up the monotony at times. I also struggled with some of the guests more peripherally, as well as the cooks, as you say. But overall, yes a pleasant surprise. I wanted more of a Polanski style too. Would've served it well. I still haven't seen Triangle of Sadness but I really want to!
Deepfocuslens
2023-01-20 18:43:59 +0000 UTCAn enjoyably nasty little black comedy/satire on the hollowness of high-end cuisine and the rich and pretentious who enable it. It feels like the sort of thing Buñuel would’ve made today if he went to work for A24. But even with that kind of aspiration, I share your frustrations with the directing. I felt there needed to be a tighter, more controlled elegant style for the film, something that more closely syncs up with the obsession and fascism on display, something more reminiscent of Kubrick or Polanski. I also found some elements didn’t cohere with the rest of the film, like the female chef who stabs Ralph Fiennes for years of harassment and mistreatment. It’s as if the writers remembered they have a Straight White Man for a main character and felt the need to address the usual sinful tropes that come with such a person. It didn’t gel, so to speak, with the rest of the satiric vision, though I did laugh at his unironic quoting of MLK later on. Overall though, I thought it was pretty funny and it scored some good hits on a deserving topic. There isn’t anything there that quite measures up to the centerpiece sequence in Triangle of Sadness (if you’ve seen it, you know which one), but it shrewdly eviscerates the snobbish mindset that can surround foodie culture. Fiennes is terrific. He uses his dourness to inspired comedic effect, and Anya Taylor-Joy matches him perfectly as the anchor for normalcy in the movie. I liked the final scene between them with the cheeseburger. It makes for a good closing point on how far expensive dining has strayed from what should be an obvious purpose: to provide a tasty, satisfying meal for everyone.
Bennett Oliver
2023-01-19 20:25:29 +0000 UTCI liked it overall! Wasn’t super sold on some of the side characters’ performances and characterizations, but Fiennes, Chau, Hoult and Taylor-Joy were all so sincere and fun. I also appreciate the Chef’s Table-ish inserts
Jared Angcanan
2023-01-18 17:23:07 +0000 UTCAgreed, that enthusiasm spills over to the audience. I've found the same to be true at concerts as well. A mediocre band that is really into and having a blast on stage just has a way of elevating the performance to make it more enjoyable for everyone. That enthusiasm can be contagious.
David Goleb
2023-01-18 16:11:34 +0000 UTCI've always felt that a cast that looks like they're having fun can take a mediocre movie to actually pretty good most times. Same thing happened for Bullet Train for me where the cast was having fun so I did too.
Tyler Shobe
2023-01-18 16:09:29 +0000 UTC"I find its satire a bit smug in terms of how much it’s actually saying versus how much it thinks it is" This sums it up perfectly.
Stephen
2023-01-18 04:02:01 +0000 UTCI like it enough. I find its satire a bit smug in terms of how much it’s actually saying versus how much it thinks it is, but it’s a lot of fun. It’s a tense thriller where the comedic elements are taken seriously. There are incredibly funny mean spirited moments directed at characters without obligatory irony, which I appreciated.
Jackson Littlewood
2023-01-18 03:46:24 +0000 UTCSaw it a few days ago. It was a little too rich for my taste. Felt a little too self-congratulatory. Did enjoy the cast especially Fiennes and Taylor-Joy. Glass Onion is much better. I guess this means I need to see Triangle of Sadness to complete the trifecta?
Stephen
2023-01-18 01:33:28 +0000 UTCHi Maggie I know that you love musicals. What do you think of Bob Fosse? I usually find musicals too wholesome. The only musicals I like are cabaret and all that jazz.
anthony scully
2023-01-18 00:47:43 +0000 UTCSaw it last week on streaming. The trailer made it look like they were going with cannibalism as the obvious twist, so I was pleasantly surprised that it avoided it and managed to go in a whole other direction. It is definitely part of the whole "killing rich people on an island" subgenre that has sprung up recently, but the satire on fine dining helps it stand out from the crowd. And Anya Taylor-Joy continues to pick the most interesting movies to be in, her name in the cast pretty much guarantees it's worth seeing.
Richard Lyth
2023-01-18 00:14:49 +0000 UTCI enjoyed it but I had a number of issues with it as well, I just wanted a little more meat on the bone I think. It's one of those where it is great as long as you just give it a cursory inspection, if you start drilling down into motivations it starts to unravel. In particular when that female chef advised that she suggested the death angle it really made no sense to me and undermined chef's motivations. It also seemed obvious to me that the Cheeseburger was made with the beef that was more than 152 days old and this would cause a slow toxic death but most people don't seem to have seen it that way. But I thought Ralph was excellent, I laughed hard when Anya launched herself across the table and punched her date, The satire of cooking shows and the militant nature of people who work under famous chef's was mostly on point as was the pretentious nature of food critics. I also really liked chef's clap, that really worked for me.
Ross Skilton
2023-01-17 23:58:23 +0000 UTCA must-see middleweight film for two reasons: Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Eiennes. Not prepared to comment in detail because I'm still digesting Last Night in Soho from months ago. Taylor-Joy is a screen miracle.
PETER COLLINS
2023-01-17 23:47:32 +0000 UTCI found it pretty enjoyable and a fun time. It's pretty in the nose with it's satire and "commentary", but you can tell the cast had a good time making it which helps up the level of enjoyment with some of the ridiculous characters.
David Goleb
2023-01-17 23:45:25 +0000 UTCBased on the title and the fact that it's black comedy horror, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that it involves cannibalism?
Wolfman Brandon
2023-01-17 23:21:49 +0000 UTCReally enjoyed it. The cast was stellar and definitely carried but I was laughing out loud quite a bit and loved the direction it went instead of the very kind of obvious direction it could have gone in with a more half assed script. Sure, it's not gonna go down as an all timer but as a fairly stylish little social satire thriller, enjoyed it a lot. Had a great time in the theater with it. I found when I did my little Letterboxd entry for it after watching it I didn't have a lot to say about it cause I felt what was good about it was so obvious and the trailer sold it so well there wasn't much I could add to that conversation which might sound like a dig but it's really not. It knew what it was and executed on that well.
Tyler Shobe
2023-01-17 23:14:05 +0000 UTCMy dad saw it and said “it did for s’mores what Sideways did for merlot”
kron
2023-01-17 23:12:28 +0000 UTC
