Film Review - The Menu
Images courtesy of 20th Century Studios Australia.
Combining bitter comedy with the sensibilities of an A24 horror film, The Menu marks a cool addition to the genre and establishes itself as one of the most exciting blockbusters of this year. Broken up into several parts, distinguished by the specific course of food being served in the film, each piece says something new about the subject matter being explored whilst simultaneously managing to be highly entertaining.
The story begins with Margot (Anya Talor-Joy) and Tyler (Nicholas Holt) waiting to board a boat to Hawthorne, the home of Chef Slowik (Ralph Finnes), where they will be dining. Margot and Tyler, together for the experience, have distinctively different personalities from the beginning. Tyler is very excited about the restaurant, displaying a love for and knowledge of food, whilst Margot waits apathetically, smoking a cigarette. The movie does an excellent job of setting up the distinct personalities of each dinner guest, with great performances from Aimee Carrero, John Leguizamo, Janet McTeer, Paul Adelstein, Reed Birney, Judith Light, Rob Yang, Arturo Castro, and Mark St. Cyr in the ensemble cast. Each character or group of characters represent a specific facet of the social hierarchy and moves with each story beat like gears in a clock.
Where this movie succeeds, is in its ability to delay or make a reveal less suspenseful than one would expect, to leave room for another to outshine and startle the audience. As soon as the boat lands on the island of Hawthorne, Margot is referred to by a different name, through this we discover that she is Tyler's replacement guest. By using a myriad of small details, you get lost in an uncomfortable sea of minutia that makes the movie highly suspenseful. Ralph Fiennes’ character says, “You will eat less than you desire and more than you deserve”, which sums the film up quite well thematically and technically. As well as keeping you on the edge of your seat, you may also find yourself laughing at the, at times, ridiculously black humour. By blending what has been working in horror films like Hereditary and Midsommar, and mixing it with a Coen Brothers-esque structure, and starkly British humour, Mark Mylod delivers a highly entertaining film on a platter.
Overall, this film delivers the goods of a horror film and the hits of a comedy, blending a creative story idea with talented performances by an all-star cast to deliver one of the most entertaining films of the year.
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The Menu is screening in cinemas from Thursday 24th November. For tickets and more info, click here.