Taste. Savor. Relish.
If you love food, or art in any form for that matter, this is a movie made for you.
A dozen of exclusive guests are invited for the Hawthorne experience. The Hawthorn is a world-class dining destination, under the helm of avant-garde, contempt-filled Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes, “Hail, Caesar!,” “Skyfall”), located on a private island where the multi-course meals cost $1,250 per head. The island is self-sustaining and the meals are truly sea-and-farm to table.
Guests are ferried into the island and get a tour led by the second-in-command, Elsa (Hong Chau), a standout with her deadpan delivery, starting with the shore, farm, forest, workers' living quarters, leading to an expansive dining room with an open kitchen. Cleanly designed with floor-to-ceiling ocean view, polished with cool palettes, brightened up by the warmth of the fire from the kitchen.
The workers live in the island and devote themselves to the Chef, his vision and servicing the one-percenters. Their work is their lives. Every day they wake up on the island to harvest, ferment, fish, slaughter, sear, broil, bake, poach, emulsify, liquify, gel, plate and serve, and return to their living quarters in the evenings. The Chef cottage is separate from his crew, where no one can enter.
The guests include a young couple, brown-nosed foodie Tyler (Nicholas Hoult, “X-Men” series) and out-of-place Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), older wealthy couple Richard (Reed Birney) and Anne (Judith Light) with a secret, celebrity food critic Lillian (Janet McTeer) and her sycophantic editor Ted (Paul Adelstein), washed-up movie star (John Leguizamo) and his problematic assistant Felicity (Aimee Carerro), and big-headed tech bros, Bryce (Rob Yang), Dave (Mark St. Cyr) and Soren (Arturo Castro).
The movie flows from one exquisite course to another, exemplifying haute cuisine where the gastronomic delights are expertly deconstructed, stunningly designed and immaculately plated on a variety of vessels, balancing textures, colors and flavors. The meals, from appetizer to main courses to palate-cleansing and desert have a theme and tell a story. The detailed descriptions of each course are both mouthwatering and hilarious.
The amuse bouche may start light and refreshing, but as each course precisely progresses, tension is seared into the story, and the diners experience brain-fried moments and realize the theatrics are not just for entertainment. Slices of secrets are dished out in inventive manners, backstories are told shockingly, consequences can be bloodily twisted, leading to a boiling point and blazing ending. The guests soon find out there are reasons they score the coveted reservations that day and they're not there simply for the fancy meals. Margot is a wild card, however, and her presence chars the Chef's meticulous master plan.
Glazed by sharp dialogue, the no-way-out situations are bitingly funny. The impeccably choreographed movements and sound editing are perfectly crisp. “The Menu” skewers the high-end epicurean culture and serves up social commentary not only on class division, but also between working class service workers and their moneyed guests, disillusioned artists and their pretentious critics.
The satire hits the high marks for originality, creativity, dark humor and horror factor. A crafty feast for the eyes and devilishly delectable.
