by Kay Curry
Southeast Asia Weekly
In “Menu,” directed by Mark Mylord and starring Ralph Fiennes as head chef Julian Slovak and Red Island as his loyal butler Elsa, doom and malaise are dinner staples. You won’t know what’s going on for a while, but you’ll soon learn that it’s at least really weird.
“There’s a very specific turning point in the movie where things start to get darker… Up until that point, we were having a nice, if a bit weird dinner party,” said Anya Taylor-Joe, who plays Margot Yi said in a press conference, describing parts of the film as “instinctive.” I can attest to this, as hearing the music during the aforementioned session turned me on and answered my question about whether “The Menu” was mostly horror, comedy, or social commentary. My vote is Horror, followed closely by Social Commentary, and very low on Comedy.
Director Marc Mylord admitted that during rehearsals he had the actors watch “Destroying Angel,” a film by Mexican surrealist painter Luis Bunuel. In fact, if you want to know what “menu” really means, look no further. To set the scene, a group of wealthy guests sail to a lonely and beautiful island in the Pacific Northwest. (Why are they picking on us? Assuming PNW has a reputation for much more than “eclectic.”) Everyone presumably attended a very expensive and very special multi-course meal prepared by Slowak and his staff. Other than that, there shouldn’t be any problems as the guests come here all the time and the restaurant is world famous.
I really like how the music in the film creates a sense of being in a symphony, and how each course thus feels like part of a complex piece of music. The menu for “The Menu” is announced on-screen by Slowak, and we start to notice that he throws in a lot of sarcasm when we start implying that he doesn’t really like his customers. While they’ve made him famous, it’s kind of like Nine Inch Nails, desperate to bite the hand that feeds them, just grudgingly accepting increasingly commercial or The notoriety that comes with it often ends up distorting what made him or her famous in the first place. (That’s what spoilers and whatnot.)
Take the second course, which is “not bread” or “bread you won’t eat,” says Slovak, in a mouthwateringly long description of how wonderful bread is and how its age History explains it as “common people’s food.” That’s funny, all right. This is one of the funniest parts of the movie, but for the first time you wonder what the hell is going on here? Guests spend a lot of time asking if this is true? Is this part of the “menu”? Is this a theater? We got a preview of the moment Margot watches the imposing door close — never a good sign — as Elsa introduces the venue to her guests, working out something like her spine along the way. As strict as the rules are, viewers also ask, “Is this dinner bad weird or good weird?”
“One of the things that drew us all to the project was the lovely mashup of tones,” says Mylod. “When I signed on I couldn’t really imagine what the final product would be like, and that got me excited because I was curious how it would turn out,” says Chau, who, along with others in the film, agree that curiosity also moves audiences (never mind the bit about killing the cat). Chou was eager to give Elsa some backstory because the script was so scant, and revealed that she found inspiration in the “hipster” people of Portland, Oregon. After she developed Elsa’s story (for herself, we never found much), she asked the costume designer for an outfit that would help her get into the character. Chau did the rest. Elsa is creepy. Again, at first, you want to laugh at her stubbornness and the way she refuses guests’ requests (“No soup for you!”). She notably clashes with “technical brothers” Bryce (Rob Yang), Soren (Arturo Castro) and Dave (Mark St. Cyr) on multiple occasions, who constantly remind Elsa and Slowak that they run the restaurant.
Through their exchange, we learn that Slowak is not the complete master of his field, and begin to see more and more power dynamics at play between bosses and non-bosses, and ultimately, the “commoners” who eat the bread of the poor have The entitled rich do not.
John Leguizamo, who plays the “old” action actor, discussed in a press conference how actors are encouraged to improvise — because they never know where the camera will be during a shoot — And perfectly sums up the message of the movie.
“I’m trying to pass privilege because I don’t understand [what that is]said Leguizamo. “I love the political and social commentary of the movie…it’s digging into what’s going on, especially in America…the disappearing middle class and people who think they can The billionaires who control our democracy… control us and how they divide us and let us out and in [their] Special little bubbles. I think it’s a good commentary on the privilege that’s going on in America…”
The restaurant is a bubble. “Us” and “them” are rich and not rich. As “The Menu” progresses, Slowak singles out Margot as an unexpected new addition to “the party” (her date was planning to bring his real girlfriend and asked at the last second Margot). Slovak had planned everything carefully in advance and was feverishly thinking about what to do with Margot.
“In order to continue, I have to know where to sit you. With us, or with them,” Slowak tells her, and although he seems to have developed an affinity for her, you still can’t tell if he likes her or anyone. But he definitely doesn’t like rich non-working class people.
The tension in “The Menu” moves so quickly — almost from the start — that it’s hard to talk about what’s going on and what it’s about. It’s nauseating, it’s mesmerizing, it’s scary, it’s sad, and it’s beautifully done – it describes the food in the movie. As the night progresses, each guest is forced to come to terms with their “guilty”. Each of them has a different permutation of culprits, but they all come down to the same sense of privilege that twists an otherwise delicious food and an otherwise beautiful world into something horrible.
“By the end of the movie, they’re visually and emotionally naked and willing to ‘pay the check’…” says Mylod. I’ll leave it on the table.
“The Menu” hits theaters this weekend.
Kai can reach info@nwasianweekly.com.
