This article comprises spoilers for The Menu.The Menu is a darkish comedy horror movie that was launched in 2022 to nice essential acclaim. The movie tells the story of a various group of rich meals lovers who’re invited to attend a particular dinner on a distant island curated by world-famous chef, Julian Slowik, and his private culinary workforce of devoted acolytes who’re prepared to do something for his or her chief.
What begins out as a enjoyable albeit pretentious night time quickly turns into one thing a lot darker, as Slowik reveals that his specifically chosen group of attendees are going to be part of the night’s course in numerous methods. The Menu works as an allegory for the tortured artist, and it could be fascinating to discover what number of parallels Slowik’s journey by way of the film has with the present state of business cinema.
In this sense, Slowik is not only a chef however a storyteller, and the menu that unfolds that night time in his restaurant is the best story he’ll ever inform. Consider Slowik as an auteur filmmaker who needs to make his finest film ever, and the one option to make that film is to cope with every of his company individually that night time, every visitor representing a distinct impediment confronted by filmmakers attempting to work in Hollywood.
One of the company Slowik personally invited to his restaurant that night time was Lillian Bloom, a distinguished meals critic who has recognized Slowik for a very long time. Their lengthy affiliation and her elitist culinary data leads Bloom to imagine she has a particular connection to Slowik and his menu. All by way of the night, Bloom tries to decipher the which means behind Slowik’s menu based mostly on her data of the high-class culinary world.
This is just like how film critics attempt to break down and perceive the works of auteur filmmakers. And typically identical to Bloom, film critics are unable to grasp what is really occurring within the filmmaker’s head whose work they’re attempting to decipher. Bloom assumes she and Slowik are on the identical stage mentally, however the film makes it amply clear that the critic can by no means really respect the depth and richness of the artist’s work armed solely with their educational data and snobbish biases.