The Menu new Horror Movie Review

Movie Review 

Denigrating the rich has become a thing in movies. Among contemporary filmmakers, this new awareness has been met with great acclaim. Triangle of Sadness, Parasite and The Glass Onion are some of the most successful examples of recent times. For obvious reasons of digital advantage, none of these features have fared badly.  

 Coincidentally, they're all great films, and Mark Mylod's avant-garde, darkly humorous and maddeningly serious The Menu perhaps tops the list. As strange as the film's plot and events are, Mylod has carefully collected every frame, sentence and effect in his narrative. The story is so detail-oriented and elegant that you'll think you're in possession of one of Chef Slowik's specials. Maybe this is intentional?

Characters

  Like all great horror films, The Menu challenges its characters to reach an isolated, upscale, exclusive exploitation building—the Hawthorne. It is lavishly housed on a private island, and world-renowned chef Slowik will prepare the courses. Margot (Anna Taylor-Joy) and Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) will have dinner at a restaurant that night, but something is up.

  It's hard to write what the film captures without giving away the essence of it. Mylod's ocean of ideas and philosophies are neatly stacked to shock you one after the other. And by some magic they are all connected.

  The most obvious driver of the film is the culture of exploitation that capitalism and corporations have fostered these days. Menu focuses mainly on the service industry and how the dynamics are toxic to incumbents. This includes not only servers, but also cooks. We've all seen figures like Slowik who have lost their love for what they do.

  Even apart from him, several other sous chefs also presented the same scene during the film. But even beyond the service industry, the play also contains serious commentary on other actors, such as the hobbyist (Tyler), financiers (Doug Verrick and his partners), and consumers (Reed Birney and Judith Light).

  Almost every character here represents a sub-segment of the different components of the ecosystem, giving the Menu a very attractive, healthy look. But Mylod's intervention does not end there. Larger superstructures around class and wealth underline the film's appeal. This element makes it comparable to other recent films that hurt the rich, such as Parasite, Triangle of Sorrows, and The Glass Onion. Such a move is unprecedented, and this new cinema is not inclined to expose its decades-long hypocrisy.  

 The menu has plenty of "food for thought" in the savory section of the above. But there is nowhere for you to breathe. Mylod wants you to experience these ideas first-hand without overworking them and being offended by their visceral nature. The presentation itself is so jarring that it forces the basic concept to stick in your memory in some fashion.

  The menu will last long after you've watched it. The unexpected ending should serve as a reminder to those in Hawthorn's manic staffing positions.

  In this interpretive sense, The Menu serves as a cautionary tale for the rotten state of things. In food circles, debauchery is bathed in words like opportunity, lifestyle, and a terrible desire for perfection. But all that aside, the most enjoyable aspect of Menu is its sharp, unabashedly deadpan humor. Writers Seth Reiss and Will Tracy are inspired by the SNL-style treatment of the subject, which may make it easier for you to digest.

Overall 

  Tragedy with satire and drama is the most skillful combination that writers today strive to create. The menu does just that. With crisp timing, phenomenal set design and inspired performances by Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor Joy, The Menu is a perplexing, confrontational masterpiece that every moviegoer should see. It's an art form that rarely comes up in such a beautiful way. Don't miss this opportunity to watch it!