Boiling Point Review: Strong Flavour but Undercooked
Cast and crew of Boiling Point attending the film’s UK premiere at the London Film Festival. Credit: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images
The rare small budget film that made a big splash in the film festival circuit, Philip Barantini’s directorial debut ‘Boiling Point’, is a curious creation that has been critically acclaimed by many, with the pervasive question of “why?” hanging over its head.
The film’s most striking feature is that it is incredibly stressful to watch all the way through. The project was highly revered for being filmed as a single shot from start to finish to evoke the constant movement, busyness and restlessness of a fully booked restaurant. Credit must be given to the crew and actors for pulling off this impressive feat as even in its weaker moments there is a lot of technical and artistic competency on display. However, there’s a pervasive shakiness to the camera movements, inflicting a spell of vertigo that makes the film at times physically painful to watch.
As they say on all the good cooking shows, the presentation is only half of it; what really matters is the taste. From the word go the story’s tension is thick enough to slice. When the head chef arrives late, just as a visit from a health inspector is wrapping up ahead of the dinner rush, the kitchen staff is left on edge, made worse when a celebrity chef arrives with a feared food critic in tow.
Stephen Graham is undoubtedly excellent as head chef Andy Jones, the centre around which all the other staff and their worries and woes revolve. He perfectly captures Andy’s hopelessness in just the movement of his eyes or the slightest tremble in his voice, encapsulating how this man has fallen from the heights of culinary prominence by a recent divorce, debts and substance abuse.
Stephen Graham attending Boiling Point’s premiere at London’s 65th Film Festival. Credit: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images
Of the rest of the ensemble, Vinette Robinson stands out as no-nonsense sous chef Carly; by far the most competent person in the kitchen as well as the only one who isn’t on the verge of a complete mental breakdown. Jason Flemyng is another highlight, although that doesn’t amount to much in his role as the arrogant celebrity chef Alistair Skye, whose motives for visiting the restaurant are more complicated than they first appear.
These performances are only impressive in that these actors bring a realism to their role that breathes life and turmoil into their characters. However, a good performance alone doesn’t necessarily make for an enjoyable watch. What scant glimpses we get of these characters leaves the impression that they are all somewhere on a spectrum between insipid and insufferable--a cynically realistic view of humanity perhaps but one that quickly becomes grating.
Despite the exceptional performances, the film is not a character piece and makes no effort to convince the audience that it is one; establishing conflict and hints of personality with the many staff and customers that, ultimately, amounts to nothing.
Hannah Walters, Jason Flemyng and Stephen Graham at Boiling Point’s UK premiere at London Film Festival. Credit: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images
The pastry chef’s young assistant refuses to roll up his sleeves while working, and it’s revealed that he self-harms. This is mentioned once, and is never discussed again. One of the waitresses is late for her shift, to which we discover she’s an aspiring actress who was attending an audition. This, again, is never returned to. One of the few recurring plot beats follows another waitress, Andrea, as she is tasked with serving a family where the father is, at best, extremely rude and, at worst, blatantly racist. The audience is forced to watch in discomfort as the situation goes unresolved, floating away with the other half-baked subplots.
We spend an inordinate amount of time following the garbage boy take out some bins, smoke two cigarettes in real time, purchase drugs and then sink into the background, never getting a scene of his own again thereafter.
This lack of character development appears deliberate, to display that restaurant workers, whether they be in the kitchen or out front, are but cogs making the establishment run. Let individuality, with its personality and lapses in judgement, interfere for a moment and the smooth-running routine will crumble. But if ‘Boiling Point’ isn’t a character piece and isn’t intended to entertain, then someone must ask the elusive question of what it is trying to achieve. What is director Philip Barantini wanting us the viewers to take away from this experience? If the moral of the story is simply, “a restaurant is a dreadful place to work”, then the film is admittedly effective but redundant.
It feels as if Barantini got caught in the tide of ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ YouTube clips and saw the stream of comments questioning why Gordon Ramsay is so fuelled by anger in the kitchen. In that case, ‘Boiling Point’ provides a serviceable, cinematic answer, but it also makes anyone who watches the film never want to eat—much less work—in a restaurant ever again.