The Menu (5 Stars)

This is my last film of the year, and it's a terrific film to end with. I've wanted to see it for some time. At this year's Fantasy Film Festival a trailer for it was shown before every single film, which means I saw the trailer 24 times. That's a lot. The trailer was shown in German, but it still fascinated me. Today I managed to see it in English, which is the only way to watch an American film.

Wikipedia calls it a dark comedy horror film. I don't think that's a good description of the genre. Yes, it's dark, but it's not really a comedy, and as for it being a horror? It's a borderline case. There are a few scenes which could be called horror, but mostly it's a tense psychological thriller.

The film is about Julian Slowik, a master chef who's invited 12 people to a private island for a meal, charging them  $12,500 each. The courses served are practically satires of the meals served by top chefs. They're delicious, but such small portions that the guests are left hungry.

Nicholas Hoult plays Tyler Redford, an enthusiastic food fan, not a professional critic but an expert on fine food. His partner left him shortly before the meal, so he's found a replacement at short notice. This disturbs Julian, because he's carefully selected the attendees. For him the balance of the guests is just as important as the mixture of foods in the menu.

As the film progresses we find that Julian has issues with all of the guests (eleven of them, anyway). They've all wronged him in some way, and he wants revenge.

I had to ponder for a long time how to rate the film. It's excellent, as far as the acting is concerned, but many of the things that happen are highly infeasible. I wasn't sure whether that was reason enough to lower the rating. I eventually decided to suspend disbelief and judge it as a fantasy. Five stars. It's one of the best films I've seen this year.