Cook Off (2017)

June 7, 2020 6:30 PM

A Zimbabwean single mother's life is turned upside down when her son enters her into a reality TV cooking competition.

First Zimbabwean feature available on Netflix.

Article from The Guardian

posted by the primroses were over (2 comments total)

I really enjoyed this; the leads were charming and the soundtrack was fun. The "Battle of the Chefs" production scenes felt very realistic, so it makes sense that it was filmed on the set of Zimbabwe's version of Top Chef.
posted by the primroses were over at 6:36 PM on June 7, 2020

Finding out from that Guardian article that the budget was only $8,000 explains a lot -- I found there was a flatness to the look of the film in the apartment scenes that reminded me of old BBC productions where the indoor scenes were shot on video and only the outdoor scenes were shot on film. But that first scene where Anesu and Prince were walking together outside in the golden hour? Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.

I didn't love it, but I liked it -- it was kind of like a Hallmark movie but where everyone wasn't white and shallow. Like, same low-to-no-budget vibe, bad people get their comeuppance and love conquers all. But better music and less artificiality.
posted by oh yeah! at 4:37 PM on June 10, 2020