The Menu (2022)

March 5, 2025 4:43 PM

A young couple travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.
posted by kokaku (12 comments total)

I thought this was very cringey, over the top, and boring.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 4:52 PM on March 5 [3 favorites]

I really liked it, myself. Heavy-handed, sure, but well put together with lots going on under the surface; the fact that the kitchen were all allies under Chef's vision was a nice subversion of the usual "mastermind" trope. There were lots of little rug-pulls that I appreciated, where there was an easy narrative choice that got yoinked and they did something a bit different instead.

Am I goofy, though? I feel very sure that this was already posted, with an extensive discussion. Like, I am 80% sure I've already written Fanfare comments about this movie.
posted by Shepherd at 5:33 PM on March 5 [4 favorites]

Yes, we discussed this movie here. One point I wanted to make at that time, which I thought was overlooked in the discussion, is that The Menu isn't specifically about food. Any artist, any skilled professional, has to deal with the fact that the typical consumer of their work won't really appreciate it. They can't; they'd have to be skilled in the field themselves to understand what the "master" has accomplished. In some ways, the Chef is a tragic figure, like Cassandra, able to perceive the truth but not communicate it.
posted by SPrintF at 8:42 PM on March 5 [1 favorite]

It's a film with excellent performances and a lot of ideas being thrown around, some of which land more than others. There are so many ideas in fact that they stumble into one another and prevent the film from coalescing into a singular "point" which leaves the final product a little muddled and unfocused. In my reading there wasn't a specific thesis, but lots of themes and ruminations around and about art, creative expression, passion, pretention, consumption, wealth, inequality, power dynamics, exploitation, fame, sacrifice of self and others etc. etc.

I appreciate a movie that goes for big swings, even when those swings don't necessarily hit, especially in the horror genre. It's a bit of a mess but a compelling one, in large part because Fiennes, Taylor-Joy and Hoult are all infinitely watchable and do a lot with the roles.

I've only seen it the once but it has lingered with me longer than I expected.
posted by slimepuppy at 1:38 AM on March 6 [5 favorites]

I had a feeling that The Menu had been discussed, but it wasn't in FanFare and searching for a generic term like Menu on the site didn't find it for me.

watched it for Anya Taylor-Joy, stayed for the smores. at that point, the movie felt like it transcended into a fable by Greenaway.

loved Nicholas Hoult's ernest pompous cluelessness too.
posted by kokaku at 2:59 AM on March 6 [2 favorites]

I feel very sure that this was already posted, with an extensive discussion. Like, I am 80% sure I've already written Fanfare comments about this movie.

If someone closed their account and asked for a full wipe of everything they'd posted, it could have killed a previous post. We had that happen with the initial post for Conclave.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:23 AM on March 6 [2 favorites]

We just stumbled across this about a month ago and enjoyed it quite a lot. It’s kinda silly, and kinda predictable once the first gut-punch is delivered, but it also feels like one of those projects where everyone is having a great time on set.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:18 AM on March 6 [2 favorites]

I've only seen it the once but it has lingered with me longer than I expected.

That about sums it up for me.
posted by Gelatin at 5:20 AM on March 6 [2 favorites]

Here's the original discussion.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:31 AM on March 6 [4 favorites]

And here's the MeTa about FanFare posts getting memory-holed.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 5:04 PM on March 6

thanks for the link DOT

i guess I'm surprised that FanFare lets us double post... looks like the original was deleted and also didn't have an imdb link to compare for a duplicate
posted by kokaku at 8:03 PM on March 6

I enjoyed this, might be time to watch it again. Looked at the old thread to refresh my memory, and was amused to see the first comment was "Content Note: No cannibalism," which I remember being surprised by when I saw it. Made me want to see the movie more!

But like many people on the old thread, I don't think the satire in this movie was deep or even all that consistent. There was a sort of vibe that the horrible customers were one percenters being killed for their sins, but they were really just the arbitrary victims of a capricious death cult.

But the movie had an aesthetic consistency, it all kind of made sense in it's own twisted way, with Anya Taylor-Joy's escape being the cherry on top. And it was unpredictable and fun. I'd love to see more weird, entertaining movies like this get out there.
posted by mark k at 9:29 PM on March 11