R, 114 min.
Director/Writer: Jon Favreau
Starring: Jon Favreau, Emjay
Anthony, John Leguizamo, Sophia Vergara, Scarlett Johansson, Bobby Cannavale,
Dustin Hoffman, Oliver Platt, Robert Downey Jr., Amy Sedaris, Russell Peters,
Jose C. Hernandez ‘Perico’
I’m not the only person I
know that will pick this movie as one of my favorites of the year, although it
seems to have been largely forgotten by critics, who were all about it when it
was released theatrically. This is often the case with movies released earlier
in the year. It’s interesting that the awards season doesn’t seem to have
forgotten “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, but this one seems to have disappeared
from everyone’s memory. That could be because it doesn’t distinguish itself
with flashy cinematography, quirky characterization and dialogue, or
“important” issues. However, it is the lack of most of those aspects that makes
this movie so special.
“Chef” isn’t a movie with a
statement to make. It is simply about a man searching to do what he loves the
way he loves to do it and to do it with his son. To say that isn’t important is
incorrect, but it is how many see it. There’s so much irony in that situation,
because that is exactly why Jon Favreau’s chef must go on the journey he
embarks on here, he must discover what is truly important in his life. It’s his
kid and his freedom to cook food the way he wants to.
As the film opens, Carl
Casper (Favreau) is a respected chef in Los Angeles, mostly because of a review
he received years ago from an influential food blogger. In his current work
situation, he’s the head chef of a conservative restaurant. He butts heads with
his boss (Dustin Hoffman) about the menu. When Carl learns his critic will be
visiting the restaurant, he eventually concedes to the owner’s wishes and
sticks with the printed menu. The review is quite insulting and in a fit of an
older person diving into the world of social media, Carl ends up challenging
the critic on Twitter to come back for a special menu. The owner forbids it and
fires Carl when he won’t concede again. This is the rock bottom Carl needed to
discover what he really wants out of life.
His ex-wife has always felt
Carl would never be happy working for someone else and suggests he get a food truck.
His son always wants to spend time with his dad, as he lives with his mom. Carl
always put his son off for work reasons. Now, he has the opportunity to explore
both culinary freedom and include his son in his life by having the kid help
him fix up the truck and work the grill.
Yes, this sounds like fairly
standard stuff and it is, but is approached with tenderness and passion. This
is obviously a passion project for Favreau. Not only does he give full
attention to developing his characters, but he incorporates three other
elements to this feature that sells it in the fullest fashion and transforms it
from standard to exceptional. First, there’s the use of the social media
platform of Twitter. Social media is really just starting to be explored by Hollywood
for its influence. Here, Twitter is used as the catalyst of all the events of
the film. Favreau wisely visualizes the use of this social media platform on
screen by allowing the audience to see the Tweets as they’re created. When a
Tweet is created a balloon shows up on screen next to the device that is being
used to create it, and when the character clicks “send” it flies off into the
world like a bird. This is a brilliant visualization of this act of posting our
thoughts to the public at large.
Just as important is
Favreau’s treatment of the process of cooking, which he approaches as a true
art form. Whenever Carl is feeling overwhelmed, he cooks; and every time he
cooks the movie stops everything to observe the entire process. This movie
loves food as much as Carl does. All of these sequences are lovingly shot by
cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau as if they were the most important scenes of
his photography career. This movie could do more to inspire people to cook than
any show found on the Food Network.
Finally, each of these
cooking montages is punctuated by incredible music, most of it Cuban. It is the
food of Cuba that provides Carl with his highest joy of cooking; the music is
picked to match it. There are also several music sequences, including a classic
Cuban jazz ensemble, a crooning skeleton puppet, and a live blues performance
at an impromptu sales stop in Austin, Texas. It’s obvious that Favreau finds a
great deal of power and passion in music. His selection raises the emotional
level of the picture and adds to it lust for life.
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