What was in the other sauce?
Continuing my trip up The Guardian's Top 50 Films of 2021
#49 : Boiling Point
Dizzying single-take drama featuring a potent lead performance from Stephen Graham as a chef enduring a nightmarish evening.
Not seen this film, but I have heard of it because of its single-take nature - I wasn't expecting to like it because I believe it's quite stressful and I don't like stressful films (I'm a delicate flower, after all).
And yeah, from the first five minutes you can tell it's going to be a stressful ride - he's forgotten an important event in his kid's life, the food inspector is in, the staff aren't up to scratch, the restaurant is going to be full and someone threw out the turbot! So I suspect it's going to take me a few goes to get through it...
...and yeah, it did. It's just not the sort of film I like because there's just too much stress involved, although I did get to the end - just! But it did feel to me that at times that the characters and plot suffered as a result of the efforts to ratchet up the stress. I also realise that behind the scenes at restaurants isn't exactly a barrel of laughs, but it feels like this particular restaurant wouldn't last very long with the staff they have (and they also don't appear to do an awful lot of cooking). I'd also say I wasn't expecting the ending to go where it went - but I obviously can't say any more about that!
However, the main talking point of this film is the single take - it is undoubtedly a technical and procedural marvel (and nightmare), but I personally find it hard to say that the film benefits from it and at times it definitely gets in the way. The timeline is also somewhat odd because the film seems to cover a longer time period than the running time, so there are time jumps in places but it's not clear (to me at least) where they are supposed to happen. I would say there's surprisingly more variation in the locations than I was expecting - that camera really gets about. I'm also interested to know whether it REALLY was a single take - all the press says it is, but I can't but help be a little bit sceptical (IMDB tells me they shot it four times and used the third take as the film)
I think I'd generally say the acting is mostly fine, but I think they deserve extra credit for the situation they were working under - it must have dialled up the pressure knowing you could ruin a long shot (and I imagine restarting would have been a continuity nightmare) and at times you think it must have been very difficult to either ignore or just avoid the camera. It's Stephen Graham's film though - and as expected he delivers from the roller-coaster ride. He's a fine actor (and also comes across as a very nice bloke). Jason Flemying is also very good as another chef and I'd also call out Vinette Robinson who is in a proper mood for most of the film - except for when she saves the day! (I'm sure she's lovely in real life though)
Overall, it's an interesting film but not one I enjoyed - the plot was just too stressful and I don't like films like that. And on the single-take, my view is that just because you can do something (which obviously involved a lot of work) it doesn't necessarily mean you should. Sorry!
At the time of writing, the film is available to rent at all the usual places which are all charging £9.99 - which seems a bit steep to me. But obviously it's your choice...
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