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movie review - The Menu

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Kokubunji, 2022.11.20

I honestly have no idea what the fuss is all about with this movie. It's about a young couple who attend a restaurant "event" on a remote island. As the story unfolds we're expected to believe that the various wealthy patrons in attendance can't get it through their heads that they're in danger and it's time to fight for their lives. What follows is a pointless exercise in psychological terrorism and brutal violence.

I suppose it has a superb cast but not enough substance for a full-length movie and it's so layered in unpleasantness that it's distracting. I suspect there was an attempt at "subverting expectations" by putting a renowned brilliant actor as the villain, and a stable of awful caricatures in place as the motivation but it just felt lazy and half-baked. There, I made a cooking joke.

Not recommended.

rand()m quote

My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less competition there.

—Indira Gandhi