2015’s “Burnt”, by John Wells.
Starring Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Daniel Bruhl, Emma
Thompson, Alicia Vikander, and Uma Thurman.
Who hasn’t toiled away in the service industry, with it’s
back of the house setting buried under orders while being flame broiled by the
heat and saucy language? It’s a pressure cooker for the soul. Anthony Bourdain,
of the immortal novel “Kitchen Confidential”, has referred to cooks as, “Pirates”.
Indeed, the kitchen of any restaurant is where you’ll find both the hellish engine
of the establishment, and the temperamental driver, whose mental space is
somewhere between a neurosurgeon and an angry alley cat. It takes a special
kind of person to thrive under these conditions, and a special kind of crazy to
enjoy it.
In “Burnt”, Cooper plays a washed up chef, done in by his
ego and the lifestyle of booze, drugs, and women when he was working in Paris. We
meet him now, self sentencing himself to purgatory in New Orleans, shucking
oysters in an anonymous restaurant. Once he hits his millionth shuck, he heads to
London’s fine dining establishments to redeem himself, in pursuit of the
prestigious third Michelin Star (the highest acclaim in the culinary world).
With help from benefactors, and with an enormous amount of Cooper charm, he
hijacks a kitchen and recruits his dream team.
The recruitment phase in the beginning plays out like a
culinary version of “The Blues Brothers” as Cooper puts, “the band back
together”. And once the heat turns up, the plot at times resembles something
that doesn’t acknowledge what happens if you leave food under the heat lamps.
But if there’s one thing “Burnt” gets right, it’s in the relentless pursuit of
perfection that these culinary masters attain their zen. Michelin star chef
Marcus Wareing consulted on the film, and many a shot of culinary masterpieces
are displayed. While not as sumptuous or decadent as “Big Night”, there is a
level of precise measurement “Burnt” has over more organic fare like “Chef”.
The kick ass soundtrack really helps too.
While the redemption story, loaded cast, and dinner service
arranged to the millimetre is pleasantly savoury, the fantasy plot can feel a
little undercooked at times.
3.5/5
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