Directed by Philip Barantini
Written by Philip Barantini and James Cummings
Cinematography by Matthew Lewis
Edited by Alex Fountain
Music by Aaron May and David Ridley
Production Design by Aimee Meek
Art Direction by Deb Milner
Set Decoration by Bill Milner
Costumes by Karen Smyth
Produced by Hester Ruoff and Bart Ruspoli
Starring
Thomas Coombes as Health Inspector
Stephen Graham as The Chef, Andy
Vinette Robinson as Lieutenant Chef Carly
Ray Panthaki as Lieutenant Chef Freeman
Alice Feetham as Front of House Manager Beth
Jason Flemying as Washed-Up Celebrity Chef Stakeholder Guy
Lourdes Faberes as Food Critic
Izuka Hoyle as Camille
Malachi Kirby as Tony
Hannah Walters as Emily
Stephen McMillan as Jamie
Aine Rose Daly as Robyn
Lauryn Arjufo as Andrea
Gary Lamont as Dean
. . .
". . . I don't really want to be here . . . I don't really know what I'm doing . . . and nobody likes me here . . ."
. . .
Review by William D. Tucker.
Third movie with the title Boiling Point.
Is it the charm?
Well . . .
This Boiling Point is about how work stress fucks with you.
It's about how human beings make the best decisions they possibly, realistically can within hypercompetitive capitalism, how they can have hustle for miles and days and years . . . and still end up fucking miserable.
This one is about the delusion of 'leaving it at the door' when you come to work, which is another way of saying, "This one is about how grief, shame, untreated-or undiagnosed, or even unarticulated-mental illness, class inequality, white supremacist racism-both subtle and overt, sexism-both subtle and overt, and lack of access to health-care-mental/physical fucks with you."
This is a film that expresses intense skepticism about the whole 'work/life' balance thing. Where does work end, exactly? How do we measure the 'weight' of work versus the 'weight' of life? What if you are someone suffering from intense grief in your 'life' which you have no way of magically switching off when you show up for 'work?' What about when your work stress invades your non-work life? Isn't this distinction between 'work' and 'life' a notional evasion similar to the romantic idea of 'Natural' versus 'Unnatural?'
These notions are explored convincingly, if pessimistically, in Boiling Point, a movie that isn't afraid to say, "Yes. We have many conflicts. Pretending otherwise gets us nowhere."
It's all set inside a trendy London restaurant on a busy Friday night. Workers are out sick. The operation is shortstaffed. The Chef is late. There’s a state health inspector knocking 'em down from five to three stars right before they're supposed to open. The inspector seems to take a harsher tone with workers of color than he does with the white employees. Yes, the inspector has legitimate reasons for writing up health violations, but there's a tone and attitude which could be improved-why not lay out the issues more dispassionately, with more respect for all working people?
Eventually, the restaurant opens, and the camera takes us from the kitchen to the dining area to the bins out back and on into the freezer-it isn't that it's a large space. It's compact. It's tense. Tempers flare. Supplies are inadequate. People are showing up late or not at all. And the customers keep on coming.
You've got social media influencers hustling for freebies-"we'll boost your visibility online!"
You've got a table full of obnoxious Americans who end up groping their server even after he tells them he's happily married to his husband.
One sequence is telling: a young blonde white woman server takes an order from a middle-aged white man who clearly relishes playing king of his family. And, oh, how he takes to this server. But then a young Black woman takes over as regular server for this table and the man treats her with nastiness and contempt. It's possible that it isn't racism . . . but it sure looks like it. Sure feels like it.
You've got a hoity-toity food critic showing up-wasn't that a plot point in Dinner Rush-and she just happens to be dating a man who is also the main financial stakeholder in the restaurant-a washed-up former celebrity chef type. This stakeholder is also the former boss of the Chef-bit of an Obi-Wan/Vader situation.
You also have communications breaking down under stress and overload of throughput. Speed kills, to put it simply.
The Chef has his two Lieutenant Chefs who work nonstop even whilst he ducks out to re-up whatever his adult beverage of choice happens to be in his health inspector approved water bottle. This is a source of resentment since the two Lieutenant Chefs seldom have time to relax, nor do they receive the same level of respect as The Chef even if he’s the one fucking off at inopportune moments. Fuses lit all around . . .
You've got conflict between the Kitchen Staff and the Front of House Manager. Front of House is perceived as not wanting to get its hands dirty, while Kitchen gets chewed out for being too slow.
You've got a dishwasher who's trying to stay on top of her job while pregnant and underpaid.
You've got about a third of the staff who work there while dreaming of making it as actors, nightclub DJs, musicians, etc. "This isn't my real job-I'm actually XYZ!" type of deal. This creates a more subtle form of friction between these Daydream Believers and the Lifers: Chef, Lieutenant Chefs, Front of House Manager . . .
Blow-ups ensue.
Ugly truths are expressed.
But the momentum of the business seems to steamroll any hope of change.
Money must be made.
Boiling Point is another one of those movies that presents itself as being done in a single unbroken take . . . and it's convincingly done. But, you know, if it turned out there were some cleverly concealed edits it wouldn't diminish the movie in my eyes. I forgot it was all being done in one go after about ten minutes. I was totally absorbed into the story. Where's it going? How's it going to play out?
My criticisms are minor.
Firstly, the Chef functions as a protagonist, but this is really more of an ensemble piece. This movie works best in the tangle of its chaotic middle, wherein we cannot escape from the interconnecting dilemmas playing out in the Kitchen and Front of House arenas. When we return to the Chef as a designated protagonist figure-I dunno. It loses something. It's not badly done. I just personally resisted the process of 'collapsing into the protagonist' from the more collective outlook.
Secondly, I found myself resisting the final scene. Not badly done at all, but . . . I dunno. It's not making any compromises, that's for sure, but it's seeming finality was just a touch moralistic for what is otherwise a realistic and sociological piece.
Thirdly, the Obi-Wan/Vader stuff-the conflict between the Chef and the stakeholder guy . . . once again, not badly done at all, but I didn't care about it as much as I cared about the Front of House and Kitchen arenas.
But Boiling Point worked for me, overall. I've watched it twice, now, and I'll probably watch it a few more times. Its drive and grittiness are absorbing, nor does it pretend that everything is going to magically be all right. I appreciate those qualities very much above all else.
So . . . I watched three different movies titled Boiling Point, and they were all pretty great. That's the world I live in, and it definitely isn't boring.
