Beautiful lazy shots of cream laden berries, multi-textured saucy pork’s, pasta’s from which dreams are woven off, slices of golden tostones and heavenly fingers of yucca. And yet Chef has nothing to do with food. It’s a story of simple pleasures, of passion of passions and the art of companionship.
It’s not that gorgeous food is missing. In fact the movie is replete with recipes both elite and common. But the creators did not intend to present food voyeurism(Though watching Scarlett Johansson make passionate love to good looking food belies that argument).
It’s a story about a man, the “Chef” who has lost his way in the pursuit of his passion. It’s an everyday story of us who forget the things which bring true happiness. Through culinary instruments the movie tells the recipe of creating rich life experiences and make each moment taste better.
The best part is that it’s not some fantasy tale with improbable characters. It’s a story of real people handled with almost a nuanced touch. I say almost because lots of stylizations and forced gags are used. On the other hand such frills are what separates the movie from a cooking show(except Hell’s Kitchen of course). And since I liked these stylized scenes I will leave it for criticism to some other day.
The movie is a sampling of a life we all want to live. The creators have attempted to show that true passion can survive amidst the crassness and mediocrity of daily life. Now to end this review with an expected food pun : Chef is delicious.
This post originally appeared on my blog: https://honestmusings.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/chef-movie-review/
