BOILING POINT

UK 2020, 96 min Director Philip Barantini

Food films tend to start gently, with idealistic chefs ensuring their herbs are fresh and peaches ripe; only later do challenges appear, as manufactured tension not very threateningly mounts. Boiling Point will have none of that. Writer-director Philip Barantini’s riveting drama, brilliantly staged in a single take, unsparingly starts in the thick of it with a London restaurant staff already in over their heads on the last Friday before Christmas, and assumes tragic proportions from there. Head chef Andy (the ever-magnetic Stephen Graham) has all manner of disaster imminent: The sous chef struggles to open an oyster; the health inspector has more than a few questions; Andy’s former partner arrives unannounced to collect a debt and brings a famous food critic as his date. What ensues is a harrowing, pitiless—yet humane—appraisal of the fine-dining subculture. Graham leads a brilliant ensemble, with Vinette Robinson also a standout. –Ravinder Kingra