Boiling Point (2021)

Two things grabbed my attention about this movie. The first was Stephen Graham, who is quite possibly the best English actor at the moment. He does not disappoint and, as ever, delivered an excellent performance. He also is executive producer for Boiling Point. Anyone not familiar with his past work would do well do watch The Virtues for an example of what he is capable of as an actor.

The second was the fact that the film was shot in one take. Russian Ark has to be the leading example of this style of film-making and also ranks among my personal all-time favourites. Having said that, I had actually forgotten about this when I sat down to watch Boiling Point. At no point in the film was it immediately obvious, so full credits to the camera crew for managing to accomplish this so seamlessly.

The film is really let down by the plot, or rather, the lack of a plot. Around the half-way point, you are left wondering where it is all going. Some sub-plots are given focus but then disappear again. The characters, for the most part, are very under-developed. The ending, as other reviewers have pointed out, was really a bit abrupt and rather inconclusive. There were a lot of questions left unanswered.

I did have some reservations before watching that this would be a Gordon Ramsey shouting in the kitchen type of movie. Thankfully, it is not - although there are some elements of that. But the movie overall manages to move away from that and become something a bit deeper.

Overall, it is definitely worth a watch. As British films go, it is certainly one of the better offerings of recent years.

Fmovies: When the British make a bad movie they do it from all angles to summarize quickly,if watching 90 minutes of never ending foul language is your thing ,chance you might like this garbage,is so over acted to the point of being boring,gee I hated the whole thing give it a BIG miss!

What an incredible movie.

I was captivated and pulled in from the first scene and the movie never let me go..or sometimes even breathe.

I loved every single second of it.

Bravo!

Boiling Point fmovies. Stephen Graham, a class actor in modern times works this piece so well demonstrating the pain and stress of the job. Having said that, there is not one member of the cast that is lacking the pain, the pressure of serving, trying to keep people happy.

It's gotta be one of the most stressful workplaces, serving a fussy, awkward public, always looking for faults.

Always tip the people that serve you.

A thoroughtly original movie set in everyday life.

Excellent.

Watch it.

As stated this is a single take film starting at the beginning of a busy night at a new restaurant and taking us through dinner service and closing.

The camera work was great, the atmosphere was perfect, the acting was first rate and most importantly, "Boiling Point" draws the viewer in from the get-go and holds onto you until it's all over.

I didn't expect to appreciate this film as much as I do and I'm re-watching with my wife since she went to bed extra early last night; that's how much I liked it.

Just a simultaneously humble and yet grandiose glimpse into a working restaurant/bar for the course of one night done so in a way that escapism becomes educational.

8.3/10.

Set in and around a restaurant during a single evening, we are following a London chef struggling to keep it together. He has problems in his family life, he owes money, and he hasn't been keeping up with the paperwork at his chic, upmarket restaurant. On the evening we meet him, the restaurant has been over-booked and understaffed, none of which the maitre de wants to accept responsibility for. And the health inspector has just arrived to go over the kitchen very thoroughly, and he quickly finds plenty of room for improvements. The chef is doing his best in the very difficult circumstances. It's Fawlty Towers without the laughs, just the relentless, grinding, pathetically-human tragedy; every cook's nightmare.

And when I say relentless, this film puts you continuously in the kitchen and around the restaurant without a break and without any musical accompaniment. The whole film is made as one continuous, evolving scenario without edits for the actors or crew. And no break for the audience, either.

(One shot films (or continuous take): Russian Ark (The Hermitage), 1917, Birdman, Timecode, Hitchcock's Rope are generally failures and cheats. The only good one I've seen before this is La Tarea (Homework- sp).

This movie though, is a brilliantly engaging ride, and Stephen Graham is heroic, leading an excellent ensemble cast. A jaw-dropping achievement.