The Menu

Mark Mylod’s 2022 film takes its structure from a tasting menu: the dinner advances in numbered courses and the plot moves only when the next plate lands. Information arrives as food: the third course is tortillas laser etched with the truths each guest is hiding. Pacing belongs to a sequence the characters cannot leave, and no guest may stand up. The script began with a real dinner: Will Tracy ate at an island restaurant outside Bergen, Norway, on his honeymoon, then pitched it to Seth Reiss. It was announced in 2019 with Alexander Payne directing and Emma Stone starring; Mylod inherited the chair, Anya Taylor-Joy the part. Scotland was the plan, but the Delta variant closed Europe and the production moved to Savannah, building the restaurant interior on a soundstage. Production designer Ethan Tobman laid the open kitchen out like a church, Ralph Fiennes raised above the room as though preaching. Dominique Crenn of San Francisco’s Atelier Crenn designed the plates, all genuinely edible, so the cast ate them take after take. A good fit if you want the room’s geometry to carry the argument rather than dialogue, the kitchen looking down on the table. Not for you if you are waiting for trapped characters to plan an escape, since the order of courses is fixed and never breaks.