Boiling Point
Stephen Graham stars as the chef of an East End restaurant operating at full steam on one frenetic day.
Vinette Robinson and Stephen Graham
This film is bound to attract attention because it has not just one but two striking features which for many will make it seem innovative. One is technical: there is no editing in this film because it unfolds in a single camera shot which follows the characters in order to tell their story. The other concerns the setting: save for three brief excursions into the streets of Dalston, Boiling Point takes place inside a restaurant where we observe the customers but spend even more time looking at things from the viewpoint of the staff. Unusual though this is, neither aspect actually breaks new ground. The single take film has a history already even if some examples cheated slightly by occasionally deceiving the eye. In 1948 Hitchcock's brilliant Rope took this path albeit within the conditions of the time in which reel changes in reality limited the length of shots. More recently we have seen a number of works following suit, among them Russian Ark (2002), Birdman (2014) and 1917 (2019). As for being a work which concentrates on the business of preparing food in a restaurant, the playwright Arnold Wesker got there first with his play The Kitchen premiered in 1959 and subsequently filmed by James Hill in 1961. The running of a restaurant was also the memorable focus of the 1996 film Big Night in which Stanley Tucci acted as well as co-directing.
Boiling Point is Philip Barantini's second feature and, in addition to directing, he also shares the screenplay credit with James Cummings. Besides the limitation of the setting, the piece also takes place in the course of a single day. For the first two thirds of its length, the emphasis is on the everyday tensions inherent in the work due to the pressures that arise when serving a full restaurant. However, this portrayal takes account too of personal animosities and feuds between various members of the staff and what can arise when the customers themselves prove difficult. The tone of the piece is set at the start when the chef, Andy Jones (Stephen Graham), has to face a Mr Lovejoy (Thomas Coombes) who on behalf of an environmental agency is present to reassess the standing of the restaurant. This is a beautifully played scene for which the writing is sharp and pointed (Lovejoy clearly enjoys finding faults) and it's all the better for seeming so real and unexaggerated. The film continues in this mode for quite a while, an observational and detailed work which is content to minimise anything resembling a plot. Possibly it holds back on this for rather too long, but it unquestionably holds together thanks to the playing of a fine ensemble cast, albeit one in which Graham, an actor who never overplays, and Vinette Robinson as Andy’s sous chef stand out (Robinson handles a late outburst splendidly).
If the last third unleashes the plot element lacking earlier, it does so in a way that makes the buildup feel rather contrived (several narrative threads emerge all at once and this suggests the hand of the writer). As far as Andy Jones himself is concerned, the events of the day find him in crisis as he seeks to keep going and this brings to mind the character played by Tom Hardy in Locke (2013). That makes one realise how that film, a masterpiece, was emotionally involving to an extent that Boiling Point fails to be. Nevertheless, this is a very good film, not just on account of the acting but due to Philip Barantini's ability to make us share in the world his film depicts. It is shot in widescreen but comes across as intimate and the single take plays a part in achieving that.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Stephen Graham, Vinette Robinson, Alice Feetham, Jason Flemyng, Hannah Walters, Malachi Kirby, Izuka Hoyle, Taz Skylar, Lauryn Ajufo, Thomas Coombes, Ray Panthaki, Lourdes Faberes, Daniel Larkai.
Dir Philip Barantini, Pro Hester Ruoff and Bart Ruspoli, Screenplay Philip Barantini and James Cummings, Ph Matthew Lewis, Pro Des Aimee Meek, Ed Alex Fountain, Music Aaron May and David Ridley, Costumes Karen Smyth.
Ascendant Films/Burton Fox Films/Urban Way Productions/White Hot Productions-Vertigo Releasing.
95 mins. UK. 2021. US Rel: 19 November 2021. UK Rel: 7 January 2022. Cert. 15 .