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Boiling Point (2023) follows on from the 2021 movie, which hasn’t yet aired on regular telly – the fact of which does seem rather an odd mis-step, but if you have Netflix, you can see it there.
Although it was a very good film – but not a brilliant one – take my hat off to anyone involved in a film which is shot all in one take, and it was stunning, simply for that.
I’ll try to avoid spoilers for those who haven’t seen the movie, but the cooking action moves to a different restaurant – Point North – now run by Andy Jones’ (Stephen Graham – The Virtues) former sous chef, Carly (Vinette Robinson – Six Four), now as the head chef, albeit with a lot of the same team.
As with the movie, the restaurant is rammed and they have an important guest. They’ve also had a lot of walk-ins, and new chef Johnny (Stephen Odubola) joining the team. In the opener, some potential investors who want to talk to Carly about the food on her own menu, although they do come across as complete arseholes. Meanwhile, Johnny is showing he’s not exactly the best at his job, as a particularly expensive steak looks like it’s been chargrilled by dragon breath.
Similarly, Carly’s having personal issues because her mum, Vivian – played by Cathy Tyson (Help) – isn’t well, and outside of the restaurant, Andy is still coming to terms with the events of the movie, which led to him not exactly feeling at his best.
While the entire movie was shot in one take, this time round, it’s just the opening 11 minutes before the opening credits. Still, it includes some moments when staff members bump into each other, as well as almost dropping the food when they take it out into the restaurant.
Even without the one-take camera, Boiling Point 2023 is still a gripping drama for the most part, and it also introduces some home-life elements for most of the cast. The film perfectly gets across the tensions in a restaurant, and having worked in one, it certainly encapsulates a lot of the issues I experienced… well, I say restaurant, but it was a Little Chef. Still full of ungrateful customers, though.
In this opener to the series, the dialogue does get a bit muffled amongst the shouting, so for further episodes, I’ll watch those on iPlayer, and all four will be available from day one.
Boiling Point (2023) begins on tomorrow on BBC1 at 9pm, and is available to pre-order on DVD, ahead of the release on October 30th. On day one, the whole series will be on the BBC iPlayer.
You can also buy the movie on Limited Edition Blu-ray.
Director: Philip Barantini
Producer: Graham Drover
Screenplay: James Cummings
Music: Aaron May, David Ridley
Cast:
Andy Jones: Stephen Graham
Carly: Vinette Robinson
Freeman: Ray Panthaki
Emily: Hannah Walters
Camille: Izuka Hoyle
Johnny Bale: Stephen Odubola
Vivian: Cathy Tyson
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.