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Boiling Point takes in a Christmas-time service at a busy restaurant which deals with posh nosh, and on Mad Friday, which is the Friday before the big day.
One point of interest for me, is that this movie claims to be shot in one take. Lots of films claim that, but they rarely are. The longest of which I’m aware, is 2015’s Victoria, staring Laia Costa. A shorter example is Woody Harrelson’s Lost In London. However, 2015’s Birdman, and the recent One Shot, definitely have joins.
Kicking off with a food inspector checking around, he finds a number of problems, thus knocking their hygiene rating down from a 5 to a 3 – which sets off head chef Andy Jones (Stephen Graham – Help, The Walk-In) like a rocket. He’s constantly on Stress Farm, and forever taking sips from his water bottle. Not surprising when their rating is reduced due to problems such as throwing away expensive food because it wasn’t labelled, as well as some staff seen erroneously washing their hands in the food preparation sink.
There’s also the stress of having food critic Sara Southworth in for dinner service, plus a manageress who’s out of her depth because she doesn’t understand how complex making such meals can be, some staff aren’t trained properly, there’s a customer who has allergies and requires their food to be nut-free, as well as dealing with crazy-grumpy customers ordering £200 bottles of red wine, yet having zero pounds’ worth of nice behaviour.
Boiling Point 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.
The film frequently chops and changes between the cast members, so everyone gets a turn. Plus, a couple of characters have to cry/well-up on cue, which is quite something for any film, let alone a a one-take movie. Yes, I know there’s a ‘tear stick’ they can use, but trying to fit that in without being seen, when the camera is ducking and diving all over the place?
One-take movies are like stage plays, because there’s no retakes, and anything can go wrong.
As a film, Boiling Point is engaging, but as difficult as it must be to create a one-shot movie – and I really didn’t spot any joins* – it’s not as complex in its plotting as, say, the aforementioned Victoria.
(*it’s confirmed in the extras, below, that it IS a one-shot take)
The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio, in 1080p on a single disc, and the picture looks superb, as you’d expect for a modern film, and no issues with the image at all, so it gets across the mix of the heat of a busy restaurant and a perfectly-lit set, given that it’s filmed late in the evening.
The extras are as follows:
- Boiling Over: An interview with producer Hester Rouff (21:42): Ms Rouff talks about how they were shooting right up until two days before the first lockdown, in March 2020 (since they started that January), and the difficulties of planning exactly where the camera goes, so it won’t bump into anyone, and rehearsed it all like a choreographed dance.
Plus, some improvisation to the script was allowed, as long as they kept in the key plot points.
- Pot Boiler: An interview with producer Bart Ruspoli (19:54): As with Hester’s interview, Mr Ruspoli talks about how they intended to have 8 final takes, but they only ended up with two due to either camera faults or the Lockdown.
Plus, some crew were dressed as waiters so they could blend in, while making sure the film went as smoothly as possible; and how the one-take aspect is meant to immerse you in it all, and wasn’t used as a gimmick.
- Simmering Steady: An interview with writer James Cummings (21:11): Mr Cummings talks about how some elements of the film were changed on-the-fly because of how the flow went on the night, amongst other elements.
- The Making Of Boiling Point (40:13): Almost half the length of the main feature, the director talks us through how it started as a short film, and then became a full-length movie, and was shot in January 2020 onwards.
The short film which spawned this movie was a 20-minute film, and was going to be the intro to the rest of it – the 20 minutes being the only part that was in one take, but then that became the whole thing. There’s also chat from several other cast and crew members, including how they had to cut a scene outside using a cab, because they couldn’t get a vehicle with a high enough roof to fit a camera rig.
My only complaint is that the short film… where is it?! You had the perfect opportunity to put it on here, but noooooo!
- Two Audio Commentaries: One with actors Jason Flemyng and Ray Panthaki, and one with producers Hester Ruoff, Bart Ruspoli and writer James Cummings.
The menu just features several images of Stephen Graham overlapping each other, all in a burning red colour, with the audio of a busy restaurant’s hubbub. There are subtitles in English only, but just 12 chapters? Why do we only ever get so few from most distributors?
Note that I only had the regular Blu-ray disc for review (and those extras are included in the total below), but when you buy the Limited Edition, you’ll also get the following, which I haven’t seen:
- Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Andrew Bannister
- 70-page soft cover book with new essays by Howard Gorman, Clarisse Loughrey and Christina Newland plus exclusive interview with Cinematographer Matthew Lewis by Matthew Thrift
- 6 collectors’ art cards
Boiling Point is out now on Limited Edition Blu-ray and Amazon Video.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
7 10 8 5 |
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OVERALL |
7.5 |
Cert: 
Running time: 92 minutes
Year: 2021
Chapters: 12
Cat.No: 2NDBR4165
Distributor: Second Sight
Released: November 21st 2022
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Language: English
Audio: DTS 5.1
Widescreen: 2.35:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Philip Barantini
Producers: Hester Ruoff, Bart Ruspoli
Screenplay: Philip Barantini, James Cummings
Music: Aaron May, David Ridley
Cast:
Andy Jones: Stephen Graham
Carly: Vinette Robinson
Beth: Alice Feetham
Freeman: Ray Panthaki
Emily: Hannah Walters
Tony: Malachi Kirby
Camille: Izuka Hoyle
Billy: Taz Skylar
Andrea: Lauryn Ajufo
Alastair Skye: Jason Flemyng
Sara Southworth: Lourdes Faberes
Jake: Daniel Larkai
Frank: Robbie O’Neill
Robyn: Áine Rose Daly
Mary: Rosa Escoda
Jamie: Stephen McMillan
Mr. Lovejoy: Thomas Coombes
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.