Tasting Menu

A spoiler light review of Tasting Menu should begin with tone, because Roger Gual understands exactly how this comedy ought to feel. Tasting Menu gains early credibility from Jan Cornet, whose presence is balanced by the different rhythm of Claudia Bassols. The foundation of Tasting Menu can be stated simply: As one of the world's best restaurants opens for its final evening, a couple in the midst of a divorce who made their reservation a year prior reunite for a once in lifetime meal. Within its 1h 25m running time, Tasting Menu reveals both the benefits and the limits of that disciplined approach.

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Tasting Menu gains much of its identity from well judged reactions, a choice that makes the world readable as well as attractive. The contribution of Subotica allows Tasting Menu to combine well judged reactions with a consistent visual language. Within its Spain setting, Tasting Menu makes particularly good use of performer rhythm when the story needs to change scale. Sound and editing preserve the personality of Tasting Menu by supporting detail instead of announcing every intended response.

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As director of Tasting Menu, Roger Gual proves more promising in concept than persuasive in execution in the transitions between intimate material and larger demands. A strong scene in Tasting Menu often begins with a modest detail before Roger Gual lets its meaning expand. For Tasting Menu, committed work cannot fully overcome the structural weakness because the central tone remains visible even during busy passages. The weakness in Tasting Menu is that relationships remain too thin for later consequences to carry weight, although Roger Gual usually finds the original rhythm again.

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Rather than summarise every event in Tasting Menu, it is enough to note how the central character places an important relationship under growing pressure. Jan Cornet gives that tension a face, which stops Tasting Menu from becoming a mechanical sequence of developments. Javier Calvo uses a difficult choice to widen the stakes of Tasting Menu without losing sight of the original problem. Where the wider conflict becomes predictable, Tasting Menu recovers interest through the consequences surrounding it.

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The acting in Tasting Menu is anchored by Jan Cornet, who treats even functional scenes as opportunities to reveal character. Claudia Bassols answers that approach with a different energy, giving Tasting Menu welcome friction whenever the pace begins to settle. Around them, Vicenta N'Dongo helps Tasting Menu feel like an ensemble piece rather than a vehicle with decorative support. Under Roger Gual, the performances in Tasting Menu share a tone even when the writing gives them unequal depth.

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Tasting Menu uses its comedy framework to consider embarrassment, status and the gap between confidence and reality. For the character played by Jan Cornet, that idea gives Tasting Menu stakes beyond the next immediate obstacle. The recurring pressure of an important relationship prevents the theme in Tasting Menu from feeling like decoration added after the story. Roger Gual makes Tasting Menu more thoughtful whenever the implications remain inside action and reaction.

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For comedy fans who respond to personality and timing, Tasting Menu is ultimately a difficult recommendation despite several capable contributions. Its most persuasive combination in Tasting Menu brings Jan Cornet together with performer rhythm under the direction of Roger Gual. The fact that relationships remain too thin for later consequences to carry weight prevents Tasting Menu from being entirely seamless. Even with that reservation, Tasting Menu has a clear point of view and enough genuine feeling to justify the journey.