The Menu
By Paul Weissman November 18, 2022
A ruthless, barbed-wire black comedy and social satire with razor sharp performances.
A ruthless, barbed-wire black comedy and social satire with razor sharp performances.
A stimulating example of giving-it-all filmmaking for art’s sake that might not be perfect or cohesive, but it’s restless fun and uncompromising.
Five years after writer/director Ruben Östlund won the Palme d’Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, he triumphed again with his latest darkly satiric romp.
As an auteur filmmaker, Penélope Cruz presumably sends up the directors that she’s surely had to contend with in her career.
Saying that this is Peter Strickland’s most accessible film to date, which it is, in no way means that it is accessible.
Radu Munteanu’s mordant comedy slides from a Romanian Green Acres to the grotesque.
Two more Radu Jude films torch Romanian ignorance, authoritarianism, and poltroonery. The borderline-bonkers Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn churns with incendiary ideas, while Uppercase Print condemns Ceausescu–era repression with clunky sincerity.
A creative couple explores artistry and love in this whimsical adventure and beguiling fantasy.