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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
KINGS OF PASTRY Food is food and art is art, and sometimes, like in the documentary Kings of Pastry, they combine to an entertaining, even arresting effect. Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker’s new feature follows three contestants as they prep for and then compete in the Meilleur Ouvrier de France. The competition, a three-day baking marathon, challenges the expertise and creativity of French pastry chefs as they create fantastical sculptures of sugar, chocolate, and dough. At the end of the contest, only the best may claim the coveted red, white, and blue collar that declares them M.O.F.s—Best Craftsman of France. The crew films chefs Jacquy Pfeiffer, Philippe Rigollot, and Régis Lazard during their tense final weeks of prep as well as their stints in the actual competition. Though all three men are unquestionably experts in their chosen field, due to sheer charisma (and probably the budget) the filmmakers choose to focus on Chicago-based Pfeiffer. With a wide, boyish smile and a cheerful demeanor, he looks more like a high school history teacher than a master pastry chef. In fact, all three of the chefs are initially mild-mannered and, in Lazard’s case, almost shy. Seemingly, this is hardly the stuff of attention-grabbing cinema. Nonetheless, as shows like Top Chef (and the entire Food Network) has proven, America is fascinated with food—eating it, preparing it, criticizing it. And for better or for worse, American that I am, Kings of Pastry slowly drew me in. Maybe it’s the French, maybe it’s the glory shots of sugar, dough, and frosting (albeit there’s an overly indulged love of the zoom lens). But mostly, the focused intensity of the chefs gives the movie its tension and drive. When one contestant shatters his sugar sculpture into a thousand different pieces, you hear his heart breaking with the confection, and a little of yours breaks along with it. Kings of
Pastry
won’t win any awards, and it will probably barely
register in a genre that is known for its heavy subjects and glut of
films zeroing on various competitions. But passion always translates.
Whether it’s a passion for art or a passion for music, or even a passion
for pastry, watching people do what they love is always entertaining
and almost always satisfying. Kings of Pastry succeeds on both
levels.
Lisa Bernier
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