In fact, this movie basically has nothing to do with warmth. Even this movie named "Toast" is not even a gourmet movie, let alone a feast for the eyes. In the first half of the film, the food that appeared was nothing more than canned vegetables, unbaked cakes, and ugly sandwiches.
Everything sucks. Perhaps buttered and browned toast is the only passable food. In fact, this is the only food that Nigel's mother, who died young, can get her hands on.
Because of his mother's poor cooking skills, Nigel in his childhood lived in endless fantasies about food. This illusion even prompted him to sneak through the exquisite recipes in bed at night. To make matters worse, this family with unsatisfactory diet also lacks warmth. Nigel has an authoritarian and irritable father, who often scolds him. However, a man has to love a woman more in order to endure food that is hard to swallow day after day. He even deliberately said that the pasta was unpalatable because his son made a delicious meal of pasta, and he was afraid of embarrassing his wife, and once again blamed his son.
But how can you not love the person who cooks toast for you? The child's love for the mother is unconditional, and this love automatically turns into a naked hostility to her stepmother when she arrives. But the stepmother is also a master culinary master. Between love and stomach, it is a contest between heaven and human. In order to compete with his stepmother, Nigel took a home economics class in middle school that only girls would take. Because he didn't want to stay at home on weekends, Nigel went to work in restaurants in town. The war between the two ignited completely on the meringue lemon pie, but it collapsed instantly because of the death of Nigel's father. The 17-year-old Nigel packed his bags and found a job in the kitchen. So I opened a new story.
The movie "Toast" is adapted from the autobiography of the same name by British national chef Nigel Slater. The subtitle of the autobiography is The Story of a Boy's Hunger. From this title, it is not difficult to see how pitiful the taste experience of this famous chef in his childhood is. Today, Nigel has published 7 cookbooks and hosted Simper Suppers on BBC1. Strictly speaking, he is not a chef, but more like an amateur media person who studies culinary skills. Every book he publishes is simple and easy food that can be made in his own kitchen. He also believes that it is more important to make food that is true to your own taste than to please others, and the happiness of the soul experienced in this process is difficult to enjoy in other things.
But in the movie, this kind of "soul happiness" derived from food is not shown. In the first half of the movie, the food is tortured. In the second half of the movie, food is a challenge. The passion and fun that are usually contained in other food films are all invisible in "Toast". The movie shows a hungry boy's desire for food to the fullest. And Nigel will become a chef in the future, partly because of this desire, and partly because of his stepmother's craftsmanship during the long war. At least, he learned how to make the most delicious meringue lemon pie.
I personally believe that as a well-known chef in the UK, Nigel has today's achievements and popularity. The first person to thank should be the stepmother who has been at odds with him for a long time. Good cooking requires love, but love alone cannot make good cooking. The first step in French chef training is to teach the chef how to eat. The discerning and sensitive taste buds are far more basic than craftsmanship. It is precisely because of the existence of Nigel's stepmother who is good at cooking, that the haze of the previous bad diet has been swept away, so that Nigel's tongue can taste the most delicious.
On Nigel's personal website, in addition to his profile and books, "gardening" occupies a considerable section. As for the meaning of gardening to Nigel, it is not difficult to get the answer in the movie. In the movie, Nigel's mother never buys fresh vegetables, all food comes from canned food. The first person to let Nigel taste the taste of fresh radish was the gardener at home. This gardener also gave Nigel an interest in men for the first time. In the movie, young Nigel peeks at the gardener changing clothes, implicitly but with clear intentions. This thread was interrupted for a long time, and finally succeeded when Nigel grew up to 16 years old. In the restaurant where he was working, he met the ballet dancers who allowed him to face his inner choices. The kissing scene in the woods should make many rotten girls excited. But before, when choosing elective courses, the film has given hints. Boys choose carpentry, girls choose housekeeping, it is clear that only Nigel raised his hand with the girl amidst the laughter of the crowd. This division is like the 1994 gay movie "Strawberry and Chocolate": men choose chocolate-flavored ice cream and women choose strawberry-flavored ice cream. And the man holding the pink strawberry ice cream is gay.
As a result, a mixture of teenage growth, sexual choice, family tenderness, and a touch of diet, is the "Toast" presented in front of the audience. In different passages, this movie can remind people of different movies. For example, the conversation between Nigel and his partner reminds people of the French film "Naughty Nicolas". The swaying floral skirt and vinyl turntable are a bit reminiscent of the hot retro film "Growth Education" last year. Even in the 1960s, the class differences in Britain seemed to be reflected in the film in a little bit—such as the middle-class Nigel father and the working-class stepmother. For such a movie with so many elements, it is futile to classify it into any kind of movie genre. Come in the autobiography, go in the autobiography, it is better to simply call it an autobiographical movie.
The BBC obviously attaches great importance to its own host. This film funded by the BBC has a very dazzling cast. The stepmother is played by Helena Bonham Carter. And Nigel's juvenile actor is the child star Freddie Highmore, who is also the "Charlie" in "Charlie's Chocolate Factory". It is rare for Xiaozheng not to step on the tragic path of a child star and become a beautiful boy with long legs. And to Aunt Helena on the screen, people couldn't help sighing "beauty is late." The English rose in "The Room with a View" and the beautiful lady who walked out of Shakespeare's play in "Twelfth Night" are gone forever. The beauty of the year has been replaced by a big-waisted British aunt. Fortunately, years stole his face, but gave him acting skills. For Helena, a somewhat neurotic and somewhat contradictory role like the stepmother is clearly familiar. She dangling cigarettes for cleaning, confronted her stepson tit for tat, and cried after her husband died holding Nigel, sometimes strong, sometimes vulgar and sometimes fragile, naturally not pretentious in her body. No matter how tough a woman is, her heart is soft, just like meringue lemon pie.
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