Gereon Wetzel's documentary, out now, is extraordinarily absorbing, and The First Grader has old-school charm in a 21st-century postcolonial context.
El Bulli: Cooking in Progress
If the words “molecular gastronomy” conjure images of food that squirts, foams or wobbles, causing you to take refuge in a safe pie, never fear. The term isn’t ever used in El Bulli: Cooking in Progress, but by the end you’ll have seen enough to understand what it’s trying to do. Which turns out to be no more threatening than what those bakers who make gourmet pies are trying to do: be creative.
Still, there’s more to it than stuffing pastry. For six months of the year, Spain’s Ferran Adrià and his chefs de cuisine close up El Bulli, their Michelin three-star restaurant on the Costa Brava, and repair to Barcelona. In a lab equipped with liquid nitrogen, vacuumisers and laptops, they engage in full-on R&D to find 35 dishes for the new season’s dégustation menu. Their international reputation for the avant-garde is such that the stakes are high, and director Gereon Wetzel patiently captures their intense concentration and meticulousness as they experiment with ingredients, flavours and processes, shooting close on faces, hands and reactions to Adrià’s sometimes terse judgments on their offerings. No MasterChef tears here; just a stoic dedication to discovering something “magical” that also “makes sense”.
It’s not all furrow-browed seriousness. A local vendor grouches at them for only buying five grapes; there are moments of serendipity and mistakes that turn out to be brilliant; and technical conversations are punctuated by much licking of fingers. But the tone – much like the food – is of coolheaded restraint; Wetzel aims to show the discipline and professionalism, and even when it’s showtime and he moves his camera back to the restaurant, he never visits the dining room or engages with the diners; he stays with the professionals and their strict procedures and rituals. This is a backstage story told with an observational camera, eavesdropping on discussions rather than using interviews and voiceover, and the minimalist ambience aptly reflects the contemplative mood of research.
The effect is extraordinarily absorbing, because even if you don’t care for the food – and this is probably not one of those films that sends you running off to the nearest eatery – you’ll have a new appreciation of food as creative endeavour: culinary alchemy for the senses, by way of science and art. And with Adrià closing the restaurant this year to focus solely on research, this documentary is a timely marking of a milestone in that endeavour.
EL BULLI: COOKING IN PROGRESS, directed by Gereon Wetzel.
Inspired by a news item about an 84-year-old Kenyan man turning up to attend his village primary school, The First Grader presents itself as a warm-hearted tale of individual determination. Yet despite its old-school charm, a 21st-century social and political context of postcolonial healing lends an edge, complicating and exposing its characters motives.
Maruge is the old man who decides to take literally the Government’s newly announced policy of free education for all. He has a letter he wants to be able to read himself. This letter injects a certain mystery into the narrative but his outer story dominates, in which he overcomes teacher Jane’s misgivings, then goes on to inspire her, his young classmates and the wider world with his battle to keep his right to be educated. In between, flashbacks revealing his part in the Mau Mau Uprising against the British 50 years earlier serve to reinforce that right.
Ann Peacock’s script doesn’t avoid the harsh realities of Maruge’s past, and of the consequences of his present fight ± jealousy, corruption, media exploitation. But they’re not over-egged. The intent is to uplift, and in this the film is helped by its cast: Naomie Harris as Jane, Oliver Litondo as a delightful Maruge, and especially the real country children, whose naturalness testifies to sensitive shooting and direction. And, finally, there’s the rare and beautiful look at Kenya, modern and rural.
THE FIRST GRADER, directed by Justin Chadwick.
Click here for more reviews by Helene Wong; here for reviews and stories by David Larsen.