8/5/13

Toast

This 2010 TV movie boasts some gently adult British humor centered around a petulant schoolboy who just wants a decent meal...and maybe some fresh vegetables. His ailing mother is strictly a canned peas kind of cook but she usually has to fall back to fresh toast.

Inspired by food writer, television personality and journalist Nigel Slater's memoir, this bio-pic set in the 1960s is all about FOOD. You've never seen cooking like his mum's; it's no wonder he wanted to do it himself. But wait until the cooking competition starts between him and his new step-mother.

Director S.J. Clarkson ("Bates Motel") used these ingredients:
  • Oscar Kennedy (Lots of TV) is young Nigel Slater, frustrated by his mother's cooking, his dad's short temper, and misled by a school chum's worldly advice.
  • Freddie Highmore ("August Rush") is adolescent Nigel, daring to follow his bliss and still striving for his father's approval.
  • Ken Stott ("One Day") is Dad, suffering from loneliness, bad digestion and a rebellious son.
  • Victoria Hamilton ("Lark Rise to Candleford") is Mum, it's no wonder she can't cook, she's very ill.
  • Helen Bonham Carter ("The King's Speech") is Mrs. Potter, that upstart from Council (Public) Housing who shows up in Nigel's home and seduces his father with her suggestive housekeeping moves. (You have to see it to believe it.)
Of major note is a beautiful father/son montage backed by Dusty Springfield singing "If You Go Away" that illustrates how much both of these fellows miss Mum. BTW, if you are tempted by luscious food, better stay away from this DVD! (But it DOES have Closed Captions.)
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Here's a nibble:
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2821824025/
* * * * * * * * * * * *