Director Philip Barantini Chats about his Boiling Point

Talk about dumb luck?! As I roamed the vast expanse of the internet recently doing research for an upcoming interview, I stumbled upon the trailer for a new film called Boiling Point. Without even knowing what the movie is about, I fortuitously watched the preview and felt oh so fortunate that I actually did. Not only did the trailer compel me to watch the film, but it also led me to seek a conversation with its director Philip Barantini.

Feature films about cooking aren’t exactly a dime a dozen, numbering only in the ballpark of 60 titles, so discovering not just a new one but a riveting, well-done offering was a welcome surprise. Barantini’s creative decision to shoot a one-take film added to my pre-viewing intrigue and post-viewing appreciation. In layman’s terms, the affable director made a movie sans any cuts or edits, choosing instead to take his audience on a 92-minute real-time journey through the life of an East London restaurant.

Finding myself fascinated with that decision, I asked Philip Barantini about filming Boiling Point in one take.

“We talked about the various different ways of shooting this, and there’s the obvious way of shooting it with all the edits and cuts and stuff. But the main reason why I wanted to do it in one take is because this is a slice of life. When you are in a restaurant service, it’s one take; you don’t get chances to skip forward for half an hour or go back 10 minutes or just quickly go over there for a minute and have a chat. So the idea was that it’s constantly moving forward, and you’ve gotta be on this train, in the same direction; otherwise, you’re gonna get left behind.

I didn’t want it to be a case of ‘look how clever we are doing this one take movie. It was a case of me wanting to add an extra layer of tension and more of a feeling of the camera being the audience’s eyes. So the audience is on this journey; they’re part of it. And the challenges that came with that were immense. I mean, once we decided to do it that way, that was it. We weren’t going back. There were certain people that said perhaps we should think about putting some hidden cuts in there so we could have a safety blanket. And I was like, no if we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do it all the way.

So you have to find actors that are able to work in that way. And then, the rehearsal process was quite extensive. We had like three weeks of rehearsal where we would just do the camera moves, and I would do it with my cinematographer. And we would just literally walk through the restaurant for hours and hours on end. And it becomes a muscle memory thing, not just for the camera, but for the actors and the crew and everybody involved; they all know instinctively what’s happening. And what’s coming next.

My job as a director is in all of the rehearsals because once I call action on the take, I’m hidden behind the walls watching a monitor, and I have no control over what’s going on. The challenge was just immense because you hope for the best and watch it play out. I definitely didn’t have any gray hairs before the movie, but I’ve got loads now.”

As fascinated as I was upon hearing Philip detail the process after seeing Boiling Point, I was equally as impressed by the cast’s collective outstanding performance. From Stephen Graham’s stirring turn as chef Andy Jones to Jason Flemyng’s portrayal of the desperately smarmy Alastair Skye, the film’s ensemble shines, but for me, Vinette Robinson steals the show as Carly, the tough-as-nails chef who maintains the restaurant’s tenuous hold on excellence.

Being unfamiliar with the British actress, I asked Philip Barantini to share his thoughts on Vinette and what I consider to be her star turn as Carly.

“I was so lucky to get Vinette on this. I’d said to Stephen Graham initially that everybody in that kitchen, all the staff, he would’ve hired them as a head chef. He would’ve handpicked every single member of the team. So I said it’s important that you have a big part in casting these actors. When we talked about the role of Carly, I gave him my ideas of what she was about. And the first person he mentioned, like I’ve just worked with this wonderful actress. She’s not a big name, but she’s incredible.

So I met her, and she just got it straight away. She understood the assignment, and she was just a joy, an absolute joy to work with. And it’s a really tough role because she didn’t have enough time to embody and become a chef, but we sent her to a couple of restaurants in the UK where she just shadowed chefs. She was able to soak that all up in such a short space of time, and what you see on screen is just her, hours and hours of her just becoming this chef. It was an incredible way of working, really, and she’s amazing.”

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As referenced earlier, films about cooking aren’t made every day, leaving me to ask Philip Barantini what spurred him to tell a restaurant-based story with Boiling Point.

“Well, I was an actor for 25 years, and during that time I needed to make some money, so I started working in kitchens. I worked my way from the bottom all the way to the top and became a head chef after ten years. I was a head chef for two years, and so over that time, those 12 years, I’d seen so much, the good, the bad, whatever happened. I thought if I ever make the transition to directing, I would love to set something in that world because it’s ripe for drama. And I’ve never seen anything that is truly representative of that world, from what I’d personally experienced. There’ve been some films and tv things that have been fine, but my personal experience is what you see in Boiling Point.”

I responded by wondering how Barantini melded his experience working in kitchens with simply being an everyday diner in restaurants to capture the realism in Boiling Point.

“People who are watching this movie, if they’ve worked in the industry, they can hopefully relate to certain parts of it, but if you haven’t worked in the industry, you’ve certainly eaten in restaurants. So you see it from that perspective. My plan for this movie was to show people a little bit behind the kitchen and to show what effort and hard work goes into creating this beautiful meal.”

The director added, chuckling, “My wife has to put up with me whenever we got out to dinner. I’m not as bad as I used to be, but if anything was slightly awful, something that I wasn’t happy with, I’d always bring it up with the wait staff. She used to hate me doing that. So I wanted to show that side of it as well. There are moments in the movie where you see awkward customers who are quite demanding, so if someone’s watching the movie who is demanding, maybe they can say ‘that’s me’ and think, ‘maybe I should be a bit kinder next time.’”

I shared with Philip Barantini that Boiling Point, for me, possesses a rugged elegance, which I admit is simply flowery prose for feeling authentic. Regardless of semantics, I wanted to know how he walked the delicate tightrope between presenting a world-class dining experience that is the film’s setting and the realism he captures through an array of story arcs within the film.

“You walk into a restaurant, and you’re not thinking about any of that stuff. You’re just thinking, I can’t wait to read the menu, and I can’t wait to order this. You shouldn’t be thinking about those other things like I wonder how in debt this company is or how many staff members have walked out this week or whatever. That’s behind the curtain, and that’s the illusion of it. So I think to find that sort of balance in the movie was important because I didn’t want to put people off going to restaurants.”

Diners aside, I asked Philip Barantini if he’s gotten any backlash from restaurants and restaurateurs as a result of Boiling Point pulling back the aforementioned curtain.

“It’s funny because we haven’t been released in the UK yet, I don’t wanna name any names, but we’ve had a couple of chefs, well-known chefs that are a little bit nervous about the movie coming out early next year. But everything in the movie is based on truth. It’s based on something that I’ve experienced or witnessed, every single thing in the movie. The majority of people who’ve seen it have been amazing and feel that it’s great for the industry.

My plan for this movie was never to go ‘look how crappy this industry is and look how bad you treat your staff.’ It was more a case of wanting to shine a light on stuff and not say that all chefs and all restaurants are evil. But there are some people out there that will take it personally, but at the end of the day, it’s about conversation. Let’s debate about it. And the more people debate about it, and the more people talk, then the more things will change for the better.”

In Boiling Point, Philip Barantini created a film that is enchanting and captivating, with equal parts engrossing and enticing being added to the word soup that best describes this phenomenal movie. So grab your popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the spellbinding ride that the director takes you on for 92 unedited minutes. You’ll remember Boiling Point, and you’ll remember the cinematic bravery Philip Barantini showed in delivering this one-take winner.

Watch Boiling Point on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, DirecTV, and other on-demand platforms.

What’s your favorite motion picture about cooking? Do you enjoy documentaries about chefs and restaurants?