Nose To Tail: Smart, Unflinching Canuck Indie Lives Day-in-the-Life of Monster Chef
By Liam Lacey
Rating: A
“Nose to Tail” is a term popularized by British chef and cookbook author Fergus Henderson, and refers to eating every part of an animal, including offal and hooves. In the case of the Canadian film of the same title, it refers to the protagonist, Daniel (Aaron Abrams), a prima donna chef-owner of a small artisanal restaurant. Here the term means something like “all in” or fully committed.
Nose To Tail, the debut film from Toronto-raised director Jesse Zigelstein, opens with a memorable double image of Daniel and his mirror image, as he wakes hungover in his cubbyhole office, face planted on his desk, with a tell-tale empty bottle next to him. Running a little more than 80 minutes, set over a day and night — mostly within the confines of an intimate restaurant — the movie proceeds in a rat-in-a-box scrambling pace, as Daniel lurches from one confrontation to another, with the occasional breather for a quiet meltdown.
Read our interview with Jesse Zigelstein
After mainlining coffee, Daniel goes into battle mode. He criticizes his chef, fresh from the early-morning market trip. Then he insults his sommelier, gets a visit from his landlord, and starts to steam about the food truck and pop star chef (Jason Tome) who has parked across the street. There are other issues: He stood up his sometimes-sleeping buddy and the restaurant’s manager, Chloe (Lara Jean Chorostecki). And his French wife (Carolina Bartczak) shows up with their eight-year-old son because Daniel forgot it’s his day to be a parent.
True to the beleaguered-chef-movie formula, everything is falling apart, and everything depends on one big night. This time, it’s a dinner with a potential investor who can turn the fate of the restaurant around. Just don’t expect this to wrap up with a sugary confection and a generous tip.
Nose To Tail plays on the contemporary interest in the hipster/monster star chef but it’s also infused with real suspense for Daniel’s mental health. Abrams (the television series Hannibal, Blindspotting, and a bunch of Canadian indie movies) has a wolfish charisma with a gift for fast-switching emotional gears, and the dialogue is certainly funny (the narcissistic Danny can’t decide whether a disloyal employee is a Brutus or a Judas). But the amusement comes with a dark kick in a script that doesn’t flinch from recognizing how noxious these self-styled bad boys can be in real life.
Like the small bistro that is the film’s setting, Nose To Tail is minimal and uncompromising in the details, from the delicious tasting dishes onscreen to the retro jazzy score from Ben Fox, that propels the action forward.
Nose to Tail. Written and directed by Jesse Zigelstein. Starring Aaron Abrams, Lara Jean Chorostecki, Salvatore Antonio, Ennis Esmer, Brandon McKnight, Carolina Bartczak, Genevieve Kang, Robert B. Kennedy and Jason Tome. Opens February 14 at the Imagine Carlton Cinema in Toronto, The Landmark Cinemas in Winnipeg, and The Globe Cinema in Calgary.