Flux Gourmet

Like it or not Peter Strickland is going to be one of those directors that a will have a true cult appeal that will enable him to continue making films that he wants to make regardless of budget or profit. That said his budgets are likely to remain moderate but Strickland has demonstrated what he can do with limited resources. The only thing that isn’t limited is his imagination and Flux Gourmet yet again will surprise and revolt in unequal measure.

The setting is an institute that researches sonic cooking where an auditory-cuisine collective are working on their act of getting sounds out of food and channelling them into a performance and music. It is no doubt bizarre and its soon obvious what the targets are once we are introduced to the band and the arranger.

This is all narrated and recorded by Stones (Makis Papadimitriou) who has a progressive gastric problem that is embarrassing not least because he is sharing a room with the collective. They comprise of Billy (Asa Butterfield) Lamina (Ariane Labed) and leader Elle di Elle (Fatma Mohamed).

They are a barely functioning trio who are under stress, from their workshops, with the usual ‘musical differences’ with each having their own agenda. All overseen by the director of the institute Jan (Gwendoline Christie) who appreciates what they want to do but is happy to put a wedge between them as she tries to get something more coherent from them in the face of Elle’s purism.

So we have an absurd set up of various pots and pans, stewing and cooking while recording their intrinsic sound that is then interpreted by Elle. At the same time the house is full of other characters, who are each doing their bit. There are a few rules namely that they all go out for an early morning walk and eat together and are obliged to make an after-dinner speeches. Plus the institute is under attack by a rejected collective called the Mangrove Snaps, that fling terrapins through the windows.

With the principal guideline established and maybe repeated too often the story has to be padded out. That includes a number of weirdos such as Dr Glock (Richard Bremmer) who is pretentious ass while trying to cure Stones of his ailment. It’s Stones that is the token ‘normal’ person in this and thus proves to be lynch pin as the film goes further out on an edge.

That edge is not new and will be familiar to those who have experienced the likes of Greenaway and Pasolini. These instances serve to show up the pretension of certain parts of the art world and knowingly shock. There’s an archness to Flux Gourmet that could end up neutralising the film’s point which could be the point that Strickland is trying to make, or not.

The viewer may just end up not caring about any of this. On a more positive note, they acting is formidable with Christie actually quite playful as the gracefully assertive director of the institute.

Flux Gourmet is in cinemas now and streaming on Shudder.