Flux Gourmet

At a secluded manor house, an twentieth-century sonic catering joint uncork a new residency at the dictate of prim distributor Jan Stevens (Gwendoline Christie). This unconventional art form involves turning the sounds of supplies and cooking into performance via microphones and synthesisers.

For anyone who has seen Peter Strickland‘s 2012 full-length Berberian Sound Studio, it all may sound a little familiar. Yet without the haunted dress topic of 2018’s In Fabric, in a way Strickland tells a increasingly straightforward story, which nevertheless is perhaps his strangest to date.

The joint consists of visionary Elle di Elle (Strickland regular Fatma Mohamed) and her two technicians, Billy (Asa Butterfield) and Lamina (Ariane Labed). Their residency is to be documented by journalist Stones (Makis Papadimitriou), who is – coincidentally – stuff treated for digestion ailments by the in-house doctor, Dr Glock (Richard Bremmer). Reflecting on the events in his narration, there’s a sense from the off that things aren’t going to end well for at least one of the key players.

Delving into the world of egg fetishes and scat with uncommon aplomb, Strickland’s trademark absurdist humour is in full gravity in Flux Gourmet, as he unchangingly pushes the boundaries of good taste and decency. As the collective’s residency continues, tensions between Elle and Jan Stevens flair, while a rival sonic catering group, The Mangrove Snacks, rationalization various disruptions virtually the facility.

The plotting is only loose as Strickland is increasingly interested in philosophising well-nigh the relationship between humans and supplies than he is presenting a straightforward narrative. The dinners full-length diatribes well-nigh gender roles in the kitchen and a young man’s sexual awakening. There’s quite a lot to digest, and not all of it goes lanugo easy, but it’s nonflexible to fault Strickland’s yearing and imagination.

Christie’s performance as the overbearing mistress of ceremonies is particularly enjoyable, and the game tideway of all parties when it comes to the increasingly unsightly side of digestion midpoint the mucosa avoids undermining its own gleefully ross streak. It’s likely to prove divisive, but Strickland has never been a stranger to a spot of cinematic marmite.

Little White Lies is single-minded to championing unconfined movies and the talented people who make them.

By rhadamanthine a member you can support our self-sustaining journalism and receive sectional essays, prints, monthly mucosa recommendations and more.