Movie A Day: THREE STARS

Three Stars (Germany, 2010)

Director Lutz Hachmeister

Lutz Hachmeister’s broad deconstruction of the triumph and tyranny of the Michelin Guide gastronomical system is surely ambitious- his ten subjects bearing the infamous three-star cordon span three continents and dozens of kitchens- yet the too-broad structure, lack of narrative momentum, and shockingly uninspired cinematography leave this otherwise promising dish painfully bland.

Gastrophiles aside, there is much meat to consider here- from the inherent bureaucratic inconsistencies of the system itself, to the self-immobilization of celebrity, to the fascinatingly diverse cultural constructs of consumerist honorifics. However, these and other delicacies are too often dangled tantalizingly out of reach under Hachmeister’s plodding fascination with mundane ritual. Surprisingly (or not), the food-porn fascination moments prove far less moving than the achingly rare moments of intimacy and revelation of their creators. We reminded that to achieve- and keep- the three star rating is the most important feat of the culinary world, yet we are seldom allowed to indulge in the anxieties and devastation of those who are scared to death of losing or earning them. More moments of fragility and desperation (as in the achingly devastating suicide of famed chef Bernard Loiseau) might have proved the plat principal of the film; instead the stale presentations and poorly executed interviews render a potentially great dish cold.

-Jack Hanley