Boiling Point

Plot

Andy Jones is head chef of Jones & Sons, an upmarket restaurant in London. Andy is embarrassed to learn that his restaurant has been downgraded from a Food Hygiene Rating of 5 to a 3 following an audit by a food inspector, mostly due to insufficient administration and subpar sanitation at several work stations: new cold chef Camille washed her hands in the food preparation sink; while demi-chef Tony was not wearing gloves shucking oysters, thus risking cross-contamination.

After the inspector leaves, Andy reprimands the kitchen staff for their lack of thoroughness, albeit backtracks upon learning the turbot he prepared earlier was discarded by the inspector for being unlabelled. Front of house manager Beth calls a meeting to discuss the evening's service being overbooked and warns short-fused saucier Freeman about his loud swearing. She then mentions they have a marriage proposal at one table; and also, a booking for celebrity chef Alastair Skye (with whom Andy previously worked) plus his guest, Sara Southworth—a known food critic. Andy is frustrated that Beth didn't forewarn him in time to prepare.

During dinner service, conflict begins to brew in the kitchen and dining room. Beth annoys the kitchen staff with micromanagement; the intended proposal girlfriend Mary's nut allergy was not entered into the system beforehand, irritating sous-chef Carly; Andrea, a black waitress, is treated with hostility by an aggressive racist guest, in contrast to her white colleague, Robyn; young pastry chef Jamie is revealed to be self-harming, but is comforted by mentor Emily; Sophia, a pregnant kitchen porter, spars with lazy, disrespectful co-worker Jake; the French Camille struggles with Andy's scouse and other British regional accents; and Tony feels out of his element at an atypical station.

Tension is further exacerbated when Beth demands the already-stressed chef Carly go off-menu by preparing steak and chips to appease a group of "influencer" guests. When a lamb dish is returned for being supposedly undercooked, Carly berates Beth. She blames Beth for neither properly instructing her staff nor entering guests' food allergies into the system beforehand. She scolds her for failing the restaurant with her insufficiency, and that no staff member likes her. Carly is also outraged to learn indirectly that she will not be getting a wage increase. Beth retreats to the toilets in tears, admitting to her father, the owner, on the phone that she feels inadequate.

Production

Boiling Point was directed by Philip Barantini and written by Barantini and James Cummings. It is an expansion of a 2019 short film of the same name, also directed by Barantini and starring Graham, which was nominated for British Independent Film Award.

Boiling Point is a drama film, filmed in one take (which Walters claims is the first one-shot film ever made) by cinematographer Matthew Lewis. It was shot in a real restaurant called Jones & Sons in Dalston, London, with the character of Andy Jones being named after Barantini's friend who owns the restaurant.

The film was significantly improvised or workshopped, rather than fully scripted. There were two weeks of rehearsal for the film, one with the camera man and director; and the second with the full cast. This was followed by one week of filming. It was planned to do two takes per night, but the crew only did four takes in total, selecting the third take as the final film. It was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, just before a lockdown. The film wrapped in March 2020.

Release

The film premiered at the 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on 23 August 2021, and in the UK at the London Film Festival on 10–11 October 2021.

It was released in UK cinemas on 7 January 2022.

The film was released on free-to-air streaming channels Channel 4 in the UK and SBS on Demand in Australia in September 2023.

Reception

Box office

In the United Kingdom, the film earned $107,525 from 53 cinemas in its opening weekend. The film went on to gross $1,142,493 worldwide.

Critical response

The film received critical acclaim, receiving many positive reviews in the British and European press after the festival screenings. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 99% of 67 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Gripping from start to finish, Boiling Point uses its bold formal approach to support a thrilling tightrope of a tale." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 73 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

After the Karlovy screening, Peter Bradshaw wrote "There's lots of drive here and the pace doesn't flag: it actually becomes most interesting when there isn't anything obviously dramatic happening..." and praised Graham's acting in particular, saying "He has presence, potency and force". He did have some reservations, commenting on "a fair few stagey arguments", and gave the film 3 out of 5 in The Guardian. Mark Kermode, writing in The Observer after the film's cinematic release, gave the film four stars, calling it "a nerve-jangling night in hell's kitchen".

Glenn Kenny of The New York Times noted in regard to the film's one-shot nature that, "when [the camera] trails a restaurant worker taking out the rubbish, the viewer knows they're not being removed from the central action just to observe labour — there's a plot point to be ticked".

2019 short film

Boiling Point is a 2019 short film directed by Philip Barantini and starring Stephen Graham. It is a one-shot film set in a restaurant kitchen during the busy run-up to Christmas. The film was the basis of the later 2021 film and 2023 television programme of the same name.

TV series

A continuation TV series, also titled Boiling Point, began airing on BBC One in October 2023, with Graham, Robinson, and Walters reprising their roles. Barantini directed the first two episodes, with James Cummings returning as writer.