Horst_In_Translation Review of Der Koch

Der Koch (2014)

This film was far from being as delicious as the food in here (and Jessica)

[4/10 · 1 May 2017]

"Der Koch" is a German movie from 2014 that is also mostly in the German language, even if there are parts in other languages on rare occasions because of the diversity of the cast and portrayed characters. The director is Ralf Huettner, who is mostly known for "Vincent will Meer" and the two writers are Ruth Toma (screenplay) and Martin Suter (novel), who are both really prolific in their careers and have worked on pieces that left a lasting impression in the world of film as well, at least here in Germany. But today we are talking about this one here. The most known cast member for me is Jessica Schwarz and she also gave the best performance. There are actors from all kinds of regions actually in here, also outside of Europe and this includes (at least in terms of origin) Hamza Jeetooa, who is the male lead in here. I am not sure if he is lead actor material really. He may have been too weak at times to really carry the film with his performance. Sure Schwarz wasn't perfect either and she profits a lot from playing next to forgettable performers and characters, but especially next to the really weak Yrsa Daley-Ward she seemed like a revelation. So it is also not a surprise really that Schwarz's early erotic scene with Jeetooa is the highlight of the movie as it was done very tastefully and I also would call it inspiring. So maybe even if the food/sex story was a bit exaggerated at times, it was still better and more memorable than all the stuff about the central character's family and romance and the antagonist was also not too memorable. The final quote about how you can basically turn sweet into salty, but not evil into good was definitely a bit on the pretentious side. As a whole, I believe this 105-minute film (including credits) had too many weaknesses, lengths and uninteresting parts to really make a difference or live up to the premise. I have not read the book it is based on, so no idea if the problem is the original work or the script here. Probably a mix of all this and add in the forgettable performances too. The ending was also nothing special at all and really more on the showy side (the death) and the try-hard side (the very ending) than in any way impactful or poetic or touching. I give "The Cook" a thumbs-down. Not recommended.