The Food Network has transformed the restaurant business into a culture, and chefs into celebrities. The idea is the same, but the execution is a little more self-involved. Documentary film is an inevitable byproduct of any given culture, so I suppose that SPINNING PLATES had to be made eventually. There's nothing wrong with this documentary. The subjects are complex and engaging, the production is slick and easy on the eyes. There's nothing wrong, but it felt wrong to watch. It felt odd, to be more precise. SPINNING PLATES is like an early draft pick that doesn't completely lives up to his potential. You're mildly happy it is what it is, it's just not all that you originally thought it would be.
SPINNING PLATES tells the story of three successful restaurant owners scattered across the American landscape: Chef Grant Achatz in Chicago, Francisco and Gabby Martinez in Arizona and the Breitbach family in Iowa. The documentary follows all three restaurant's history an the personal involvement their respective Chef/Owner has put in order to get the business off the ground. The three subjects are wildly different (and don't cross paths during the filming of the documentary), but they are all living the same dream of communicating their passion and their identity through the food they serve.
My issue with SPINNING PLATES lies in the execution. The subjects are worth investing yourself in the movie, and save it from becoming a deluxe infomercial for three restaurants. The same, mind-numbing corporate music plays during the interviews of all three restaurant owners and the slick, almost soulless production makes it feel like you're watching a corporate recruiting video for Chipotle franchises.
The narrative/dramatic construction of the movie is also unfortunate. It's so predictable that it surprises you, because you'd never think it would actually be that predictable. The three owners have to face their personal, seemingly insurmountable, life-defining challenge while keeping the business afloat. These are important facts in each restaurant's history, but the stupid idea was to keep them secret as if they were plot twists. I'm not going to reveal them to you, because it'll undermine your SPINNING PLATES experience, but it'll make you roll your eyes that each subject's life defining moment was kept from you for the majority of the movie.
SPINNING PLATES tells the story of three successful restaurant owners scattered across the American landscape: Chef Grant Achatz in Chicago, Francisco and Gabby Martinez in Arizona and the Breitbach family in Iowa. The documentary follows all three restaurant's history an the personal involvement their respective Chef/Owner has put in order to get the business off the ground. The three subjects are wildly different (and don't cross paths during the filming of the documentary), but they are all living the same dream of communicating their passion and their identity through the food they serve.
My issue with SPINNING PLATES lies in the execution. The subjects are worth investing yourself in the movie, and save it from becoming a deluxe infomercial for three restaurants. The same, mind-numbing corporate music plays during the interviews of all three restaurant owners and the slick, almost soulless production makes it feel like you're watching a corporate recruiting video for Chipotle franchises.
The narrative/dramatic construction of the movie is also unfortunate. It's so predictable that it surprises you, because you'd never think it would actually be that predictable. The three owners have to face their personal, seemingly insurmountable, life-defining challenge while keeping the business afloat. These are important facts in each restaurant's history, but the stupid idea was to keep them secret as if they were plot twists. I'm not going to reveal them to you, because it'll undermine your SPINNING PLATES experience, but it'll make you roll your eyes that each subject's life defining moment was kept from you for the majority of the movie.
Grandmaster of Molecular Cuisine Grant Achatz, at work.
I'm being unfair to SPINNING PLATES here, because the stories were highly enjoyable. My favourite subject was Mike Breitbach, the wholesome owner of a countryside restaurant in Iowa, who's a man that really, truly cares about the people of his community. He's part of that dying breed of people who truly gives a shit about others, and who's not trying to validate his own existence in the process. He's just wired like that. The Breitbach's storyline is particularly rewarding, because Mike ends up reaping what he sowed and in that regards, I fell like it's the only part of SPINNING PLATES that transcended cuisine and became universal storytelling. The Breitbach family were more powerful that bad movie direction.
The story of Grant Achatz and his Chicago restaurant Aliena was also satisfying, but it's harder to relate because he's such a high achiever. He has nonetheless a very moving story of a first achievement he made with his father. The Martinez family clashes with the setting of SPINNING PLATES because they don't seem like they belong in the same category as the two others. I'm sure they had great stories to share, but they seemed like they had been brought in to wrench up the emotional/dramatic aspect of the documentary.
Overall, SPINNING PLATES was a decent viewing experience. It's a bit soulless in its presentation and it affects the emotional reach of the movie which is a major issue in this day and age where documentaries are so efficient. I'm not exactly passionate about cuisine though. I love eating food, but preparing it is not exactly how I express myself (this blog is a major outlet, to be honest). Maybe SPINNING PLATES is bound to reach other people than me, but I thought it was a promising idea who ended up short on the flavour, like the plate of soggy Vietnamese takeout I ate while watching it.