- Eat that bloody pie!
With the same script writer as "Billy Elliot" it's easy to see they have tried you make some of the same with "Toast", except this is much more of a comedy. A strict father, not very understanding of a sons needs and dreams. The film is almost Wes Anderson'ish in it's feel. Think "Moonrise kingdom", with a dash of "Chocolat" and you're there, in the same kind of tasty childhood universe.
This is based on memories of the childhood of Nigel Slater, a famous British cook and cookbook writer. He appears as a chef in the final scene of the film as a cameo.
Young Nigel grows up in Wolverhampton, and as 9 years old, writing 1969, he no longer can stand his life home, with his parents. His grumpy uptight dad and his hopeless cook of a mother, suffering from bad asthma (probably due to her never eating any vitamins). Nigel has the tinned food mom put on the table, but loves her for her toasts with butter. When his father sacks the gardener dye to him damaging Nigel with the love for freshly grown veggies, he's had enough. Nigel's fantasy helps him survive. His longing for some real tasty food, and fresh vegetables and fruits makes him want to become a cook. The takes the long way to get there, as he don't even have a little encouragement back home. But the death of his mother, which he still misses after her demise, and the wise word of his young friend, "The way to a mans heart, is always through his stomach", changes everything.
It's a cute story, though maybe a bit sugar coated for my taste. Still, if you can overbear that, you'll enjoy this. Cute and lovely, though quite slow. Well done 60'ies portrait, as always when it comes to British films. Helena Bonham Carter really does her best role ever here, I think. She's very strong, and very unlike other roles she's had lately, even if it's some of the same comic demands.
Main character Nigel, played by Oscar Mennedy, might annoy some, but then he wasn't very loved as a child, but the older, played by amazing Freddie Highmore makes it all come right. Highmore is a real charmer. The casting of Oscar Kenbecy was impossible to fill Freddue Highmores shoes here, making some of the films main problem. Not due to him, because he does his best, but more to the extreme talent of Highmore. Not only the father, but also Nigel changes when he gets the right food. They can be used as the excuse for the change in character.