Foodies are made, not born. And according to “Toast,” appallingly bad cooking and a bullying father turned Nigel Slater into one. It’s not the usual path to greatness in the field, perhaps. But Slater isn’t the typical food critic. Few have written about their personal lives with as much openness and unsentimentality as the British food writer did in his memoir, “Toast: The Story of a Boy’s Hunger.”
That book has now been turned into a film that first aired on British television. It’s an appealing, but sadly nostalgic, look at how the troubles and traumas of childhood contribute to the adults we become.
| On screen |
| ‘Toast’ |
| 3 out of 4 stars |
| Stars: Freddie Highmore, Helena Bonham Carter, Ken Stott |
| Director: S.J. Clarkson |
| Rated: Not rated |
| Running time: 96 minutes |
Nigel (played in childhood by Oscar Kennedy and adolescence by Freddie Highmore) loves his mother with an unconditional passion — even though she’s a terrible cook. At night, he examines with a flashlight under the sheets photographs of food. Luscious, beautiful things that Nigel’s never had the luck to eat.
When Nigel’s mother dies, he’s inconsolable. Even the better suppers provided by the new housekeeper, Mrs. Potter, don’t entice him back to happiness. In fact, the new woman in the house only makes matters worse. Sure, she’s a great cook. But the middle-class Nigel disdains her working-class manners. Worse, the divorcee uses her culinary talents to seduce Nigel’s father (Ken Stott), eventually becoming his second wife.
Though Nigel’s father is a disagreeable man, Nigel doesn’t seem to realize he might be better off without him. Instead, the boy ignores the laughter at school and enrolls in home economics. He’ll spend most of the rest of the film competing with Mrs. Potter for the older man’s attentions — through food.
The film suffers a little from its focus on telling the story through Nigel’s eyes. The boy who grew up in the English Midlands clearly couldn’t get to London fast enough. And he doesn’t seem to realize that those of a higher standing could criticize him much the way he does Mrs. Potter, who might be ambitious in her search for a second husband, but certainly works hard for it.
Highmore is no longer the young innocent from “Finding Neverland”: His longing looks at the gardener give the audience — and his father — a clue to his burgeoning sexual tastes. His scenes with Helena Bonham Carter, an actress who can play a meaty role like this with her hands tied behind her back, can be great fun. As is the music of Dusty Springfield that provides the soundtrack for the 1960s-set film and the glorious images of an over-the-top cookery that could sadly soon be forgotten.
