Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

MacCarmel Well, blow me down. As much as I love cooking, eating, and food movies I could not get all the way through this unexpectedly boring documentary. The filmmakers took an exciting subject, a masterful chef and artist and a completely unique restaurant and turned it all into a slog and a bore. This is cinema verite at it's worst. A film that lacks sufficient explanation, interest and visual excitement. There is so much more involved to making a good documentary than turning the camera on and leaving the room. The film falls short on it's appeal to film lovers, anyone who's good in the kitchen, and scientists as well.

tendobear As an aspiring foodie myself, I found this documentary to be inspirational and thought-provoking; the sheer creativity and thought processes that goes into creating a dish is mind-blowing. However,there are flaws, I couldn't help feeling disengaged and a certain disconnect from the whole thing; while the documentary did a great job of capturing every colourful and beautiful moment, but documenting every moment doesn't make a great story. It felt very systematic and machine-like and didn't seem like there was any attempt to tell a decent story. What drives Ferran Adria? Who inspires him? How did his underlings feel about working for him? None of these human facets were touched upon so the documentary alienates the audience because it doesn't engage on an emotional level. The people you see there in the film chopping, slicing, infusing, cooking seem so far away that they might as well be on a different planet. Also, Adria comes across as a egotistical and arrogant prick who doesn't seem to actually enjoy food but sees cooking as merely a means to an end. Although he spouts deep descriptive phrases, they don't actually mean anything because he's so cold, stoic and passionless. He criticises everything and focuses only on the negatives, not once does he say anything positive and encouraging to the people who develop his dishes 24/7. Speaking of which, I'm more interested in the story of Adria's head chef Oriol Castro, he actually has passion for what he does and he seems like a great leader.

princesstrudy I actually really really welcomed the lack of voice-over and frenetic editing/pacing and forced storyline that we've come to expect to be spoon-fed by other cooking shows. Being a consummate organizer/librarian - I loved the meticulousness of the laboratory. And the rigour required to create such magic. I thought as a "Year in the Life" type documentary, it excelled. The director let what was going to happen, happen. Rare these days.This wasn't Hell's Kitchen, nor was it El Bulli 101, which I really appreciated.Nice work - good to see a documentarian be truly a documenter, as much as they can be. :)

picasso2 I was excited to see this film at the SXSW film festival in Austin, TX. With no background knowledge about El Bulli or Ferran Adria prior to the screening, I hoped that this documentary would tell me about the kind of things they did. It didn't. At all. There were no interviews with the chefs (or ANYONE, for that matter) which allowed us to learn the background of the restaurant and the background of the chefs. It felt like the filmmakers just took all of the footage they got and, without editing or taking any out, they called it a movie. This caused the film to feel like it just presented the facts. It lacked a narrative idea. Yes, it was in chronological order, but it just seemed like the filmmakers didn't care about the film. So, if you want to learn more about El Bulli, you're much better off just doing research about it.