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Forum namePass The Popcorn
Topic subjectEh - I enjoyed it for what it was. Disagree on the take
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=6&topic_id=738361&mesg_id=738946
738946, Eh - I enjoyed it for what it was. Disagree on the take
Posted by soulfunk, Wed Jun-17-20 11:32 AM
that it’s “problematic” that he wanted to be a sommelier. The story of a father wanting his son to take over the family business but the son has his own dreams is about as old of a movie trope you’ll find.

I also think they did a good job at hinting that there would be a way for him to do both in the future. The BBQ business was thriving - opening a larger second location. He was very much involved with the business after returning from Paris even when having to go back to school for the test again at the end. The new location even had a bar in it, and when his dad was helping him study they were even discussing wine pairings with different BBQ dishes. So you can see a future in which he isn’t just working at a white upscale restaurant, but maybe he ends up turning that second location into an upscale BBQ location in which he is using his passion for wine.

I thought they did a good job with the father/son dynamic - how it’s easy to see how much they love each other but have trouble talking to each other and expressing their feelings. I also like how it ended with him failing the tasting portion of the test. Throughout the film he was strong at tasting, while his white friend struggled. But when his mom died they had that scene with him struggling with tasting because of the connection of identifying tastes with memories of his mother. On the test the white friend test passed while he didn’t - so I don’t think it was that the test was so hard, but that he was still struggling with memories of his mother. The final scene with him in class, confident about tasting notes showed that he was able to get past this challenge.

The story wasn’t revolutionary at all, like I said it’s an old trope, but I thought it was executed well.