'Do you understand what I'm saying... I'm saying there's shit in the meat'
Fast Food Nation 6.8
For me, one of the joys of watching films is noticing unexpected tributes to others. To think something like: 'Nolan was thinking of Kubrick for that scene'. The opening of Fast Food Nation grabbed me hugely, simply down to evoking something I appreciate hugely;
In a perfect looking fast food restaurant, a perfect looking family are sitting down to a perfect looking dinner, before the camera zooms in on a perfect looking burger. We zoom in and in, until the image morphs into a Mexican border town, the significance of which is revealed later. Those that are familiar with the films of the masterful David Lynch should recognise this as a trick borrowed from the famous opening of Blue Velvet. Director Richard Linklater must also be a fan.
This cut transports us into the sordid underworld of fast food, including marketing, meat production and a eide ranging multitude of wider issues it feeds. But for me, this creates an issue with the cohesiveness of the film, I'm not convinced that the film flows particularly well, down to it trying to be so far reaching. In places it reminded me of Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, but this is not a compliment, as it falls far short of Traffic's insight.
The first act seems dedicated to anchoring us in the world of fast food marketing. We witness it's childish board meetings of sleazy executives, smelling flavour profiles out of a bottle, naive meetings with suppliers... From here we widen our sights to include all facets of the industry. From the clichy of kids spitting in burgers in the restaurant kitchen before it is unwittingly served to the mastermind behind the recipe, to those same kids joining political movements to bring down the big faceless corporations. They cut a fence release some cattle destined for the slaughter house, only for the cattle to be perfectly happy where they are.
The satire is running rife, and so it should. Satire, although paticularly subjective, is very easy to do badly, but notoriously difficult to do just right. Big business is one of the easiest targets, but I think Fast Food Nation misses a good opportunity. Not by poorly realising it's aims, but by too shallowly exploring each of them by cramming in at least one too many. To focus more on the localised industry would have meant a better film.
The cast features a few of Linklater's frequent collaborators, who presumably must all be confident enough in his style and abilities to give him a blanket 'yes' to his projects. There are a handful of good and very convincing performances, especially those of Bobby Cannavale as an adulterous meat packing plamt manager with eyes for young imigrant women employees looking for a leg-up and Ethan Hawke as the fun incle of a teenager who works at the fast food restaurant and faces some big decisions.
Towards the end comes the gut punch, a scene showing the 'Killing floor' in up-close, blood flowing, flesh slicing, skin peeling detail. It starts with the humane cattle gun aka captive bolt pistol, as seen in Benny's Video and No Country for Old Men, but it becomes what must be one of the most gruesome true-to-life scenes in film history.
Fast Food Nation tries hard to be a far reaching political commentary on many issues, and this is the problem. It starts off about the fast food industry, but before long, that is just the vehicle for the critique of flip sides of the American Dream. There isn't enough time to skillfully examine this without it feeling like a rushed afterthought. This doesn't take away from the entertainment value, but, for me at least, does detract from the critical quality. Like a fast food burger, the quality may not be the best, but it does the job it strives to, and satisfies, without having a lasting impact.
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