Critics reviews

Perhaps the greatest compliment I can pay [Boiling Point] is to say that I frequently forgot I was watching a brilliantly orchestrated one-shot film. Not that the format isn’t effective – far from it. It’s utterly immersive, conjuring the raw experience of an inexorably accelerating panic attack. Yet... this is first and foremost a gripping and gritty drama in which the spiralling descent of the narrative is enhanced and enriched by uninterrupted digital photography.

The careering nature of the filmmaking scarcely gives the audience time to ponder the overstuffed plotting... More than anything else, Boiling Point is about the wretchedness of the public, [and] if Hell is other people, customers occupy the inner circle of that Hell. An infuriating, invigorating ride.

The film is always on the move, and yet somehow oppressively claustrophobic, as the tension gradually builds to the point of no return suggested by its title.

After two viewings, I still don’t think the ending lands with the hard-hitting impact it wants. But Boiling Point grips remorselessly while it’s spinning all these plates, and somehow ladles onto them a smorgasbord of great, frazzled acting from all concerned.

It’s a bold, bravura experiment that largely grips, with a powerhouse performance by Graham at its core... A fast-paced and hectic kitchen thriller that, though it tries to spin a few too many plates, pulls you deep into a fascinating, detailed world most of us know little about.

With such a short runtime and gargantuan pile of grievances, it must be said, adequate resolution feels increasingly fleeting: it’s all kept on heat until the last, with lots of small climactic moments leading to a strained crescendo, and a denouement that doesn’t quite land. You get the sense, vanishingly rare so it is, that this could’ve done with more minutes.

By the time “Boiling Point” brings its strands of friction to a head, the early intensity of Graham’s portrayal of a battered, self-destructive character is dissipated by the movie’s temporal rigidity and the invariably blah moments following minor characters... [The] thematic concerns about how restaurants work are strong enough ingredients. It’s too bad they’ve been subjected to the one-note flavoring of a single-take movie.

An exhilarating workplace drama... [Boiling Point] may be anchored by Graham’s superbly kinetic performance but ultimately proves a team effort. The nimble, naturalistic performers are uniformly terrific.

Bracingly real... “Boiling Point” is a temperature-raising restaurant drama whose heightening series of personal and professional stakes will immediately plunge you into a flop sweat.

Barantini’s thoroughly absorbing film... [juggles] a dizzy array of courses, characters and subplots that range from plausibly high-stakes to wildly contrived. Even at its most far-fetched, however, “Boiling Point” retains an essential sense of integrity thanks to the honest, urgent presence of star Stephen Graham.

There’s lots of drive here and the pace doesn’t flag: it actually becomes most interesting when there isn’t anything obviously dramatic happening, just the ambient atmosphere of the kitchen and Geiger counter tick of jittery nervous energy. But there are a fair few stagey arguments and shouting matches that I felt were a bit too obvious.

[Barantini] betrays his inexperience by piling on the incidents in the climactic half-hour, to counterproductive degrees. To the credit of all concerned, however the one-take approach feels appropriate and organic, rather than gimmicky or stunt-like.