Hong Chau plays Elsa in “The Menu”.
“The Menu” is an indie horror film developed by Searchlight Pictures, with a budget of about 30 million USD but has grossed 17 million USD after only 2 days of release – a record of this movie studio. The film is showing in cinemas in Vietnam.
Poster “The Menu” (Mystery Menu)
“The Menu” revolves around the character Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes), a chef known for his unusual cooking, who invites guests who are all in the culinary world. , movie stars or investors come to their island, to enjoy a hearty meal. However, they do not know that this is just a trap prepared by Julian himself with sophisticated “deadly” tricks. Julian’s plan was somewhat disrupted by Margot Mill (Anya Taylor-Joy) – a girl with a strong personality and was not in the chef’s original calculations.
Trailer “The Menu” (Mysterious Menu)
In order to fully embody the spirit of “The Menu”, it is necessary to have a strong star cast like Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult and Hong Chau.
Anya Taylor-Joy appears with the image of a familiar rebellious girl. This is a role that is almost “measured to make shoes” for beauties who specialize in horror movies. She excelled in showing fear and indignation on her face at the same time. Margot’s personality and intelligence also play an important role in the plot.
Like Anya Taylor-Joy, Tyler is also a familiar character model of Nicholas Hoult. The audience is no stranger to the image of Hoult’s erudite, poorly spoken and somewhat defiant boy in the X-Men, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) or The Current War (2017) films. The real star of the film comes from the villains of Ralph Fiennes and Hong Chau.
Perhaps, only the actor who played Voldemort of the Harry Potter series could create such a great Julian Slowik. His every action, every word is wrong but strangely convincing and attractive. Slowik has a complicated psychological transformation from a passionate chef to a hateful let-it-all. He has many scenes that show strong joy and regret through eyes alone.
The role of Elsa is the complete makeover of Hong Chau. Previously, the audience only knew her through the role of a gentle expatriate woman in Downsizing (2017). With “The Menu”, Hong Chau transformed into Slowik’s right-hand man. The character is always friendly when talking to customers. However, every smile of hers is like a threat, every sentence, even the most gentle, makes the opponent’s heart stop.
The film marks the role of Hong Chau’s makeover
Who would have thought that a small Vietnamese woman like Hong Chau could be so threatening. Even the way Elsa keeps her professionalism in serving or helping customers only makes the opposite person more afraid and obeys orders absolutely. If Slowik is the one who makes plans and is behind everything, Elsa is the one who executes them absolutely with cold, ruthlessness behind a gentle exterior.
Hong Chau is a Vietnamese-American actress born in 1979. She grew up in New Orleans. Following her mother’s advice, she dropped out of the Creative Thesis major and studied film at Boston University in search of a more practical job. The Vietnamese-born actress gradually matured and confirmed her name. She became a “strange wind” in the midst of the prosperous movie capital, which favored white actors.
