With Nicholas Tomnay’s What You Wish For (2023) literally being a dark thriller and touching upon the themes of desperation, identity and obscene world of fine food service. The movie is about Ryan who has an excess to the talents and a chef who is just struggling in the condition of unpaid gambling debts that is played by Nick Stahl. When he finds his life too difficult to deal with, Ryan leaves for a Latin America Villa, hoping to get some security back with his old school friend and media person, Jack. Jack role is played by Brian Groh, is a famous chef who has certain skill sets to offer a specialized service to rich people, on the contrary, Ryan gradually realizes that the life of Jack is no better than any other man's.
Ryan who is basically ruin and out of luck is shocked when he gets to the villa by the ostentation and by the shattering gap between his and other people's live style, this place looks like a blessing but too good to be true for him. The background acts as a symbol for the powerful but foolish attraction of riches.
When he starts to unfold whats really going on in the background of this paradise, Ryan discovers Imogen, played by Tamsin Topolski, a hardliner from the tech company, she is also Jack's employer. Her life at the moment when Ryan arrive seems to fall into chaos lately, with Ryan bringing anarchy into place, all this characters seem to be complicated on their own way but its like putting matches, fire and gas all together on the same place and wait to see what happens.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13638858/ - Platform: Theater - Release: May 31, 2024
Plot Overview
The plot of the film "What You Wish For" being full of twists and turns, gives the audience the tension to endure. The author of the script, Tomnay, is nothing short of genius as the dialogue is witty and frank, mixing dark humor with some terrifying moments. The movie takes a shot on the pomposity of the rich and the farthest limits people go to have high social status, the culinary component serves as the more than mere background; in fact, the food is a pretty important theme that tells us a lot about consumption and extravagance.
The movie builds up suspense as Ryan is in trouble with his lies, he confronted the truth of him, that last act is so stunning and encouraging. Over all through the movie each and every character contributes to the intuitive exploration of desperation and moral realities.
Production Insights
The coming into being of "What You Wish For" was premiere work that was so meticulous and all encompassing that it can be a mark of Tomnay's diligence in creating visually and narrative attractive work. The choice of the Latin American setting is to enrich film's subjects and to show the extreme differences between Ryan's gruesome life and Jack's effortless success. The movie’s dialogue which is filled with culinary terms, representing Tomnay’s commitment to the world of cooking and also add the realism to the characters' conversation, it continues with the movie's food sequences, which were coordinated with the help of experts chef to ensure the authentication of detail. Setting a scene where Ryan and Jack are forced to make a very challenging risotto dish serves as a perfect visual allegory for their rivalry and the gravity of life threatening position.
Cast Performances
Nick Stahl's playing the role of Ryan is definitely his finest moment which brings out his strengths and shows a very well done range of emotions. Stahl of whom we might remember for his roles in small, independent films, has a rough way of doing things, which in turn makes Ryan's decent into hell seem like a feasible and fraught ground of a journey. From his putting forth the image of an individual on the brink, to who is confused about a world a where betrayal and danger are abundant, every time becomes more painful through his portrayal of a literary character and unflinching hypothetical situation. On the other hand the lead character Jack. Hal's portrayal of his character is equally well done and although he seems charming, here is actually a corrupted person. The rapprochement of Ryan and Jack, the main actors of the movie, is the main thing that presented how they moved the storyline towards the end.
The second character Imogene is a newcomer to the business Tamsin Topolski is one of the fastest growing stars probably the pinnacle of her career was starring in Penny Dreadful, where she embodied Lavinia Putney, a renowned role. Taught by Topolski is how to embody and maybe even become women of strong and multidimensional character, in the 'What You Wish For' film, she incarnates Jack's high-end clientele.
Penelope Mitchell, known for her roles in Hellboy and Star Trek: In its turn, Picard, casts actor Milonaig who plays the part of Alice, a character who suddenly takes an interest in Ryan's fairy tale. The nature of actress Cameron Mitchell is such that she finds it quite easy to move across genres. In her "What You Wish For," she demonstrates how she can play both strong and vulnerable as the film develops.
Cinematography of What You Wish For
The trade mark element, cinematography of Mateo Guzman, in the film not only gives a realistic picture of horizon less, environment of the villa, but also gives an impression of disillusion, loneliness and hollowness of a remote place. The villa was picked also for its own qualities, it was astonishingly and luxurious but at the same time a character that hid the dangerous world of Jack's existential. Guzman's cinematography is very clear and turns beautiful villa into a no man's land, a space destined to owners and internal employees, nothing for the rest.
Themes and Messages
The few reviews online have positively stated that "What You Wish For" is a film which can mix Culinary extravagance with the critique of consumerism under capitalism and the moral depravity of the rich class who are known to abuse the principles of good conduct, the movie might be a commentary on the extravagance and ethical gap of a huge wealth. The protagonist's compulsive search for luck or fortune in his wicked gambling habits presents could mean the representation of the journey that characterizes humanity's motivations to exist and compete in situation where material wealth is glorified over ethical allurement.
In my opinion this is a worth watching movie for everyone, for most of us there is another life style that we don't know, can't even imagine and its the extreme extravagance as shown during this movie, at least from what we can see on the trailer, everything in life goes in circles, this extreme extravagance and the character who chase it takes him to go through other situations in life to the point of getting suffocated and exhausted by lies he live in, involving him into murder and the most despicable things money can make a person do as he constantly keeps chasing his spot on this ladder in life but it keeps getting farther away.
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