Cult favourite Peter Strickland channels Spinal Tap in this deliciously outlandish send-up of artistic pretension at an institute dedicated to the culinary arts. “A feast of hilarity and horror.” — Time Out
Gwendoline Christie, Asa Butterfield, and Ariane Labed star in a sweetly intoxicating oddity from the director of In Fabric.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2022
Flux Gourmet 2022
Session dates and venues to be announced
“Absurdity is serious business in the films of Peter Strickland. The self-contained worlds in which his pictures unfold have always functioned according to their own singular, straight-faced logic and laws, guided by the twin forces of eccentricity and perversity. But even so, Flux Gourmet – an account of a month-long artistic residence by a collective of sonic caterers (no, really) – is a particular triumph. The funniest of his films to date, it’s a fully realised, immaculately tailored creation which conceals a slow-burning sense of mischief under its deliberate oddness and ornately deadpan dialogue.
Combining the aural obsession of Berberian Sound Studio with the exploratory psychosexual-kink rituals of The Duke Of Burgundy (NZIFF 2015), and nodding to the ominous power of fashion espoused by In Fabric (NZIFF2019), Flux Gourmet feels like a culmination of Strickland’s fascinations and themes to date. More so, when you learn that the director himself broke down the barriers between the edible and the audible as a member of The Sonic Catering Band, which created electronic music from the sound of cooking and preparing ingredients… With its delicious comic savagery and a magnificently bonkers, full-bore performance from Gwendoline Christie… the film’s unique personality comes from its meticulous design, in everything from costume to sound.” — Wendy Ide, Screendaily