The film is about Nigel Slater (kind of a blank page as he gets older) but he wouldn't have become who he is without the provocation of this film's Kitchen Queen, Mrs. Bonham Carter is always good and her scheming, competitively outrageous behavior here is the butter on this piece of toast. Toast isn't as boring as the title makes it sound nor is it overly compelling as it turns into a most-conventional, lite-biopic. Highmore is a great, young actor but it is surprising to admit that the younger, less-experienced Kennedy outshines him in this film as Kennedy's Nigel does more of the grieving and Highmore is scripted to do more of the pouting. Young Nigel is played by a remarkable Oscar Kennedy who is making his feature film debut (!!!) while the older, teenage Nigel is played by Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland, The Spiderwick Chronicles). Toast takes place over a span of ten years and so Nigel is played by two different actors. Potter in hopes of winning-over his always-distant father. As Nigel was already interested in food (he'd drool over the exotic cheeses at his local grocer or sneak a flashlight into his bed to look at the mouth-watering pictures in the family cookbooks), he eventually becomes highly competitive with Mrs. Potter (Helena Bonham Carter - Sweeney Todd, The King's Speech, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), who won her way into his father's heart with her culinary expertise. The young Nigel must've held true to this mantra even in childhood, as he never accepted or trusted his father's new "cleaning lady", Mrs. and he tells us that a person will always love the one who prepared slices of the warm, crunchy, buttery goodness to you as a child. The book/film is entitled Toast as that was the ONE food his mother was able to successfully cook. It is a memoir of Slater's early years and his memories of his mother who died when he was just 9 years old. The film, Toast, is based upon the autobiographical book, Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger, written by English food writer, journalist and broadcaster, Nigel Slater. All in all, this is a very absorbing and beautifully done drama. Helena Bonham Carter also gives one of her better performances of late. Ken Stott is also winning as his father, and Victoria Hamilton is very touching. Oscar Kennedy is wonderful as young Nigel Slater, and while Freddie Highmore as his teenage self is good Kennedy was better. The script is always touching, honest and funny, while the story is engaging throughout and the pacing and direction are also spot-on. It did occasionally get a tad over-bearing, but in its more subdued moments it was quite charming and quaint, very like the drama itself. The photography is very skillful, while the scenery and costumes are beautiful. Toast looks wonderful certainly, as the production values and period detail are really quite pleasing. But it is also warm, gentle and tender, not to mention evocative and multi-layered. Is Toast sentimental? Yes, in a way I suppose it is. While it doesn't quite make my favourite dramas of all-time list, it is for me one of the better programmes airing over the Christmas season. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting something this good when I tuned in to watch Toast.
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