Knife Skills
2017 · 40m · United States
Directed by Thomas Lennon
Genres: documentary
Tones: contemplative, tender
Men and women recently released from prison train for a few short weeks to launch Edwins, an ambitious fine-dining French restaurant in Cleveland.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Everyone expects the redemption arc, the inspirational uplift—and Lennon gives you that, sure, but what's genuinely subversive is how he lets the mundanity of knife skills and station prep matter as much as the emotional stakes, refusing to sentimentalize either the prisoners or the project.
A formally restrained documentary that understands its lineage in observational cinema and redemption narratives, yet holds both at arm's length with composed editing and an almost Wiseman-like patience with the texture of work itself.
The entire film pivots on Lennon's decision to sit with the repetitive, almost meditative choreography of culinary training—those hands learning muscle memory—which transforms what could've been a standard uplift story into something about dignity earned through the specificity of a single craft.
Reviews
Paying one's debt to society and venturing back into a world that has preconceived notions of who are you right down to your bones is a subject potently explored here and the struggles faced by these men and women on the road to recovery are nicely juxtaposed with the rewards offered by a new and unexpected leash on life.
Festivals
- Academy Awards 2018, Nominee – Best Documentary Short Subject