“Constructing Albert”– Movie Review

Recently, I attended a Film Society Of Lincoln Center screening of the new documentary “Constructing Albert”. 

Synopsis

When Albert Adria leaves his brother’s famous restaurant, will he be able to make it on his own?

Story

When Ferrin Adria began at a Spanish restaurant that was elBulli, it became famous because of the chef’s foray into what has become known as molecular gastronomy.  He brought his younger brother Albert along with him. Despite the fact that Albert lacked the vision and expertise of his older brother, over time he learned a great deal about what makes a restaurant work and why.  When Ferrin decided that he had long-term plans to eventually close the restaurant and convert it into a culinary school to train aspiring chefs, Albert saw this as an opportunity to strike out on his own; as a result, he wound up leaving elBulli before it closed.

Inspired in part by his brother Ferrin, Albert set out to open his own restaurant.  In fact, he wanted to open a few of them. As if that goal wasn’t daunting enough, he tried to open them all roughly simultaneously.  Each restaurant would have its own unique personality: not only in terms of decor and locale but also in terms of menu as well. But if Albert learned a lesson from elBulli, it was not just that “success” (however that would be defined) is the eventual goal, it was also that it could bring about its demise as well.  Sometimes, just as one restaurant would attain a degree of success, he would then close the space.

There were other cases where the concept of the restaurant simply never caught on and Albert was forced to close the space prematurely.  In other instances, a restaurant would achieve a Michelin star one year, only to lose it the next. Regardless, Albert would learn valuable lessons from these experiences and instead of letting it discourage him, he used this as a heuristic that would serve as more reasons to succeed with his next venture.  Albert would then go on to not only challenge himself but also to challenge potential customers and critics by continuing to open restaurants that would expand the concept of cooking.

Review

Viewers will definitely learn a considerable amount about Albert Adria when watching this documentary.  While his background and the context of the story -- opening new restaurants -- are interesting, the conclusion of the movie doesn’t necessarily leave the viewer with a definite feeling of closure.  This is definitely one of those cases where a brief epilog would have proven extremely useful. What happened with this restaurant in the ensuing weeks and months? Did he wind up closing the Mexican restaurant which he felt was under-performing?  Were any of his other restaurants closed -- either by design or due to bad business?

Aside from Albert, there are some familiar faces to be seen here.  In addition to his brother Ferren, there is also Jose Andres, who has been in the news lately for his heroic work feeding the hurricane victims in Puerto Rico.  While it is occasionally entertaining to observe their enthusiasm for both food and cooking, it may be a little confusing for those who don’t share a similar passion.  Nevertheless, this peek behind the kitchen door does attempt to either demystify or enlighten on the business of running a restaurant -- and particularly, a restaurant by a high- profile chef that has great expectations from critics and foodies alike.   

Perhaps that may be part of the problem -- the glamor is being removed from something that the public thinks should be glamorous.  In presenting the brutal reality behind this business -- as well as the driven nature of the key people behind it -- the whole thing becomes suddenly unappealing, even distasteful.  While things such as Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” revealed truths in an entertaining way, this documentary remains somewhat dry. Ultimately, we are led to believe that Adria will forever be unhappy -- possibly miserable -- because he’s chasing some kind of dream of perfection which he has in his mind which is, realistically, unattainable.