La historia de un niño hambriento

Despite the synopsis being "The ultimate nostalgia trip through everything edible in 1960s Britain," that's not an accurate description of what this movie is about. It's less about food and more about Nigel's relationship with his family, particularly his mother and how he deals with changes in his family over the years. The movie poster is also deceiving, as Freddie Highmore's version of Nigel doesn't appear until the last 30 minutes. Most of the movie follows Nigel when he was a little boy.

Anyway, there were some nice, genuinely tender moments in this film that made my eyes tear up. I also love seeing a gay person in a movie that isn't about him being gay. Nigel's romantic inclinations are briefly touched on as a natural snapshot of him growing up and discovering who he is. And as a gay person myself, that is very refreshing to see.

Overall, this is a touching little story of a particular childhood that surprisingly explores many different themes. To be metaphorical, it packs many ingredients into a single dish to give it a more complicated flavor than what you'd expect.

I LOVE Helena Bonham Carter, so I thought 'how boring could it be?' even though I found the description less than compelling. I had never heard of Freddy Highmore at this point tbh. Long story short... I was captivated by the personalities, and thoroughly entertained.

I saw this movie without knowing who Nigel Slater is. The trailer made it out to be a humorous coming-of-age story about a boy with a passion for cooking.

The young Nigel never gives Mrs. Potter a chance - because she works as a house cleaner, is a bit vulgar and lives in public housing, he looks down on her and puts her down in front of his father whenever he can. He wins sympathy points for the emotionally abusive father and the dying mother, but ultimately he himself is not a likable character. And that is the main drawback of the movie. It seems to have been created mainly to vilify the stepmother that Nigel never liked.

Otherwise there is nothing wrong with it. In fact I think Helena Bonham-Carter delivers a great performance as Mrs. Potter.

This film is about the eventful childhood of Nigel Slater, and how he developed love for the culinary art.

The tag line of "Toast" suggests that it is a film about food, but it really is about Nigel Slater's sad childhood. The child is unloved by his father. His mother was more loving, but could not cook at all. After his mother's untimely death, his life is thrown into emotional turmoil. I find the portrayal of Nigel's state of mind to be heartfelt and profound. It makes me connect with him an his feelings. The rivalry between Nigel and Joan is well depicted too. The tension between them is so palpable. Given such tension between them, the events near the ending are particularly sad. I think "Toast" is a fine film, it is to be savoured.

The casting choices were very good in my opinion; very individual characters who you really feel as if you get to know. Freddie Highmore came in too late unfortunately. The sudden switch lost my sense of attachment to Nigel, and it was too near to the end to have it rebuild. I loved Oscar Kennedy. I thought he was amazing.

The ending was such a letdown, I was still waiting for the 'real ending' when it happened. Nigel's sexuality wasn't really emphasized, nor was it not mentioned. It was just 'there'. It wasn't played into the plot line or Nigel's character development. Probably the most anticlimactic bit after the ending.

Good. But could have been a lot better.