The Chef Flynn film will inspire you to step up your cooking skills.

CHEF FLYNN Documentary

Last year I had a chance to watch the Chef Flynn documentary and I was blown away by the focus and talent of such a young chef.  I know many adults that can't do half of what he can do including myself.  Chef Flynn is now 18 and has his own restaurant in New York City.  See how Flynn goes from his mothers home to running his own NYC restaurant.

You can read my original review on a previous blog post here:  
Chef Flynn Skips boyhood for Chefhood

The film returns to Toronto for a limited engagement of a week at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema at Bloor and Bathurst.  

I highly recommend that you get your butt off your couch in the chilly month of January and make your way down to the the Bloor Cinema to see this HOT movie.  Plan a dinner after the movie because you will be hungry.

If you have any budding mini chefs in your household bring them to see this movie because Chef Flynn is the ultimate professional role model for young budding chefs.

Follow Chef Flynn Mc Garry on Twitter @diningwithflynn  

CHEF FLYNN
Directed by Cameron Yates

One-Week Engagement Begins January 25, 2019Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema

Chef Flynn McGarry was 10-years-old when he opened a supper club in the living room of his California home, using his classmates as line cooks and serving a seasonal foraged tasting menu to wide-eyed Los Angelenos. 

As the years pass, Flynn grows both as a chef, and a teenager, eventually outgrowing his family kitchen, and his mother's camera. 

Featuring over 18 years of personal archival footage as well as intimate vérité, this feature documentary portrait is not only the study of a rising star thrown into the media spotlight at an early age, but also a reflection on motherhood and what it means to give up one's own identity in furtherance of a child's passion.

Director Cameron Yates (The Canal Street Madam) captures lightning-in-a-bottle to reveal Flynn’s singular drive and passion as he navigates the often-cutthroat world of fine dining. 

Chef Flynn had its Canadian premiere at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, and also screened at Sundance, Berlinale, SXSW, in 2018.

Chef Flynn skips boyhood for Chefhood

CHEF FLYNN

The Hot Docs film festival is celebrating it's 25 years as a top documentary film festival.  That's is a lot longer than Flynn McGarry, the subject of the same named documentary has been alive.  Chef Flynn took over his mom's California kitchen after she lost interest in cooking while going through a depression after her divorce.  Her son grew tired of her limited cooking ability and took matters into his own hands by teaching himself how to be a professional cook.  He read cookbooks, watched cooking shows and studied whatever he can on the Internet and with the single focus of food and cooking taking over his life with the help of his extremely supportive mother. 

He started cooking at 10 but don't call him a chef prodigy or culinary Doogie Howser because he has dedicated all of his time to learn his craft and takes it very seriously and before long and with the help of his mother they filled their home with diners and started with friends and it grew to friends of friends and so on until it became a popular pop up destination called EUREKA.  Flynn concentrated on the food while his mother took care of the business side and the front of the house side.  Barely into his teens he was replicating and recreating French Laundry recipes. With his perfectionist mind he took it all very seriously as if it was the only thing that mattered in his life.

Maybe it was how he was able to deal with his parents divorce with the single focus and obsession but with his whole life devoted to only food from the age of 10 he skipped years ahead of what most accomplish in the food world even when they are twice his age.  The New York Times did a profile on him and it was both a blessing, a curse and a big life lesson.  He learned how to shake off people's biased and short sited opinions of his success and just keep focused on his goal of opening a restaurant in New York.  The film is part home movie with his former filmmaker mother filming his progress since he was a kid and then with the addition of a professional film crew documenting his rise in the the restaurant industry through a series of pop up events.  Even if you don't really care about fancy restaurant food you will enjoy the dynamic of the mother and son in this film and which this is what the film is ultimately about, the journey of both of them to achieve Chef Flynn's dream of becoming a New York restaurateur.

The film is funny, beautiful, awkward and very entertaining to watch and you will fall in love with this mother and son duo.

TIP:  eat a fantastic dinner before going to see it or make reservations at a great restaurant afterward because you will be drooling over the beautiful food throughout the movie.

You can follow Chef Flynn's creations on Instagram @diningwithFlynn and follow the film at @chefflynnfilm

for more info on Hot Docs visit their website:  www.hotdocs.ca

HOT DOCS SCREENINGS:

Sun, Apr 29 10:45 AM TBLB* there is a brunch component but it is Sold Out
Sat, May 5 1:15 PM BADER