The ultimate nostalgia trip through everything edible in 1960s Britain.The ultimate nostalgia trip through everything edible in 1960s Britain.The ultimate nostalgia trip through everything edible in 1960s Britain.
- Awards
- 2 nominations
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film is an adaptation of the autobiography of food writer Nigel Slater. The central character is given that name. In the final scene, when Freddie Highmore is given a job in the kitchens of the Savoy hotel, the person who hires him is played by the real life Nigel Slater.
- GoofsWhen Nigel plays the 7 inch single towards the end of the drama, he pulls out a record with a 'Harvest' label. Dusty Springfield was never on this label.
- Quotes
Nigel Slater: It is impossible not to love someone who makes toast for you.
- Crazy creditsThe opening credits in the grocery store consist of the names of the writers, producer and lead actors printed on actual products, the title, and the director's name shown on a scale.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Breakfast: Episode dated 13 December 2010 (2010)
- SoundtracksHe's Got Something
Written by Kenny Lynch (uncredited) and Ian Samwell (uncredited)
Performed by Dusty Springfield
Featured review
A coming-of-age memoir as complicated as TOAST.
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. 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 book/film is entitled Toast as that was the ONE food his mother was able to successfully cook ... 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 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. 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 ... much to Nigel's chagrin.
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 in hopes of winning-over his always-distant father.
Toast takes place over a span of ten years and so Nigel is played by two different actors. 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). 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.
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. Bonham Carter is always good and her scheming, competitively outrageous behavior here is the butter on this piece of toast. 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. Potter ... nor would the film be what it is without Bonham Carter.
The book/film is entitled Toast as that was the ONE food his mother was able to successfully cook ... 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 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. 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 ... much to Nigel's chagrin.
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 in hopes of winning-over his always-distant father.
Toast takes place over a span of ten years and so Nigel is played by two different actors. 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). 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.
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. Bonham Carter is always good and her scheming, competitively outrageous behavior here is the butter on this piece of toast. 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. Potter ... nor would the film be what it is without Bonham Carter.
- twilliams76
- Jul 12, 2011
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
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- Also known as
- Tost
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $153,922
- Runtime1 hour 36 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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