El Bulli: Cooking in Progress
Kino Lorber | Release Date: July 27, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
7
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanAug 10, 2011
El Bulli becomes a haunting celebration of the human desire to turn food into art - even if the results are consciously insane. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerSep 30, 2011
I am not a fan of food you need a microscope to see, but if your idea of fine dining is pumpkin meringue sandwiches, bone marrow tartare with oysters, tea shrimp with caviar anemones, and ice vinaigrette with tangerines and green olive, then by all means make haste to El Bulli. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttJul 30, 2011
The film never quite pins the chef down about any of this but in his menu introduction to the staff or off-hand remarks to long-time colleagues you begin to understand the mindset. "The more bewilderment, the better," he declares. He is not joking. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoNov 10, 2011
A fly-on-the-wall look at the inner workings of the famed Spanish palace of avant-garde gastronomy that closed its doors in July. If you're passionate (and open-minded) about food, you'll be fascinated. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisAug 25, 2011
Wetzel's challenge is to film the experiments so that the process itself is legible. We're made to marvel at slow-cooked, freeze-dried, unappetizingly bagged food, the way some mushrooms, when delicately sliced, evoke fruit and some crustaceans resemble side-sleeping snooze-bar slappers. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasJul 28, 2011
There's nothing particularly distinctive or engaging about Wetzel's fly-on-the-wall style, which feels like second-hand Frederick Wiseman. But for hardcore foodies, El Bulli offers a clear, unvarnished look at the master at work. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesMark OlsenSep 29, 2011
Adrià's philosophy of food emerges through watching him work; the look on his face as he tries dish after dish, the level of concentration applied to getting an ice vinaigrette just so, explains it all. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovOct 13, 2011
Fans of the considerably more pedestrian "Julie & Julia" will likely have to attach drool buckets to their chins in order to avoid hours of tedious mopping up, so lusciously bizarre are the comestibles on display here. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineJesse CataldoJul 25, 2011
A unique restaurant like El Bulli probably deserves a more creative documentary than El Bulli: Cooking in Progress, a static portrait that comes off as less than inspired by its unusual subject. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid ParkinsonJul 23, 2012
A mix of the fascinating and the frustrating: some of the dishes are exciting and interesting, however, 108 minutes of detail causes this documentary to fall short of its potential. Read full review
60
Total FilmKate StablesJul 19, 2012
Scrupulous but ponderous, this documentary account of avant-garde Spanish über-restaurant El Bulli's annual stint creating ker-aazy new recipes piques your interest but not your taste buds. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineJohn P. McCarthyJul 28, 2011
For all the innovative dishes we watch being concocted, the movie needs another ingredient or two for flavor enhancement and full satisfaction. Read full review
60
VarietyAlissa SimonJul 26, 2011
The immaculately crafted documentary doesn't reveal much about Adria the man, other than that he insists on quiet in his kitchen. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie PunterAug 4, 2011
El Bulli barely registers a pulse stronger than a book's. There is no narration, there are no interviews and forget about any apron-ripping drama, as presented nightly on the Food Network. Read full review
50
Village VoiceKarina LongworthJul 26, 2011
Cooking in Progress is, in fact, all magic and no path: This is extreme fly-on-the-wall vérité, with only the barest context provided (no helpful TV-style titles here - when it comes to identifying ingredients and techniques, viewers are usually left to their own devices) as the culinary impossible is realized one painstaking step at a time. Read full review
40
Time OutMari UyeharaJul 26, 2011
It's a sluggish portrait that neither captures nor replicates the dazzle, pacing and polish of an El Bulli meal. Check, please. Read full review
30
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJul 26, 2011
Anyone looking for the lowdown on haute cuisine will be sorely disappointed: devoid of emotion, context or narrative, the baffling avant-garde techniques and extreme politesse of the lab become oppressively dull. Read full review
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