Tazzeka (2017)
Review of Tazzeka (2017), directed by John-Phillipe Gaud
I stumbled upon this movie on Kanopy one day and was completely mesmerized by the premise. A kid from a Moroccan village who dreams of being a chef in France? Count me in.
I’ve been absolutely loving Moroccan food lately and having been cooking so much of it for my family, despite only my mother really appreciating my efforts. We also get some really classical themes in this movie, such as following your dreams and discovering who you’re meant to be despite parental expectations.
There’s two distinct arcs in this film, one in Morocco and another in France. I enjoyed this duality of experience, especially seeing the immigrant family in France as well as Elias’ own experience as a Moroccan in France. Although we could’ve dug deeper into that, such as how France isn’t exactly welcoming to foreigners, it provides for some solid entertainment under the course of the movie.
Let’s dive into this review, shall we?
Content
There’s no thrills in the sequence of events in this movie; it’s told in chronological order, starting from the childhood of Elias. We see him as a young boy attempting to read and learn these fancy French recipes from books, while his grandmother yells at him from the other side of the room to go to bed. It’s his grandmother who teaches him everything he knows about cooking.
We also get glimpses of the family dynamics first here, of Elis, his grandmother, his brother, and his father. The family owns a restaurant on the outskirts of a town, which seems fitting considering how interested Elias is when cooking.
We then skip into when he is a young adult and working at the restaurant. He desperately wants to cook French recipes and watches a French chef’s show religiously, but when he tries to order the right meats and whatnot, his father says it’s too expensive and to stick to Moroccan food because it’s cheaper and because no one wants to eat French food here.
Dismayed, Elias retreats back into the kitchen and prepares couscous, but one day his idol French chef shows up and Elias prepares a feast for him. This is where Elias discovers his talent and prepares to move to France.
The final arc of the movie is set in France, where Elias works in construction, after struggling to find another job, and lives with another immigrant family from Senegal. They cook for him and he lives with them, but Elias begins to lose his passion for cooking and must rediscover why he’s here.
The first part of this movie is absolutely lovely and sets us up for the time in which he is in Paris, but I felt like it was a bit lackluster in explaining the gaps between how Elias got there and how he ended up with this family. We see him finally breaking loose of his traditional values in Paris as he makes out with a woman who taught him how to dance, but then we don’t return to it. I understand how this demonstrates how he has stepped away from his inner self, but the random bit seems a bit jarring compared to the rest of the film.
It’s also a bit unsatisfying because we see Elias wanting to go to Paris to cook, but we never actually get to see him achieving any of his culinary dreams. We do love a good story with a happy ending, but we’re cut off rather suddenly here. The last time we see him cook on-screen is for the family he is hosting, as he teachers the daughter and husband to prepare certain traditional Moroccan foods.
We see them eat together and enjoy the food, but that’s it. Elias has suddenly regained his passion, but we as viewers never see anything more from it. It’s rather disappointing. He should’ve probably gone to the chef immediately, which is confusing to me as a viewer why he didn’t.
I also would’ve loved to see the struggle of him assimilating into a completely new culture, the lost feelings he probably felt when he stepped off the boat or plane and arrived in Paris. There’s so much left unexplored that I would’ve been fascinated by, which was a lackluster execution compared to the first half of the film. It was absolutely beautiful to see the relationships between completely different immigrant groups and how they care for and support each other—we need more of that in film for sure.
Overall Thoughts
It’s a sweet film, although it depicts the struggles and everyday lives of immigrants in completely new countries. I found the juxtaposition between the two country settings to work well in regards to the plot, but the Paris section needed some work. It would’ve made sense for, say, Elias to go to the chef’s restaurant and be turned away, teaching him a new lesson about perseverance and learning to not give up.
That would’ve made up a story that was equally good in my eyes, if not better. I do think the shining light in this film is the dynamic between the Senegalese family and Elias, as well as Elias’ father giving him the money to leave home and support him in his dream. I just wish we has something final to see out of it, like a resolution. It’s a good story though, although I keep harping on it and complaining.
