FOR GRACE (Kevin Pang, Mark Helenowski, U.S.). 93 minutes. Rating: NNN
The life and career of Chicago chef Curtis Duffy is examined as he works to launch his first restaurant, Grace. Produced in association with the Chicago Tribune (co-director Kevin Pang is the paper’s dining reporter), this is an inordinately conventional documentary with its twinkling musical score and high-speed construction montages, it feels like every public television project you’ve watched over the last decade and a half.
But Duffy’s a charismatic subject, and his personal history – which emerges about halfway into For Grace after vague hints of a rough childhood – gives real stakes to the otherwise everyday goal of opening a very nice restaurant. NW
Apr 26, 7 pm, Scotiabank 3 Apr 28, 3:15 pm, ROM May 2, 4:15 pm, Fox