The Founder
2016 · Directed by John Lee Hancock
Original language: English
- drama
- history
The story
The true story of how Ray Kroc, a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. Kroc was impressed by the brothers’ speedy system of making the food and saw franchise potential. He maneuvered himself into a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create a billion-dollar empire.
What it’s like
Warm, sun-washed Americana with a hard edge: bright 1950s suburban daylight, pale blue and mustard diners, sun-faded parking lots and the gleam of stainless steel under fluorescent kitchen light. The camera stays largely composed and unhurried, with long dialogue scenes in motel rooms, bank offices and kitchens that let the tension build in faces and pauses rather than in editing. The score is light and brassy in the early, optimistic stretches and grows more tight and insistent as the deal sours. The vibe is sly, bittersweet and quietly uneasy, a good fit for a weekday evening with a drink or a slow Sunday when you want to watch a charming man's ambition curdle. Intensity is low: there is no violence or gore, and the cruelty is financial and personal, delivered through contracts, handshakes and betrayals. The rhythm is steady rather than frantic, with the pace of a business story in which every conversation is a negotiation. It suits viewers who like business dramas, biographical stories of ambition, and performances that carry a lot of unspoken calculation.
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