Bad Vegan

Bad Vegan

Chris Smith is a technician when it comes to unraveling true stories that are far stranger than fiction. Smith’s work began with the amazing “American Movie” over 20 years ago and has been featured in later films such as “Fyre” (about the craziness of the Fyre festival) and his production of the pandemic hit “Tiger King.”

His eight part series “The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann,” which is one of Netflix’s best true crime series, demonstrates how well Smith can track these larger than life tales. So he fits perfectly into this ridiculous soap opera involving Sarma Melngailis, a New York restaurateur who allegedly stole millions from her staff. But more than just another corrupt businesswoman story a subgenre on its own lately the four part “Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives.” illustrates how much can go wrong at success company when nobody expects them to be poisoned from within.

Smith keeps an interesting distance from Melngailis allowing viewers decide how much sympathy they should have for her. Is she a victim? Undeniably so! However, how responsible ought one be for letting wolves into hen houses? That will depend on you.

In the early aughts, after graduating from French Culinary Institute in 1999, Melngailis made waves within New York’s food scene following her studies at the French Culinary Institute. After failing once before earlier ventures with Jeffrey Chodorow at pure food& wine which became a cultural touchstone thanks Howard Stern, Alec Baldwin & Bill Clinton endorsements Sarma was consistently rated among top restaurants by NY Mag and Forbes alike five times over. Pure Food expanded into One Lucky Duck & Takeaway while Sarma looked like she would become an even bigger star chef nationally than Thomas Keller himself! But behind closed doors things were getting very weird.

Sarma Melngailis started dating Anthony Strangis, aka Shane Fox among others. Strangis was an elevated conman a gambling addict who somehow convinced Melngails to continuously funnel profits from her company into his account so he could spend them all at Foxwoods Casino and he did it by playing some pretty insane mind games involving high-level Illuminati type organizations watching them, constant loyalty tests ,and claiming he could make her dog immortal.

No really almost any individual thing that Strangis got Melngails to believe seems absurd but “Bad Vegan” does a good job documenting how these abusive brainwashing dynamics develop over time starting with simple proclamations of love then requiring greater and greater proof until abuser finally convinces victim that their needs have changed again forevermore only this time it’ll involve something way crazier than what was asked before such as going along with the idea your partner might actually have powers beyond mortal comprehension itself because reasons etc., etc.

And that’s where we find ourselves now folks! A cute vegan couple wanted pizza but instead ended up fugitives being hunted down across state lines by detectives wearing sunglasses indoors because they’re too cool not too around here even if you weren’t expecting them based solely off appearance alone please don’t judge me I’m tired right now okay?

Smith is careful with his interviews, but he’s also sympathetic to Melngailis. Strangis only appears in the form of voice recordings and emails sent to him. Some employees from Pure Food and Wine express frustration over the tone towards Sarma throughout most of the project, which finally shifts when it reaches its last chapter where accountability becomes central.

Smith must tell this story very delicately because while he doesn’t want to paint Strangis as some kind of genius conman who should be admired for his abilities given how long he operated without getting caught at the same time there are reasons why all these traps were set up specifically for Smith’s main interviewee so they need to be made clear too. To strike such a balance, Smith wisely avoids any sensationalistic techniques that might make people think tabloid instead of tragedy by letting those involved speak their own words.

What do we take away from “Bad Vegan”? Is this just another story about an evil man who ruins everything around him? Why did Sarma let him keep going? What made her trust what he said? This version could probe deeper into fame influencing some decisions or even greediness caused by excess but then again maybe writer still wasn’t interested enough since there’d have been more distance required after such experiences plus some therapy too which probably would’ve helped more than anything else would have done anyway.

By now though things seem so insane it feels almost like they’ve numbed me out completely especially when you realize no one like SARMAL MELNGAILIS CAN EVER TURN BACK once you start down certain paths; not even if your dog has been promised eternal life!

Watch Bad Vegan For Free On Gomovies.