Saturday, March 4, 2023

Random food movies

Updated 3/5/23.

Several years ago Vivian asked me for a list of food movies. Here's a yummy trip around the world (with plenty of laughs). Live links will take you to my blog posts about the named movies.

1. Babette's Feast (1987), of course. About a French chef, named after me, who works for some elderly and austere Danish sisters and prepares a most amazing dinner.

2. Tampopo (1985), a Japanese noodle western. Loved this. The etiquette class is top ten. The movie is one of my faves.

3-4. Mostly Martha (2002). Some of you may be more familiar with the American remake, No Reservations (2007), starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart, and Abigail Breslin. I liked that, but this, in German, is way better. Both are about an uptight single chef who becomes guardian of her orphaned niece.

5. Eat Drink Man Woman (1994). Directed by Ang Lee long before anyone thought of Brokeback Mountain (2005). A father insists on serving elaborate old-fashioned Taiwanese meals for his modern adult daughters.

6. Tortilla Soup (2001). Again, a chef father (Hector Elizando) with three adult daughters (including Elizabeth Peña), but this time they are Mexican-American. Oh, yeah, that's because it is based on Eat Drink Man Woman.

7. Woman on Top (2000). Penelope Cruz is luscious as a chef who gets her own cooking show and says about her recipes, "The most important ingredient is love." Also featuring, as her gorgeous transvestite best friend, Harold Perrineau, better known for playing Michael on the TV show Lost.

8. What's Cooking (2000). Four families (Latino, Jewish, African-American, Vietnamese-American) live on the four corners of an intersection in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles. They are all preparing for Thanksgiving amidst various family challenges.

9. Pieces of April (2003). Pre-Tom Katie Holmes is adorable as a free spirit who invites her estranged family (including Oliver Platt, Patricia Clarkson, and Allison Pill) from Pennsylvania to her New York apartment for Thanksgiving. Her struggles with cooking are central to this wonderful indie movie, but don't expect fabulous food stylings, as you should from the rest of this list.

10. You might think rats in a kitchen are a bad thing until you see Ratatouille (2007)

11. Big Night (1996). Tony Shaloub and Stanley Tucci play Italian brothers named Primo and Secondo in this 1950's piece about their "true" Italian restaurant competing with a spaghetti and meatball palace run by Ian Holm across the street in coastal New Jersey. Wonderful menu, and it won the Best First Screenplay Independent Spirit award for Tucci and Joseph Tropiano. Directed by Tucci and actor Campbell Scott, who is the son of George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst and has a cameo. Also features Allison Janney in an early role.

12. Amy Adams as Julie Powell tries to channel Julia Child, masterfully portrayed by Meryl Streep, in Julie & Julia (2009).

13. Julia Roberts never gains an ounce as Elizabeth Gilbert does the following: Eat Pray Love (2010).

14. Celebrate the Italian holidays in Mid August Lunch (Pranzo di ferragosto - 2008).

and for dessert:

15. Chocolat (2000). Juliette Binoche stars as a chocolatier who puts chilis in some of her sweets and riles up her prim French town, especially the mayor (Alfred Molina), by opening her shop on Sunday and by being a never-married single mother. With Johnny Depp. Lots of nominations, a few wins.

16. Lick your lips waiting for the crowning of Kings of Pastry (2009).

But wait, have seconds!

17. Laugh and eat at the Soul Kitchen (2009) in Germany.

18. Celebrate Passover in Mexico in Nora's Will (Cinco dias sin Nora - 2008).

19. Travel across northern England (no longer a culinary wasteland) in The Trip (2010).

20. You won't want to wake up when Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011).

21. High-class restaurant Chef (2014) goes out on his own and connects with his adoring ten-year-old son for the first time. Delicious.

22. You'll work up an appetite in The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014) from the classic French restaurant across the street from Maison Mumbai in the south of France.

23. Madcap Brits Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon reunite for The Trip to Italy (2014).

24. Gorgeous food, and such small portions! in Burnt (2015).

25. Take a mouth-watering trip around Los Angeles' ethnic neighborhoods in the documentary City of Gold (2015).

26. Paris can wait for you to savor the yummy food stylings of Paris Can Wait (2016).

27. More road-tripping, comedic riffing, and gourmet eating from Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon in The Trip to Italy (2017).

28. The Cakemaker (2017) will induce hunger for delicious pastries!

29. Ali Wong's celebrity chef designs some fancy food stylings in Always Be My Maybe (2019).

30. There's no pork, but Nic Cage's former chef whips up a few gourmet recipes in Pig (2021).

31. Roll up the rice and enjoy some East Side Sushi (2014).

32. You may never leave after tasting The Menu (2022).

2 comments:

  1. Not knowing they are the same movie I rented Eat, Drink, Man, Woman and Tortilla Soup in the same week. They are almost exactly the same, scene by scene!

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  2. Thanks for the list of yummie movies. Tis the season to indulge. I've added a few meals' worth to my Netflix queue.

    ReplyDelete