Food in the Movies

Food has had a long, often romantic, other times disturbing relationship with the cinema. And while not a full-fledged genre of its own, the culinary arts has had no real visionary force, or even middling lobbying group, to create a lasting, iconic imprint on the historical film landscape: the way the West had John Ford say, or questionable taste has John Waters, or Kurt Russell-against the Universe vehicles have had John Carpenter. Johns are good for cinema. They’re passionate to their cause – whatever that may be.

With Julie & Julia, Nora Ephron has taken the challenge head-on, and good for her. To the majority of the planet, Julia Child was American cuisine for a great many decades, and if quasi-famous gangsters can snag a biopic, then Child is ridiculously overdue.

Rather than throw out another needless, albeit brilliant and insightful, review into the two-cents department, extolling the enthusiasm behind the film and its performances and admonishing for cutting the film into a lack of flow preventing the viewer from truly sympathizing with either Julie or Julia (there are plenty of salient reviews online), I present a list of other films, where food always does its best work within a cinematic landscape: as a supporting actor, rather that a star-turn. Food in film flourishes when its Ralph Bellamy rather than Cary Grant, far better suited to the role of best friend, or cuckolded husband. When asked to hold an audience for ninety minutes on its own, cuisine has proven no match for crime, deceit, and the deviant arts in general.

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover – 1989
A film with everything, literally – the good, the bad, the grotesque, Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon, and an entourage that should make HBO embarrassed of themselves.

Mildred Pierce – 1945
It’s funny to think that Mildred Pierce passed as feminist film making, but to be fair, it was the 1940s and a woman purchasing and running her own restaurant must have seemed as far-fetched as inter-galactic space travel. Worried about your own harried family dynamics? Take a peek at this debacle and feel far, far superior.

Tin Men – 1987
The restaurant scenes in which the aluminum siding salesmen debate everything from the existence of God to the legitimacy of Bonanza, are the best part of this underrated Barry Levinson comedy. The film also provides an interesting sociological snapshot of a style of living, interacting, and selling that has thankfully fallen by the wayside.

The Inheritance – 2003
Being perfectly honest, I’ve been looking for a reason to recommend this Danish film since I first saw it in the mid-nineties. A young restaurateur is pulled out of his dream occupation when a death in the family “forces” him back into the business of being the proper son.

My Dinner With Andre – 1981
For an evening when feeling intellectual but lazy, or looking over the rolodex of friends and not seeing anyone up to the challenge, or worth the effort.

Ali: Fear Eats The Soul – 1974
Nothing says fun at the movies like an examination of ageism and race relations! Granted this Fassbinder classic is light in the cuisine department, but a side-order of couscous never held such emotional ramifications.