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Europecinema- Part 2: Foreign Food
To be honest: this post more or less is the intellectual property of Rick de Gier (author of film reviews in a Dutch Weekly and this site). This week he wrote about movies which deal with food, in connection to the release of this Brazilian-Italian movie called “Estrômago“. It promises to be a black comedy about a weird guy who even in jail shows he really commands the art of cooking. This is the trailer:
According to De Gier it is in the category of food movies in which gastronomy is made sexy. He points out that “The wayward cloud” (2006, Taiwan), a semi musical, in which watermelons play an important part, can be labeled in the same way. It is one of the ten characteristics he distinguishes to make a success out of a food movie. In the process he proves that apart from European, non European cinema also contributed several distinguished movies on the subject of food. Summarized De Gier’s essentials of good food movies are when it deals with:
Europecinema – part 1: Food.
A very learned man, not even half my age, was on the Telly last night. Though he is a sociology professor, he had quite a lot of interesting things to say on strategies to exclude minorities. But I will not go into them here and now. However, to my dismay he joined the choir of pessimists when he referred to the near future of Europe as a museum only.
I don’t agree at all. The present political mood may not be what sensible people would want it to be, but to me the continent is still dynamic and vigorous. Yet unquestionable it is true that we are surrounded by 2500 years of breathtaking artifacts in all kinds of realms. Ranging from ancient Greek architecture to modern cinematographic art. As a matter of fact I, as a composed lover of movies, for instance definitely prefer European cinema to Hollywood and Bollywood. In that sense, and in that sense only, I second Willem Schinkel.
By way of example: culinary Indonesia and Japan may be my world champions, but the three best movies in which food plays a major part, are European: “La Grande Bouffe”, “Babette’s Gaestebud” (Babette’s Feast) and “The cook, the thief, his wife and her lover”. At least these are the best I’ve seen.
The company you keep
The saying goes ‘tell me what you read and I’ll tell who you are’. And vice versa of course. Some German philosopher even went as far as saying that you are what you eat. To me it seems to imply that your real identity can be known by what you relate to.
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To tickle a taboo
One of the most effective ways to address taboo’s is by getting the laugh on one’s side. That is what, at least at first sight, Quickie Express (2007) promises to do. This Indonesian movie, directed by Dimas Djayadiningrat, claims to take on all kinds prejudices about the country’s minorities, the “tribal†system and the sexual morale. Quite a number of touchy issues one might say – the storyboard leaves no doubt about it. To cut it short: it looked like it could be almost two hours of the quintessence of humour and even better: it was shown in a local cinema. Because it is a rare opportunity to see a South East Asian Woody Allen or Monty Python, we held a small family conference and immediately decided to go.
Actually we did see a well made film. This was funny entertainment about a guy and his pals who delivered sexual services to well to do milfs with too much leisure time on their hands. And here is the trailer: