food museum blog

"Julie and Julia," The Movie

Why isn't it titled "Julia and Julie," as without Julia Child there likely would have been no blog for Julie Powell, no book, no movie made from the book? Most likely because the blogger in question comes across as a whiny, self-absorbed twit, even with  Amy Adams' customary twinkle in operation.

Yes, this is a food ( and wine) film. And, yes, watching Meryl Streep unwrap and deliver Julia Child is the only reason one might want to rent the future DVD, just to see what she does and when and how she does it. Streep is an actor who uses her entire body in the creation of a persona,  from her feet  all the way up into her coif. ( But, of course, one is not supposed to be avidly scoping out the technical details of an actor's work while watching a film--one wants to be utterly absorbed in a place, a story.)

As a film, this melding of Julie and Julia does not work.  Julie is small and Julia is large. Julie complains and Julia rises above. The director/screen writer Nora Ephron could have made the Julie character more feisty and generous, but presumably the "real" Julie held sway.

And so, as my friend and I watched the film yesterday we were both fighting off sleep during the Julie bits, and rearing awake whenever Julia was on board. And we both recalled that our respective mothers cooked Julia's boeuf bourgignon, which, then as now, closely resembled the less glamorously dubbed  "pot roast," save for the addition of red wine to the former.

The movie will make you run out to buy more butter, and some decent red. And consider how well people back in the day dressed, even with the silly hats.

Mullet, Couscous, the Family, and All That

It was the best of movies, it was the worst of movies, and it certainly was one of the longest movies, ever.  Inexplicably titled  The Secret of the Grain in English, ( Le Graine et le Mullet in French,)  the film is set in southern France, in the pretty port of Sete, one of the many towns we explored in the course of writing our book about the food heritage of France. It revolves around a huge, dynamic Tunisian immigrant family  and their attempts to create a fish and couscous restaurant in an abandoned boat, starting with a huge party on board for the town's movers and shakers. Talk about long story short........while capturing the lively essence of this hard-working group of people, and the delights of couscous and mullet, the director, Abdellatif Kechiche, parks the camera inches from each characters' face.  It was painfully suffocating, as if I were sitting in the front row, and wearing the wrong glasses. He employs maybe 6 long shots, and few midrange shots, in this endless movie.

And where he could have taken 1 minute to establish that an element of the feast was missing, the director lingered 10, maybe 15 minutes, with each character repeatedly saying the same lines.

And yet....the couscous and the mullet, the interrelationships, the performance of one young woman who makes the project happen, are worth renting the DVD for.  You can fast forward! Think of that. Perhaps in his next film, Kechiche will discover the joys of editing.

This line about the movie from NY Times critic A.O. Scott  does zero in on the key element for those of us who relish food in film.

"And the richness of “The Secret of the Grain” — the secret, as it were, of its deep and complex flavor — lies in the close, tireless, enthusiastic attention it pays to the most mundane daily tasks, especially those involving food."

The French Do It Again!

Damned if there isn't a lovely scene of people sitting around a table eating a meal together within minutes of the start of Kristen Scott-Thomas'  flick  Il y a longtemps que je t'aime  ( I've Loved You So Long.)  And, in fact, the characters, young and old alike, are shown eating more than once in the course of the film---maybe even three times a day! ( And preparing food....OMG.)

Now-- the movie is a tour de force for Ms S-T, and I wallowed in the interiors, the eating, etc., but at the end, when you comprehend what the entire film has been based on, you think "Please!"

That said, I was trying to recall the last American film where I noted  anyone fueling up. Maybe the Wild West saga, Appaloosa, directed by Ed Harris. A few of the characters had breakfast in their hotel together, not that I really took in if or what they were eating. I was too distracted by the exorbitant cheeks of Renee Zellweger---she likely ate nothing, so filled were her pouches with nuts--and besides, her lips are always pursed to such an extent that I imagine it is with great effort that she speaks, let alone eats. 

( I know, that was mean. I was truly impressed with the work RZ put into song and dance for her role in Chicago.)

Oh--there was a bag of dog food in Bolt, methinks. ( I never finished watching this--once I learned the dog was being lied to, that was that!)

Soon I will be taking a look at Brooklyn Lobster, a 2006 movie about a threatened family business that must, please, involve some crustacean-nibbling. Maybe even drawn butter.

"Food Insecure" Americans and Other Food News

• Apparently if Americans cannot buy enough food for themselves or their families, according to the USDA, they are "food insecure" rather than "hungry." The USDA recently released a lengthy report that contained these items, among many others:  ---About 4.7 million of the 13 million food insecure households in 2007 had very low food security, with household members skipping meals or taking other steps to reduce the amount they ate because of a lack of resources. The size of this group and its share of the overall population have risen steadily over the past decade.
    ---The number of children with very low food security rose by over 60 percent, to 691,000.
  
  ---The number of food insecure seniors living alone rose by 26 percent, to 783,000.
• Farmers in Platteville,  Colorado opened their 600 acre spread to "gleaners" this season expecting maybe 5000-10,000 visitors--40,000 people showed up and went away with 600,000 pounds of free potatoes, carrots and leeks.  The Miller family was astonished by the numbers but frankly I was amazed that there was that much veggie material left after the harvest.
• Meanwhile, foodies are aquiver over who the Obamas will name as head chef for the White House. ( Most likely NOT Gordon Ramsey...)   Chef Cristeta Comerford will probably keep her position in the near term.
• Have I raved as yet about the film Dinner Rush?  OK, it's "old," from 2000, but I picked it up at my local library for free, so just relax. Most of the action takes place in an actual restaurant owned by the director, Bob Giraldi, so the feel of the flick is garlic, olive oil and wine saturated. The filmic restaurant is owned by a bookie, the plot thickens, and ends with a twist.  Recommended both as a foodie treat, and as a low-key thriller.

Food Entrepreneur Newman Slips Off Planet

Paul Newman, the actor who died this weekend, was also the founder of the Newman's Own brand of food products, begun as a lark, that has donated $200 million to charity. It started with salad dressing, brewed up with  writer pal A.E. Hotchner for Christmas gift-giving to family and friends, and now, in its organic configuration, Newman's Own Organics, even produces decent quality pet foods. 

Dare we call Newman a "foodie?" Perhaps, more accurately, a guy who liked decent eats.
According to a piece in the Hartford Courant by Linda Giuca, "He really loved good food, so he was really involved in the business," said Kirsten McKamy, who worked for Newman's Own for eight years. "He wasn't just a figurehead; he came up with ideas."

In 2006 Newman cconceived of another foodish notion--he partnered with chef Michel Nischan to create The Dressing Room restaurant next to the Westport Playhouse in, Westport, Connecticut. The restaurant celebrates regional American food and serves up local produce and meats.

Even Newman's last cinematic endeavor had a food theme-- he provided the narration for a documentary film called The Price of Sugar-- the movie explores the story of Haitian workers brought across the border into the Dominican Republic to labor in the sugar cane fields. Not surprisingly, they are housed in poor conditions, they toil 7 days a week, 14 hours a day, and are expected to be grateful. The Spanish priest who attempts to improve their lives has some success, then is reassigned to a post in Ethiopia.  ( Alas,  apparently there is no oil on the island of Hispaniola.)

At the end of the NYTimes obituary by Aljean Harmetz,  Newman is quoted: “We are such spendthrifts with our lives,” Mr. Newman once told a reporter. “The trick of living is to slip on and off the planet with the least fuss you can muster. I’m not running for sainthood. I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer, who puts back into the soil what he takes out.”

( Newman eats multiple hard-boiled eggs in the 1967 flick, Cool Hand Luke.)

People Both Cook and Eat in Foreign Films!

Deliberately paced, filmed without a musical score, the 2007 Belgian movie Private Property starring Isabelle Huppert delighted us recently. The story of a divorced woman living amidst tension with her two lazy adult sons features people both eating--numerous times--and cooking, amazingly enough! Think back through most American films you've seen, however, and doesn't it become apparent the characters live on air and have no kitchens? Many non -US flicks include daily nurturance as a matter of course, on the other hand.  (Off topic, but---For years every French film we watched seemed to include a scene shot through flapping windshield wipers inadequate to handle northern European rainfall.)

Beyond food scenes, look for two remarkable long shots that move the story along from a distance.

Another bonus to us: shot in Belgium in an area where we lived for several years, the movie contains not only views of utter familiarity, but the script references the very real condescension of some  French-speaking Belgians towards their Flemish (Dutch)-speaking neighbors.
( Still from "Private Property", orginally "Nue Propriete," thanks to http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews32/private_property.htm)

"The Amazing Mrs.Pritchard"

Masterpiece Theatre once again has doled out a (tiny)  food dollop in its new presentation starring Joan Horrocks, about the manager of a supermarket in Leeds who decides to run for Parliament.  She runs as an independent, rallies the nation, and, faster than a runaway shopping trolley, becomes Prime Minister,  all the while being shown peeling carrots, and ( we think) doing something with spuds. And, of course, the first episode opens with her zipping around her store, Greengages Supermarket,  efficient, friendly and ever on the alert.

( Don't turn this on for the food, however, but for the tight writing and fine acting. Dilys Laye has a brief, gemlike scene as QE II--brilliant, worth the price of Public Broadcasting membership.  )

Pixar's Take On Animated Food--"Ratatouille"

So There's This Evil Eggplant, See...

Scanning the offerings at Netflix the other day, I fell victim to this title: Oranges: Revenge of the Eggplant. Huh?

Well. I began watching, and knew I had stumbled into a bizarre  world of doodled on fruits, playhouse sets,  and awkward voice overs. Plus, violence prevailed. Toy tanks!  Death squads! ( This orange, like, exploded?)  Bananas in burka-like coverings...

I hopped forward through the entire affair, with Dr. Sunkist and the Evil Eggplant et al. I suppose this animated flick has a cult following---it's not the only one with the Oranges. The first, apparently, was created for a high school art class.

Rent it, readers. See for yourselves. ( Perfect date flick.) Orange yuh gonna?

"West Bank Story" Redux

Finally saw the Academy Award winner in the Short Live Action Film category, West Bank Story--I blogged about this battle of the falafel joints on February 27--and it's a gem.   Full of wit, lively music, un PC jokes, and sight gags, as well as bits stolen from West Side Story, the flick portrays the ( absurd) battle between the Kosher King Jewish deli and its rival Hummus Hut, both on the West Bank. ( Duh.) And the expected love affair between Fatima, the Palestinian cashier, and David, the Israeli soldier.

Watch the trailer here.