At first thought, movies about food don’t make a lot of sense. Food engages your senses of taste and smell, while movies can only use light and sound. How could a movie ever encapsulate the sensory and emotional experience of cooking and eating a meal?
For a long time, they didn’t try. Gastro-cinema—movies that intertwine their characters’ emotional journeys with the creation of food—didn’t emerge until the late 1980s and early ’90s. Most of the early examples of this genre were foreign films that came from countries where cooking was an integral part of culture and family life, like Gabriel Axel’s “Babette’s Feast,: Alfonso Arau’s “Like Water for Chocolate,” and Ang Lee’s “Eat Drink Man Woman.”
These are all very different movies, but they are all stories about passion. That passion can be love or lust, or—as it is in Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci’s “Big Night” and Jon Favreau’s “Chef”—it can be the passion required to create true art in a commercial world.
One of the movies opening at the Triplex this week, “The Taste of Things,” is the latest film to explore this intersection of passion and food, telling the story of two chefs who use food to express their true feelings for each other. Add in the fact that director Trần Anh Hùng cast real-life exes Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel as his leads, and you have a simmering tale that is an instant classic in the genre (and makes for great Valentine’s Day viewing).
It is this passion that makes gastro-cinema so evocative. It is not just that these movies depict the process of cooking, but that they show the intense emotion and feeling that goes into every step of that process. They remind us what it takes to truly express ourselves, and how rich and rewarding it can be to connect.
Now Playing
“Bob Marley: One Love”
The reggae legend comes to life on the big screen.
From Reinaldo Marcus Green, the director of “Monsters and Men” and “King Richard,” comes an intimate look at one of the most legendary names in music. “Bob Marley: One Love” stars Kingsley Ben-Adir (“One Night in Miami,” “Barbie”) as the musician and activist who became a global symbol of Jamaican culture.
“Poor Things”
Ends Sunday!
The latest collaboration between visionary director Yorgos Lanthimos and producer/star Emma Stone, “Poor Things” tells the story of a young woman finding new life and liberation in Victorian-era Europe. Drawing inspiration from works like “Black Narcissus” and Fellini’s “And the Ship Sails On,” “Poor Things” is already racking up awards for its stunning visuals and performances.
“American Fiction”
Held over for one more week!
The directorial debut from writer Cord Jefferson (“The Good Place,” “Watchmen”), “American Fiction” is a blazing satire that takes on some of the most divisive issues in American culture. Starring Jeffrey Wright, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown, Tracee Ellis Ross, and many more, “American Fiction” is the story of a writer embracing the racial stereotypes he has spent a lifetime avoiding and finding unexpected success in return.
“The Zone of Interest”
Nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
From director Jonathan Glazer (“Sexy Beast,” “Under the Skin”), “The Zone of Interest” is a bracing look at the mundanity of evil. Following the daily life of a Nazi family in their home next to Auschwitz, this is a chilling movie that forces the audience to contemplate the ways everyday people become complicit in atrocities.
Coming Soon
“Drive Away Dolls”
The first solo outing from director Ethan Coen (“Raising Arizona,” “Fargo”), “Drive Away Dolls” is the initial installment in his planned “Lesbian B-Movie” trilogy with writer Tricia Cooke. Starring Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan as two friends on a road trip who cross paths with a gang of inept criminals, “Drive Away Dolls” is a vintage Coen-esque crime caper that features performances from Pedro Pascal, Colman Domingo, Beanie Feldstein, Matt Damon, and more.
