*(sort of) contains spoilers* Since seeing Phantom Thread just before Christmas I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Not just because it’s a richly crafted film about passion, creation and obsession, but because it’s also – as you’ll no doubt be unsurprised to hear coming from me – a film about food and appetite. Indeed this […]
I’m clearly the world’s most useless blogger. Although I’ve been thinking (and writing) a lot about food and film recently, this post is long overdue. And as we’re well into summer and approaching the middle of August, I couldn’t resist the urge to write a little about Pranzo di Ferragosto/Mid-August Lunch (2008), which I watched for […]
On Thursday my friend Julie and I enjoyed a decadent evening at the American Bar at the Savoy. It was Jules’ birthday and we figured if we skipped dinner and made do with the (plentiful) olives and nuts, a cocktail or two would cost no more than going out for a meal. One of the […]
Making breakfast has never looked so hard as it does at the end of Woman of the Year (1942) when steely and independent Tess Harding (Katharine Hepburn) tries to prepare coffee and waffles for her estranged husband, Sam Craig (Spencer Tracy). Tess is a cultured and successful political correspondent – so successful she wins the […]
Heartburn is chock full of food. Its heroine, Rachel Samstat (Meryl Streep) is a cookery book writer and Nora Ephron’s 1983 novel (which she adapted for Mike Nichols’ screen version) is full of asides in which Rachel discourses on the life-affirming qualities of potatoes, or offers up recipes for cheesecake, vinaigrette, bacon hash and peach […]
I’ve just got back from a trip to France where I stayed with Peter Graham, former film writer and now a food writer and translator, and the author/editor of books including The French New Wave: Critical Landmarks (1968, 2009) A Dictionary of Film (1964,1968), Classic Cheese Cookery (1988, 2004) and Mourjou: The Life and Food […]
*Warning contains spoilers* Hardboiled heroes (or anti-heroes) certainly know how to eat and drink. Take Dix Steele (Humphrey Bogart), the cynical screenwriter protagonist of In a Lonely Place (1950). We’re first introduced to Dix on his way to Paul’s, a Hollywood club/bar/ restaurant. He’s going to meet his agent Mel (Art Smith), who has a […]
Are Wallace and Gromit stop-motion animation’s most famous cheese-lovers? Undoubtedly – although I’d love to hear suggestions for other cheese lovers on film please. The plot of Wallace and Gromit’s first film, A Grand Day Out (1989) opens with Wallace trying to select a holiday destination while also needing to satisfy his urge for some […]
Here’s the trailer for the 2014 San Sebastian Film Festival Culinary Zinema programme. Culinary Zinema was set up in 2011, taking inspiration from the Berlinale’s (Berlin International Film Festival) Culinary Cinema programme. Although the legendary El Bulli has now closed, San Sebastian and the surrounding area still has a high concentration of Michelin stars, making […]
I’m super excited about Teenage Kicks, the BFI’s summer season of teen movies which is now on. They’re showing one of my favourite films – Heathers (1988), a very black comedy about murder, suicide, eating disorders and hating your best friends. It stars Winona Ryder and Christian Slater (in his best young Jack Nicholson mode) […]
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