A sweet and homey family, food (and, yes, a little feud) tale, RAMEN SHOP offers a lot of can't-miss ingredients which hit their mark pretty damned close to the bull's eye -- if you don't mind a combination of food so delicious looking you can indeed nearly taste it, quite a bit of exposition and some sentimentality in both style and content. TrustMovies didn't mind and suspects you might not, either.
As directed by Singapore filmmaker Eric Khoo (shown below, of Be With Me), and perhaps written by him, too
(the IMDB lists no actual writer on the film), Ramen Shop is the story of a young man named Masato, who is distant from his chef/ramen shop-owner father (his mother died years ago) and who, more than anything else, desires to learn how to make a really delicious soup, just like his family members made in the old days when everyone was alive and (relatively) happy.
To this end Masato (played with great charm and feeling by Saitoh Takumi) leaves Japan for Singapore and some family members he has not seen for years. The movie becomes a kind of "food" journey, in which not only do we get to see the food made and eaten but we also hear about how to make it. This verbal/visual combination works surprisingly well in helping us understand what's so special about the menu here. Granted, you cannot actually taste the food, but I think Ramen Shop comes as close in this regard as any movie I've so far seen.
The acting ensemble assembled by the filmmaker proves every bit as good as Mr. Saitoh, too. Each member brings such caring and grace to the proceedings that you are immediately pulled in to the story and the emotions it conjures.
Discovering a trove of family momentos is the key to sending our boy off to Singapore and to the new friends and old family members he encounters there -- who, in addition to all the cooking, more than make the trip worthwhile.
Mr. Khoo flips back and forth between past and present and does this cannily enough that we soon easily follow along. During the film's second half, we get a history lesson regarding Japan and Singapore during World War II -- which serves to explain the events that still divide this family.
Ramen Shop offers an unusual kind of culture clash, one that is finally put to rest via food. Yes, it's sentimental as all get-out, but the movie also hits its mark, over and over again, with surprising accuracy. I suspect that by the finale you'll agree that the words, "Let's eat!" have seldom been uttered with such meaning and resonance.
From Strand Releasing and running a crisp 90 minutes, the film opened in New York City last weekend (at the IFC Center and The Landmark at 57 West) and will open in another 20-odd cities across the country during April and May. Click here then scroll down to click on Screenings to see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters. (Here in Boca Raton, it will tentatively open May 3 at the Living Room Theaters.)
Part slasher/torture porn (with insects the recipients), part food documentary, part globe-trotting travel movie, part environmentally-conscious, What-will-future-generation eat? treatise, BUGS, the new doc from Danish filmmaker Andreas Johnsen is quite something: consistently interesting; peopled with smart, thoughtful, caring characters; and often a lot of weird, expand-your-horizons fun. Recommending it to mainstream audiences, however, comes with a few caveats, beginning with the fact that entomophagy has an eeewwww! factor that is awfully high.
Mr. Johnsen, shown at right, above with his three "stars": left to right, Josh Evans, Roberto Flores and Ben Reade, manages, in just 76 minutes, to introduce us to the idea of actually eating insects and enjoying the experience via the two young gentlemen above, Josh and Ben, who seem to think of themselves as "food adventurers," courtesy of the Nordic Food Lab that sponsored their work. That work consists of traveling the world, trying various insects treats -- from Australia to Kenya, Mexico to The Netherlands and even to Italy to try some cheese filled with worms. (If I recall correctly, one of our heroes reaction to the latter is, "It tastes good. But I prefer Camembert.")
Generally, though, the gourmet palates of these two plucky fellows (and the intern, Roberto, who eventually becomes their chef) seem to greatly appreciate the various insects they try. And to their credit, not once do we hear the reaction, "It tastes like chicken!" Oh, no. In fact, one juicy delectable (I think it was ant larvae) is said by Josh to smell like goat cheese and by Ben (above) to taste like avocado." So there.
The movie begins with our chef and what we are told is a skillet filled with maggot fat (ummm!). Very soon, a group of intrepid folk are given what is referred to as "airplane food for the 22nd Century." The menu here is impressive indeed. One of the more interesting of the team's adventures take them to Kenya, where they discover how tasty termites can be -- especially their hive's queen, who turns out to be more liquid than anything else. Particularly when, by accident, she is squashed.
TrustMovies is making jokes of all this, but Josh and Ben take it very, very seriously. The idea of sustainable food production plays a large part in the movie, late in which, Josh goes to an important meeting in Switzerland, the point of which I wasn't sure I fully understood. (As a filmmaker, Johnsen is bigger on showing than on telling, so we have to make do with what we can garner from the occasional off-the-cuff conversations we overhear via sound design that it not all it might be.) It seemed clear to me that the meeting did not go all that well, yet Josh and the Nordic Food Lab persevere.
You'll grow fond of these two lads, and of Roberto, too, even as some questions do arise. We see an awfully lot of insects killed, often cooked alive, which I guess, depending on your idea about the sanctity of life of species other than human, you will view with alarm or understanding. I can imagine a spin-off from PETA -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Insects -- arising out of this documentary.
But someday, long into the future, when your great-grandkids invite you for a holiday dinner of wasp, cricket and grasshopper stew, preceded by an appetizer of sauteed queen termite (above), just remember: You saw it here first at New York City's Film Forum. That's where BUGS, from Kino Lorber, opens for its U.S. theatrical debut this coming Wednesday, September 27, for a one-week run. It will also play Seattle at the SIFF Cinema Uptown on October 6, in Los Angeles at Laemmle Monica Film Center on October 13, and elsewhere, too. Click here and scroll down to see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters.
What a timely idea for a romantic comedy: a movie that centers around an employment office dedicated to finding jobs for the downsized. Leave it to the French, particularly to the new queen of the cultural-mores-and-social-services movie, Ann Le Ny, to give it to us. Ms Le Ny, who earlier offered up two fine films of this nature -- Those Who Remain and My Father's Guests -- has now added another feather to her cap with this new charmer, THE CHEF'S WIFE.
Le Ny , shown at right, appears to be taking up (somewhat, at least) the mantel of Danièle Thompson, another fine French filmmaker dedicated to rom-coms-cum-social-satire. Here again, as has been her wont so far, she has rounded up an ace cast of French film pros and given them succulent roles to devour. Do they! Le Ny has worked previously with both her leading ladies -- Karin Viard (below, right) and Emmanuelle Devos (below, left) -- so I suspect she understands well the capabilities of each. As writer and director, she uses both actresses in very interesting ways -- they're somewhat different here than I've yet seen them -- and then scrambles things so that eventually, their characters, along with their positions, are cleverly reversed.
In the role of that chef is one of France's enduring icon's Roschdy Zem (below), who, as usual, brings his unique combination of quiet strength, unassuming sexuality and exotic looks to the fore and certainly helps carry this movie.
To go into plot details will give away what really should be a series of smart surprises that the film wittily unveils. Unfortunately, it also eventually partially unravels, as Ms Le NY paints her plot, along with her characters, into a corner, from which the only release becomes a combination of coincidence and rather too obvious plot machinations.
This is too bad because the initial two-thirds of the film comprises first-class stuff: timely, funny and smart. Even with the slight disappointment that accompanies the conclusion, The Chef's Wife is still more fun, more au courant and more original than much of what we see out of Hollywood, either in would-be blockbuster or small independent,
From Distrib Films US, running a sleek 91 minutes, and arriving on DVD in the USA via Icarus Films, the movie hits the street on DVD this coming Tuesday, May 9 -- for purchase and/or rental. Streaming-wise, it's also available via iTunes or Amazon.
Unlike some of the modern food-porn documentaries that gush over certain chefs or restaurants, together with their fabulous "presentations," the new documentary, IN SEARCH OF ISRAELI CUISINE, directed by Roger Sherman and featuring Michael Solomonov (along with a number of other fine chefs), seems much less pretentious and a veritable model of intelligent, entertaining filmmaking about food and its delights -- to be found in this case via the little country of Israel. Or perhaps Ishould identify it as Israel/Palestine.
Mr. Sherman (pictured at left) and Mr. Solomonov's doc never overtly brings up any two-state solution. As one chef reminds us along the way, "Food is not political." Yet, here we see and hear enough chefs with Palestinian and/or Muslim Middle-Eastern roots to quickly realize that Israeli cuisine owes as much to those roots as it does to the Jewish Ashkenazi or Sephardic cultures. All three come into play during the movie and seem to complement each other surprisingly well. Visually, the doc offers some of the most enticing shots of food preparation that TrustMovies has seen.
Solomonov (shown above, left) acts as our guide, leading us around the country of Israel, discovering restaurants and chefs aplenty. That's Mike, above, with Meir Adoni at Mizlala, sampling the chef's Kubbaneh, a Temenite Sabbath bread and below, with Palestinian chef Husam Abbas and his famous Kebab El Babour, for which his restaurant in Umm Al-Fahm is named.
We discover a cheesemaker, below, and learn some interesting tricks of his trade, as well as meeting journalists who've covered the Israeli cuisine scene for some time. We spend a Shabbat evening with a cook and her family, and learn (if we didn't already know this) that most of the citizens of Israel are more secular than religious. Yet the Orthodox sect still exerts huge control over the country, forcing a city such as Jerusalem to close all its shops on the Sabbath.
We learn some history of Mr. Solomonov and his family -- including a brother killed in service of his country shortly before his military term would have ended -- and some history of Israel and its immigrants pertaining to food and culture and why Israeli cuisine was for so many years considered inferior. Explaining how and why this changed is part of the film's mission.
Changed it has, and the many different dishes and meals we see prepared and sampled should make a convert out of you, as it did me. Everything from street food to the selections in some of the famed restaurants look as enticing as food can get. Yet it's all hands-on, no-nonsense cuisine, made with mostly, usually only, local produce.
We learn of the tension between the Ashkenazi and Sephardic sects and how the old-time Ashkenazi cooking -- "cold, boring and guilt-ridden," as one woman puts it, is becoming more vibrant and inclusive.
The movie is also a kind of travelogue, taking us to city after city in all parts of this tiny country. (That's Michael, above, with a seafood maven known as Uri Buri.) From tiny villages to Tel Aviv, we see it all.
We learn how, below, irrigating using salt water makes cherry tomatoes even sweeter (sometimes too sweet), and we discover the Nabatian culture, including its dormant-for-centuries wine industry, and how wine production is flourishing once again. (Our guide explains to us that he is not a drinker, and the reason he gives becomes the documentary's funniest line.)
Full of interesting ideas, scrumptious visuals and a lovely multiculturalism, In Search of Israeli Cuisine should prove a simultaneous treat for foodies, history buffs, and travel lovers. The movie, from Menemsha Films and running 94 minutes, opens this Friday, March 24, in New York City at the Angelika Film Center and the Lincoln Plaza Cinema. The following Friday, March 31, it hits Los Angeles (at Laemmle's Royal and Town Center) and a few other cities. Here in South Florida the film will open on Friday, May 5, in Miami Beach at the O Cinema, in Tamarac at The Last Picture Show, and in Boca Raton at the Living Room Theaters. Elsewhere? Yes, so click here and scroll down to see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters.
When we think about our food and where it comes from, the last thing on many of our minds is the humble little seed. Those of us who follow the ever-rising control of big corporations worldwide, however, may think first of seeds, and then of power-hungry behemoths such as Montsanto, soon, it would seem, to be merged into Bayer, an even bigger power-hungry behemoth: (You can register your disapproval of that merger by clicking here).
SEED: THE UNTOLD STORY, a new documentary from Jon Betz and Taggart Siegel, very smartly begins with a kind of history of seeds, introducing us to an ex-hippie farmer, shown below, who has now collected literally thousands of varieties of seeds, and who tells us that, sadly, we've lost 94 percent of our seed diversity during the 20th Century.
It was wise of the filmmakers to provide us this seed history and importance before showing us what the reign of Capitalism and "hybrid seeds," along with corporations and their venal and ridiculous idea of "patenting" nature are doing, with the help of slime balls like ClarenceThomas, surely the sleaziest member of our current Supreme Court. Next we move to Mexico and the fascinating story/history of corn. "We are seeds," explains one of several of the Indians who guide us through all this, as we are made to see and understand the kind of love that goes into caring for seeds. (Seed farming and seed banks, we learn, are now internationally connected.)
We visit Hawaii and watch as neighbors and whole communities protest the poisoning of their land and their children via toxic pesticides. We learn that NAFTA, by selling subsidized corn in Mexico, has forced two million farmers off their land. We see something similar in India, thanks to -- yes, again -- Montsanto. We view "Seed schools" in action via the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, an organization devoted to increasing, rather than further depleting, seed diversity.
Filmmakers Betz and Siegel (shown above, with Betz on the left) are to be thanked for their efforts, even if the end result does not rise artistically to the level of importance of the subject itself. There are still plenty of things to be learned and gained from viewing this movie. Seed:The Untold Story -- from Collective Eye Films and running 94 minutes -- opens this Friday, September 23, in New York City at the Cinema Village and the following Friday, September 30, in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Monica Film Center.
Will the film be shown elsewhere? I have no idea, and since it does not yet even appear on the Collective Eye web site, don't expect any help there, either.
OK: the first of these marriages -- of the Los Angeles-based food critic Jonathan Gold to his wife Laurie Ochoa, his former editor -- seems to work wonderfully well both personally and professionally. But it's the second one -- Mr. Gold as a superlative food critic to his hometown and still favorite city, Los Angeles -- that is the proverbial marriage-made-in-heaven. Thanks to the work of filmmaker Laura Gabbert, shown below, we learn a lot about both of these couplings, while enjoying the experience immensely.
Ms Gabbert has the good sense to keep her documentary, CITY OF GOLD, focused heavily on her subject, and Mr Gold (shown above and below, in two of his haunts) proves an intelligent, thoughtful, warm and gracious host -- in the process almost convincing TrustMovies, a former born-and-raised Angeleno who used to hate this would-be city, that it might be pretty damned wonderful, after all. It certainly offers the most amazing array of tasty and varied restaurants that anyone could ask for -- even if you have to drive for hours to get to many of them. Lengthy drives, usually in heavy traffic, have become -- ever since the destruction of the city's fabulous public transportation system during the late 1940s and early 50s -- indigenous to Los Angeles.
Ms Gabbert gives us only snippets of Gold's writing, but these are enough to make us want to go to the source and read more. She weaves history, tradition, diversity and all kinds of food and restaurants -- all of which are filtered through Mr Gold's lovely sensibility -- into the tale of a "critic" who ups the standard for criticism via... well, you'll see. And hear. His thoughts about just about everything seem well worth knowing. He calls one little place a "miracle of entry-level Capitalism" and he and his director have a good time making fun of the "anonymous restaurant critic" (below) -- an idea which he thoroughly pooh-poohs.
We come to understand how and why this critic chooses the restaurants he does -- often family run and what some of us might call a tad "low-end." The reason is because the owners and chefs are cooking for their community, rather than for critics or tourists or "haute cuisine-ists." It turns out that Gold never reviews a restaurant until he has frequented it several times (I believes he mentions that his record is 17 times prior to review). Clearly this is no rush-to-judgment kind of guy. He also, toward the end of this really excellent documentary, explains something that is epidemic to criticism and that he attempts to derail: the idea of "contempt prior to investigation." Gold appears to lack the former but works hard to accomplish the latter.
That last explains a lot about this man and his mission, I think. (He's as likely to cover someone's "taco trailer," above, as go to a sit-down restaurant.) So sit back and enjoy the many interviews with restaurants owners, chefs, and other critics (Ruth Reichl makes an appearance here, too), along with Gold's family and friends. Together all this becomes a genuinely new and revealing look at a place we often take for granted, its enormously diverse people, and the food they cook, eat and share.
City of Gold, from Sundance Selects/IFC Films and running 96 minutes, after opening in New York and Los Angeles hits South Florida tomorrow in the Miami area at the O Cinema- Wynwood.
Among the facts, figures and statis-tics assembled for the documentary FED UP, written by Mark Monroe and Stephanie Soechtig (below) and directed by Ms Soechtig, is the fact that although the western world -- especially America -- is exercising more often and more faithfully than ever before, its rate of obesity keeps rising. As America is also "dieting" more heavily than ever, one might ask, as does this movie, What's going on here?
According to Katie Couric, who appears in the film and also co-executive produced it, the culprit is less our over-eating population than something quite else (Spoiler of sorts ahead, as the documentary doesn't reveal this information until around the halfway point): our food industry and its decision to add oodles of sugar (often in the guise of its many derivatives) into virtually all our processed foods.
Further, because of our very lax FDA and the powerful food industry lobby, Sugar and its Derivatives (let's call this SAID) are either not listed on the packaging of many foods, or the percentage of SAID that the package contains is not, either. That the obesity epidemic began just after the industry began overdosing us on its sweets is also germane to the discussion, as is the ability of the food industry and its most powerful corporations to package and sell "low-fat" products, the SAID percentage of which is often almost equivalent to that of the higher fat products. (Wait until you see the comparisons of Yogurt!)
In the course of Fed Up, we see and hear some of the usual talking heads who devote some of their time and energy to our current food crisis, and some of the more unusual variety, such as the overweight young lady shown below, who has been trying to shed those excess pounds for what seems like her entire life.
The facts and figures assembled here are impressive and fascinating. They are also quite maddening in the same manner as is the information we all have at our fingertips about how corporations are poisoning the environment. But it's all just business, right? And here in American that is what must come first -- ahead of health and humanity and anything else you might, for some odd reason, prize. And don't look to government to help, either, as our politicians are all "bought off" by food industry lobbyists.
Food, however, is something we can more easily control, right? We can buy what we wish and spend our money on other, healthier products. One would think. But it does not work this way due to the power of advertising and the lack of willpower among most of our populace.
My spouse felt that the documentary shortchanged its audience by not placing more responsibility on the very people who were becoming obese. Yes, blame the victim again: good corporate strategy. There is something to be said for this. But not much. Not while government agencies continue to favor business over health and corporations over people.
So we have yet another anger-making documentary that lays out before us how we are being cheated at every turn. There are things that we can do, and the doc piles this on at its conclusion, as well. Fed Up is definitely worth seeing and arguing about. Maybe someday we will even see some change occur -- in the right direction, I mean.
From Radius/TWC and running 92 minutes, the film hits the streets this Tuesday, September 9, on Blu-ray and DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment. (Yes, that's orange juice, above -- another culprit containing "added sugar." Eat an actual orange instead.)
Movie criticism (mostly foreign films, documentaries and independents: big Hollywood product hardly needs more marketing), very occasional interviews from James van Maanen, now 80 years old, who began his late-career movie reviewing for GreenCine, then took the big blog step over a decade ago. He covers new movies, video releases, and occasional streaming choices. You can reach him at JamesvanMaanen@gmail.com
Unlike some of the modern food-porn documentaries that gush over certain chefs or restaurants, together with their fabulous "presentations," the new documentary, 
