"Food" Movies without Food

In our search for the greatest “food” movies ever made—or maybe simply for the films featuring the most delicious meals—we came across a number of pictures whose titles hinted at the presence of food yet, when we viewed them, we discovered that they didn’t include food at all. One of these “food” movies without food is Breakfast on Pluto.

Patrick “Kitten” Braden: And the other thing about the Phantom Lady was, Bert, she realized, in the city that never sleeps….
Bertie: What did she realize, Kitten?
Patrick “Kitten” Braden: That all the songs she’d listened to, all the love songs, that they were only songs.
Bertie: What’s wrong with that?
Patrick “Kitten” Braden: Nothing, if you don’t believe in them. But she did, you see. She believed in enchanted evenings, and she believed that a small cloud passed overhead and cried down on a flower bed, and she even believed there was breakfast to be had…
Bertie: Where?
Patrick “Kitten” Braden: On Pluto. The mysterious, icy wastes of Pluto.

Breakfast on Pluto is a funny, moving film about a young Irish man named Patrick who is abandoned on the doorstep of the parish rectory when just an infant. Placed with a foster family, he discovers his transgender identity at a very young age and runs away from home to escape his family’s and neighbors’ disapprobation. A series of “adventures” leads him to have an affair with the lead singer of a rock band, to run afoul of the Irish Republican Army, to work as a magician’s assistant, to flee to London where he is arrested as a terrorist, to befriend a police officer who finds him a job in a peep show, to be “found” and taken in by the father who never admitted his paternity, and—finally—to find the mother who had fled to London to escape the shame of unwed motherhood in Catholic Ireland. But there are only the briefest glimpses of breakfast food in the movie.

Released January 13, 2006
Written by Neil Jordan (writer) and Pat McCabe (novel)
Directed by Neil Jordan
Starring Cillian Murphy as Patrick “Kitten” Braden, Liam Neeson as Father Liam, Ruth Negga as Charlie, Laurence Kinlan as Irwin, Brendan Gleeson as John Joe Kenny, Stephen Rea as Bertie, Gavin Friday as Billy Hatchett, and Eva Birthistle as Eily Bergin
Awards: 2007 Irish Film and Television Awards for Best Actor in a Lead Role in a Feature Film (Cillian Murphy), Best Director (Neil Jordan), Best Hair & Make-Up for Film (Lorraine Glynn and Lynn Johnson), Best Script for Film (Neil Jordan and Pat McCabe); 2006 Ljubljana International Film Festival Audience Award for Neil Jordan; 2005 National Board of Review, U.S.A. Special Recognition Award “For Excellence in Filmmaking”

"Noodle Western" or Uncategorizable?

How can one describe Tampopo? Is it, as some say, the "first noodle western"? A "humorous paean to the joys of food"? An "erotic food movie"? A "spoof of Japanese life"? Actually, it's a little bit of all of those, and more. The main plot concerns the widow Tampopo's desire to run a successful noodle bar, and her efforts to learn how to make the "perfect noodle soup." But there are many subtexts, from the eroticism of sharing food with one's beloved to a samurai-style showdown beneath the highway overpass. It's a wonderfully funny movie, with an incredible number and variety of dishes--several noodle soups, Peking duck, barbecued beef, rice omelets, sole meuniere, even spaghetti! We'll let our readers decide if we have indeed created the "perfect" noodle soup.

Our Absolutely, Positively Last Ever Thanksgiving Meal

Readers of this blog know that we've been working on the meals in the movie What's Cooking? for quite some time now, and that this film features four complete Thanksgiving dinners. FOUR! Well, we are happy to report that we have FINALLY finished all four, the last being the Vietnamese American meal prepared by the Nguyen family.

In celebration, here are some photos of the dinner spread. We invited twelve of our friends to sample the recipes, and they seemed to enjoy every dish--but we must say, they absolutely devoured the spring rolls--all 80 of them!

And now, on to the next movie meal....

Feast Your Eyes on These Pies!

Viewers, beware: just watching the film Waitress will raise your blood-sugar level! The film opens with a mouth-watering montage of incredible homemade pies—peach, apple, cherry, chocolate chip, chocolate pudding, banana and dark chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter chip and white chocolate chip, even pistachio—and then treats moviegoers to the wonderful story of these delectables.

Jenna, a waitress at Joe’s Pie Diner, is the genius behind the diner’s daily pie specials—both the recipes, which she makes up in her head, and the names, such as “Marshmallow Mermaid Pie,” “Falling in Love Chocolate Mousse Pie,” “Peachy Keen Tarts,” “Spanish Dancer Pie,” and “Jenna’s Special Strawberry Chocolate Oasis Pie.” Jenna inherited her pie-making talent from her mother, who created such interesting pies as “The Lonely Chicago Pie,” “Car Radio Pie,” and “Jenna’s First Kiss Pie.” But Jenna is incredibly unhappy in her abusive marriage, and when she suddenly finds herself pregnant, her pie-muse goes into overdrive, calling forth such concoctions as “I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby Pie” or “Kick in the Pants Pie.”

The wonderful thing about the narrative is that Jenna gives a brief description of each vision as she goes along: thus, “Bad Baby Quiche Pie” is a quiche of egg and Brie cheese with a smoked ham center; “I Hate My Husband Pie” has a pudding filling made from bittersweet chocolate drowned in caramel; “Baby Screaming Its Head Off in the Middle of the Night and Ruining My Life Pie” is a New York-style cheesecake, brushed with brandy, with pecans and nutmeg on top; “Earl Murders Me ‘Cause I’m Having an Affair Pie” is made by smashing raspberries and blackberries into a chocolate crust; “I Can’t Have No Affair Because It’s Wrong and I Don’t Want Earl to Kill Me Pie” is a vanilla custard pie with a banana on top, “hold the banana”; and finally “Pregnant, Miserable, Self-Pitying Loser Pie” is lumpy oatmeal with fruitcake mashed in, then flambéed. (This running narrative is fortunate for the viewer who loves to bake, because the DVD edition of the film does not provide any recipes.)

Fortunately, Jenna embodies humor as well as sadness in her pies: there are “Old Joe’s Horny Past Pie,” which she makes for the owner of the pie diner, and “Naughty Pumpkin Pie,” which she makes for her gynecologist/lover. Nevertheless, she has little faith in her own gifts, as this exchange with Joe indicates:

Joe: Nobody makes strawberry chocolate pie the way you do. Wednesday’s my favorite day of the week ‘cause I get to have a slice of it. I think about it as I’m waking up. Could solve all the problems with the world, that pie.
Jenna: You’re making too much of it. It’s just a pie.
Joe: Just a pie? It’s downright expert. A thing of beauty. How each flavor opens itself, one by one, like a chapter in a book. First the flavor of an exotic spice hits you, just a hint of it. And then you’re flooded with chocolate, dark and bittersweet, like an old love affair. And finally, strawberry, the way strawberry was always supposed to taste, but never knew how.

Or as Dr. Pomatter, Jenna’s lover, rhapsodizes about one of her pies: “It’s bliss.” And that’s an accurate thing to say about this fine movie itself, for all turns out well for Jenna (though we won’t give away the happy ending).

Inspiring Facts:
The toddler who appears as Jenna’s daughter, Lulu, in the final scene is Adrienne Shelly’s daughter, Sophie Ostroy. Writer and director Shelly was as inspired in making this film as Jenna was in creating new pies. Shelly’s talent ranged from adding in the simplest plot details (the five-minute date) to portraying Jenna’s friend Dawn on screen to writing the movie’s theme, a lullaby that begins, “Baby, don’t you cry, gonna make a pie. Gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle….” Shelly’s murder in her Manhattan office was a stunning loss, not only for her family but for film-goers worldwide; despite this tragedy, Waitress, her final film released after her death, is an optimistic view of the resilience of the human spirit and a testimonial to Shelly’s fundamentally joyful outlook on the human experience. The success of the film has helped fund the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, a non-profit that provides film school scholarships and grants to female filmmakers.

Released May 25, 2007
Starring Keri Russell as Jenna, Nathan Fillion as Dr. Jim Pomatter, Cheryl Hines as Becky, Jeremy Sisto as Earl, Andy Griffith as Old Joe, Adrienne Shelly as Dawn, Eddie Jemison as Ogie, and Lew Temple as Cal
Written and Directed by Adrienne Shelly
Awards: Chlotrudis Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast; Newport Beach Film Festival Audience Award for Feature Film and Feature Film Award for Acting (Nathan Fillion); Sarasota Film Festival Award for Narrative Feature (Adrienne Shelly); Southeastern Film Critics Association Wyatt Award

Another Holiday Meal

A dessert table fit for royalty! This dessert table includes all the delicious desserts served by the Williams family at Thanksgiving in the wonderful film What's Cooking? Here we have Gwennie Robbins’ Fool-Proof Rustic Pie, Blueberry Pie with Graham Cracker Crust, Raspberry Torte, Fruit and Nut Cheese Ball, Moroccan Fruit Compote—and more. A fine finish to a delicious meal--and just a sneak preview of the scrumptious desserts we'll be including in Cooking with the Movies.

To whet your appetite, here's the recipe for Gwennie Robbins' Apple Pie:
1 c. flour
1 stick butter
8 oz. cream cheese
1 c. sugar
juice of ½ lemon
dash or two of ground cinnamon
6 Granny Smith apples

Crust:
Let the butter and cream cheese come to room temperature.
Place the flour, butter, and cream cheese into a bowl and use hands to run together.
Put aside half of the dough for the top of the pie crust.
Press the rest of the dough into an ungreased pie pan.

Filling:
Peel and wedge apples and place into a bowl (Note: blackberries and peaches work beautifully as well. Pour sugar over apples. Add lemon juice. Sprinkle in cinnamon. Combine mixture with hands (hands are always the best!) Pour filling into crust.

Hand roll extra dough into several long strips and crisscross over pie.

Bake at 375°F for 30 to 40 minutes, or until top turns golden brown.

Yield: One pie with 12 healthy slices

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Another film we're going to mention briefly is the cult-classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

When first released, The Rocky Horror Picture Show seemed doomed to failure, playing to nearly empty theaters across the country. But when midnight movie screenings became popular, this film found its niche, and moviegoers began flocking to see it, drawn not only by its “campiness” but also by the opportunity to “participate” in the show. Patrons began to dress up like the characters, to dance along with the music, to shout out lines to the screen (“How strange was it? So strange they made a movie out of it!”), and to bring along their own props (e.g., rice to toss at the wedding, flashlights to shine during “There’s a Light,” noisemakers to blow when Rocky is born, toasted bread to offer in response to Frank’s dinnertime toast, confetti, toilet paper, playing cards, rubber gloves, newspapers, water pistols, and so forth). Still screened at midnight, The Rocky Horror Picture Show has had the longest theatrical run in history, with no end in sight, as new generations of patrons learn the lines, dress in fishnet stockings and bustiers, and “toast” the movie screen.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show also has a quite memorable dinner scene. Beginning to lose control of his guests, both those invited and those unexpected, Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) invites everyone to join him for dinner. Not knowing the local customs (they are aliens from the planet of Transsexual, after all), Riff Raff (Richard O’Brien) and Magenta (Patricia Quinn) have set an eclectic table (with beer steins or coffee mugs serving as wine glasses and at least six spoons per place setting) and proceed to toss, throw, spill, and dribble the meat and drink to the guests. After singing “Happy Birthday” to Rocky (Peter Hinwood), Frank carves the “tender” roast, but when he offers a toast to Eddie (Meat Loaf), everyone finally understands the source of the meal and flees the table, screaming.

Fun Facts:
The original musical play did not feature a dinner, so when Jim Sharman filmed this new scene, the movie actors (especially Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Jonathan Adams, and Peter Hinwood) were completely unprepared for the revelation of the prop corpse of Eddie when Frank (Curry) yanked the tablecloth off the dining table. Their reactions of horror, remorse, outrage, and disgust are quite genuine.

Just before the dinner scene, the Criminologist (Charles Gray) opens his book to a view of Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting The Last Supper, a sarcastic tribute to biker Eddie’s sorry life.

Released September 26, 1975
Starring Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Susan Sarandon as Janet Weiss, Barry Bostwick as Brad Majors, Richard O’Brien as Riff Raff, Patricia Quinn as Magenta, Little Nell (Nell Campbell) as Columbia, Jonathan Adams as Dr. Everett Von Scott, Peter Hinwood as Rocky Horror, Meat Loaf as Eddie, Charles Gray as the Criminologist
Directed by Jim Sharman
Based on the musical by Richard O’Brien
Written by Richard O’Brien (play) and Jim Sharman (writer)
Awards: 1980 Hall of Fame Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films, USA

Diner

In addition to featuring the full meals from 15 or so films, we intend to mention briefly a number of movies in which food plays an important role. The first of these is Diner, Barry Levinson's tribute to 1960's Baltimore.

What’s a cookbook without any mention of diner food? Diners have featured in a number of films, from Taxi Driver to A Prairie Home Companion, and breakfasting or lunching at the local diner is a cherished American tradition. Originally lunch wagons, many of the diners of the 1950s and 1960s were actually old railroad cars; today’s diners may never have been rolling stock, but their prefabricated appearance and long, narrow structure are reminiscent of their predecessors’ origins. Most diners serve eggs, waffles, pancakes, French toast, and other hearty, inexpensive breakfast foods day and night, but hamburgers, club sandwiches, and especially French fries are also staples on any diner menu—not to mention the incredible pies, cakes, pastries, and other tempting desserts that fill the large, often rotating display cases that are a main feature of every American diner.

In Diner, much of the “action” takes place in the Fells Point Diner, where the main characters gather for midnight snacking and male bonding. This group of six men share memories of their high school exploits with great zest; now in their mid-twenties, however, they are facing serious choices about what to do with their lives: marry or not; grad school or work; roast beef or fried chicken. Although the diner’s food may not be spectacular, it is both reliable and comforting, providing a realistic backdrop for a running dialogue that showcases the friends’ indecision and questioning as well as their real fondness for one another.

Fun Facts:
Levinson filmed the diner scenes in an actual, working diner in Fells Point, Baltimore, to capture the essence of the city where he grew up. Since most of the scenes in the diner took place after dark, Levinson kept the kitchen running all night long (filming often did not end until sunrise) so that the characters could have real diner food: French fries, eggs, burgers, sandwiches. These scenes were filmed last, after the actors had gotten to know one another, and the dialogue was a combination of scripted lines and improvisation.

At the time of filming, Baltimore had just begun its revitalization effort by renovating its harbor/waterfront area, so much of the scenery Levinson filmed had not changed that much since 1959-1960, the era he was depicting, giving the film an authentic feel.

Released March 5, 1982
Starring Steve Guttenberg as Edward “Eddie” Simmons, Daniel Stern as Laurence “Shrevie” Schreiber, Mickey Rourke as Robert “Boogie” Sheftell, Kevin Bacon as Timothy Fenwick Jr., Tim Daly as William “Billy” Howard, Ellen Barkin as Beth Schreiber, Paul Reiser as Modell
Written and Directed by Barry Levinson
Awards: National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (Mickey Rourke); Boston Society of Film Critics Awards for Best Screenplay (Barry Levinson) and Best Supporting Actor (Mickey Rourke)