April
14
Julie & Julia: Women and Food
On its surface, a movie about a dowdy middle-aged woman chef--even French cooking icon Julia Child--may not seem commercial. But several elements in this mix could make Julie & Julia, which Sony opens August 7, commercial indeed.
1. Women
One factor that people often ignore when they look at the string of recent hit chick flix such as The Devil Wears Prada, Marley & Me, Sex and the City and Mamma Mia! is one huge demo in the marketplace--which television is smartly tapping into--Boomer women. Older females adore 50ish movie star Meryl Streep, who's on a roll these days, and they also dig 60ish writer-director Nora Ephron, who boasts rom-com cred from her two biggest hits, 1993's Sleepless in Seattle and 1998's You've Got Mail. (It's been a while, though.)
2. Food
Movies about food are also audience faves, from Taiwan's Eat Drink Man Woman, Japan's Tampopo, Denmark's Babette's Feast and Germany's Mostly Martha to American cook-fests Big Night, Fried Green Tomatoes and Mystic Pizza. Ephron talks about cooking Julia Child recipes on the on the set of Julie & Julia. It's a smart way to get audiences salivating.
What are your favorite food movies?
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I'm definitely looking forward to this, because of Streep and because it's the first feature to be based on a food blog! (And you're very kind to la Streep, but I'm afraid she's 60 or just about to be.
Posted by: Pat | April 14, 2009 at 03:41 PM
I nominate La Grande Bouffe 1973 France. A bored rich group of French gourmets commit suicide by overeating. Wonderful. Unique. Revolting.
Posted by: RGM | April 14, 2009 at 04:22 PM
Ok, Fried Green Tomatoes blew chunks. I still have no idea what that movie was about.
Posted by: seanH | April 14, 2009 at 09:31 PM
To answer SeanH's question, it's been so long since I've seen it but doesn't someone get killed and winds up getting barbequed? So it was about cannibalism. I wish Wes Craven had directed the film. I probably would have liked it
Posted by: Sergio | April 15, 2009 at 06:45 AM
Lots of Hong Kong movies have great cooking and food scenes. There's even a whole genre of "chef" movies, with Stephen Chow's GOD OF COOKERY (1996) at the top of the list. I'm still awaiting this year's release, KUNG FU CHEF, starring Sammo Hung and Ai Kago.
Food movies for guys:
I've seen a lot of kung fu movies that have great cooking and dining scenes. Oftentimes, the young hero develops kung fu skills by working in the kitchen (MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING, 1979). In THE BRAVE ARCHER (1977), the heroine, dressed as a beggar boy, gets the hero to pay for a huge meal for her, in which she orders all kinds of delicacies. Just listening to the items she orders is hugely entertaining. IRON MONKEY (1993), which had a theatrical release in the U.S. in 2001, has a great cooking scene, where the title hero rapidly slices off pieces of noodle paste that fly across the kitchen into the wok on the stove.
Also, in the classic Chinese text, "The Water Margin," the basis for umpteen kung fu movies, the heroes often stop to eat and drink in roadside taverns and those scenes, with mouth-watering descriptions of the food served, always make me hungry.
Posted by: Brian | April 15, 2009 at 07:59 AM
A Chef in Love should be considered. I believe that this l996 Georgian film was nominated for a foreign language Oscar
Posted by: RGM | April 17, 2009 at 04:27 PM
I would see Julie and Julia just for the grand experience of once more getting an opportunity to see, the greatest screen actress ever put on a Meryl Streep performance as only Meryl can do it; add a little Amy Adams, a pinch of Stanley Tucci with a little bit of French Omelette and a deboned chicken on the side, and I'm ready to run stop signs on my way to the theater.
BTW, loved Fried Green Tomatoes which wasn't about food at all, except that it was the old ladies favorite dish. I couldn't wait to get my hands on some green tomatoes after that, and I came home and fried some.
They were delicious!
Posted by: Roxanne | May 03, 2009 at 08:09 AM