If there’s anything that we don’t want to think about after the holiday season, it’s food. Having gorged ourselves into oblivion in December, bringing in the New Year with popping stomachs, we are all trying to avoid the sight of our empty fridges, proof of our gluttonous behaviour. There is a part of us, however, that longs for the holiday season again, regretting absolutely none of the feasting we partook in. We look forward to December so much because it is a time in which there is free reign on food. We dread January so much because we feel that it is a time of sparing meals. What better way to indulge in food without the belt-loosening guilt, then, than to relive some of cinema’s greatest meals? On film, there is no such thing as too much and, even though we are feeling the post-Christmas bulge, there’s no harm in a little vicarious eating.
These films come with a warning: Eat before watching or face a rumbling tummy.
Chef
Most recent in the food on film genre, Chef isn’t the most lasting of films. Whilst the narrative may not leave any lingering flavour, the food will certainly get your taste buds flowing. Set around a sniffy restaurant and, later, a breezy food truck, Chef is a treat mainly for the stomach. View the film for cooking inspiration and to live your food truck fantasies, without actually risking anything.
Kramer vs. Kramer
Of course, we can enjoy food on film without being consumed by it. Kramer vs. Kramer tells the story of a rocky divorce and subsequent custody battle between the eponymous parents. Whilst the film’s emotional core is undeniably raw, there are some incredibly tender moments, centred around the father and son’s consumption of food. After having been suddenly left to care for his young son, Ted Kramer erupts into sudden bursts of anger whilst trying to prepare French toast for breakfast. The scene is repeated again at the end, father and son working in unison to prepare the same meal. Whilst the end result is less impressive than other cinematic meals, the process of father and son cooking in harmony makes the whole thing worth it.
Goodfellas
Proof that you are more than your current circumstances, Goodfellas uses rich cuisine to demonstrate its characters endless dominance. The famous prison dinner scene offers insight into the whole contraband and bribery elements of the clichéd prison sentence. Close ups of razor-shredded garlic adds a certain violence to the scene; the characters use destructive objects to bring themselves comfort behind bars. In fact, the scene seems altogether more cosy than the outside world and you can’t help but wonder if this is where the gangsters from Goodfellas are most truly in their element.
Still Walking
Japanese film Still Walking depicts a family as they come together for a somewhat strained family reunion. Familial tensions run high amongst most of the characters and whilst talking doesn’t exactly bring them together, eating seems to calm tensions. Opening with a scene of the frenetic preparation of a huge meal, everything about the food in Still Walking seems ritualistic for the family. Eating is the time in which the family comes together and, for this family, in which unsaid things can be communicated through the act of eating.
Pulp Fiction
Sometimes, all you want is a burger and some milkshake. Giving in to our basic needs is Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, an unexpectedly violent and pseudo-philosophical romp. Whether you like Tarantino or not is irrelevant; the man knows how to film food and in the diner sequence, he gives us what we all want. The scene in question reads more of a stand-off between Vincent and Mia, their orders acting as semi-subliminal markers of their thoughts. And really, who has slurped at a milkshake more seductively than Uma Thurman?
Babette’s Feast
The title of this film is handily explanative and really, the narrative needs no further explanation. Whilst the feast in question takes place only in the closing half of the film, food punctuates every part of the plot. It is the absence of food which pervades the first part of the narrative; in the strictly Christian community, superfluous consumption is very much frowned upon. However, the feast created after a surprise lottery win brings the more pious members of the village together, enabling them to enjoy some of the nicer things in life. In the case of Babette’s Feast, the presence of food is most definitely better than its absence.
Tampopo
A series of vignettes on the wonder of ramen, Tampopo should be a prerequisite for anyone wishing to get into Asian cooking. The opening scene meticulously explains the correct way to eat a bowl of ramen, each element honoured and dipped in turn. The film is basically a love song to food, each vignette showing how its participants reach happiness through their stomachs. From the colour to the sound, Tampopo is a film to be enjoyed again and again. I only wish that they had invented smell-o-vision.
Big Night
Big Night sees Stanley Tucci take on the restaurant wars, attempting to keep his restaurant open and accustom the locals to his niche flavours. Despite the flamboyant feast and party laid on by the brother owners, the best meal in the film comes right at the end. The restaurant is doomed to closure and, rather than wallowing in self-pity, the brothers cook an omelette. Simple, pared down and arguably the most enticing meal of the entire movie.
Jeanne Dielman
Of course, food isn’t always tempting. Chantal Akerman’s three hour epic Jeanne Dielman tracks the life of the eponymous character over three days, down to every banal detail. In the course of the passivity, the most telling scene manifests in Jeanne’s preparation of supper. In a sudden (and stifled) frenzy, Jeanne minces and pounds a slab of unidentifiable meat, pressing and prodding it until her knuckles turn the same shade of pink. The scene is somewhat of a precursor to the film’s ending, the raw meat material enabling Jeanne to act out her innermost fantasies.