Let us give thanks for Matt Zoller Seitz, who cooked up this luscious banquet -- entitled "Feast" -- for our delectation in this season of gustatory revelry. It is available on the Moving Image Source site in two flavors -- straight up and annotated. Matt writes:
Writer-director Paul Schrader has said that sex and violence are the vicarious pleasures that drive the vast majority of commercial films, and he's right. But food is arguably just as alluring, and in its way, its appearance on screens -- and when it does appear, it's often as lovingly lit and framed as a reclining nude -- might be even more revelatory and pleasurable, because its appeal isn't solely based on unattainable fantasy. It's not bloody likely that any of us will ever be able to bed a movie star or save the universe from evil. But if we study and practice the culinary arts (or are lucky enough to know somebody who's already an expert) we can experience delights that are as astounding as any mouth-watering scenario that food-obsessed filmmakers can devise. Every plate of food that appears onscreen is a dream that could come true.
5 Comments
I don't mean to be vulgar, but, in my view, it's all about money...
Saving the world from evil in a blockbuster action kind of way might be impossible, but fulfilling a sex fantasy with someone like a screen hottie (if not exactly the same person) is attainable if one knows where to look and (more importantly) has the money to pay for the "service."
Similarly, eating the same delicious food seen on the big screen requires knowledge of where to find it in the real world, as well as money. The best-looking dishes in the movies must be expensive in real life. And if you go the DIY route, then you still have to pay for top-class lessons, as well as the opportunity costs...
Matt makes some good points but I'd guess the real reason food is treated with such reverence is that is because it is the one thing we ALL can react to, whereas a naked woman only speaks to half the audience.
(Although admittedly, as a vegetarian, the turkey and steaks and the obligatory sizzling bacon shot that's in EVERY movie with a morning kitchen scene don't do a lot for me)
The clips I think are the most mouth-wateringly good, are all movies where the subject is, at least ostensibly, gangsters. I wonder if that means something?
Mr. Fei,
Uh, what? Did you watch the clip? I would venture to say that most films' depictions of fine dining or expensive food portray it as strange and alienating.
N:
We're obviously familiar with different movies. I'm talking about ones like Ratatouille, in which the upscale cuisine looks good enough to grab off of the screen to eat.
But even the less fancy stuff costs money and time to obtain. (Unless you believe that lavish Thanksgiving feasts are cheap?) Also, you don't seem to have read my comment very clearly, because I was talking about "the best-looking dishes," not the most expensive, per se.
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