Risk-taking behaviors have been the subject of much speculation, from Sigmund Freud's belief that dare-devil stunts arise out of humans' innate "death drive," to some modern psychologists' view that dangerous activities canmake us feel more alive. In general, we think of risky behavior as encompassing activities only a handful of courageous, or "crazy," people would attempt,including skydiving, rock climbing, cliff jumping, or other dramatic exploits. In reality, though, risk-taking behaviors also include more mundane acts,like having unprotected sex, gambling, robbing banks, and taking drugs. The reasons for these behaviors are complex, although not mysterious, and can meandifferent things to different people. In general, though, as poet Robert Browning wrote, "Our interest's on the dangerous edge of things."
One commonly accepted theory about why people do risky things has to do withevolution. This theory holds that in one of the deep, dark, old parts of ourbrains, where the control centers for survival and reproduction are located,there are preprogrammed impulses in some people that stimulate them to take risks. These individuals are known in psychological terms as "risk seekers," whereas their more conservative counterparts are labeled "risk avoiders." (Inattempting to delineate the characteristics of human risk taking, however, itis important to note that we cannot reasonably divide the population into risk takers and risk avoiders. All people will both seek risk and avoid risk atdifferent points in their lives.) Sociologists and other experts believe that these very basic personality types evolved eons ago, and that despite the easier, more protected world most Western people now enjoy, they are not likely to change any time soon.
One of the reasons that risk-taking might have become such a cross-cultural and widespread human characteristic is endorphins. This word has come to be synonymous with the whole range of natural opiates (painkillers and relaxants)that the brain releases in response to imminent physical danger. Discovered by neurobiologist Candace Pert, endorphins enable us to balance the tremendousrush of adrenaline that flows into our bloodstreams during dangerous moments(producing the famous "fight-or-flight" response) with cool, calm thinking and an ability to give undivided attention to crucial matters despite the surrounding chaos. Pert believes that greater sensitivity to endorphins gave certain early humans a survival advantage, which meant that more of these individuals survived to transmit their genes to succeeding generations. Thus, humanswho took risks and responded well to the chemicals released by their brainsduring the ensuing danger lived to take other risks and pass on their tendencies to their offspring. According to biologist Charles Darwin's theory, thesewell-equipped individuals survived because they were the fittest of their species.
Early human risk takers were probably more likely to wander off established trails, possibly finding a new source of water or game. Such individuals mightalso have risked being seen as different in order to invent a new kind of weapon or animal trap, or to try eating a new plant or other potential food item. These acts would have triggered a pleasurable excitement in the risk taker, but might also have profoundly benefited his or her group--not only becausethe group would reap the rewards of the risk taker's discoveries, but because a single person took the experiment upon him- or herself, saving the rest from the potential danger involved in the risk.
Humans continue to take what are, in most modern cases, unnecessary risks. Despite the virtual elimination of physical risk from our daily lives, the craving for action still runs strong in our genetic makeup. This basic trait maybe enhanced and even strengthened by the fact that many societies give risk takers positive behavioral reinforcement. Everyone has seen how admired the race car drivers, the astronauts, the deep-sea explorers are. They risk their lives--sometimes for fun, sometimes to broaden the entire species' horizons. This positive reinforcement is a powerful force that, if it continues, will virtually guarantee the continuation of the genetic characteristics that predispose individuals to taking risks.
Besides bare survival, nature offers its own rewards for risk taking. The endorphins and adrenaline act on the nervous system to produce an exhilarating high that many people have compared to sex. Being in danger, whether willinglyor not, causes the heart to speed up and the breathing to quicken as we approach a peak of anticipation and excitement, after which comes a feeling of release and relaxation. Over the millennia, our bodies have grown accustomed tothis phenomenon and have even come to crave it, although this is true in some individuals more than others. For instance, some experts attribute the perennial popularity of running and similar exercise to our bodies' age-old conditioning to hunt prey and escape predators. The calm, relaxed, yet exhilarating feeling during and after such exercise is what keeps many runners "addicted" to the strenuous sport.
The motivation that the body offers as incentive for taking risks is strong,but the mind offers an equally compelling reason for why people do risky things. Ask any mountain biker, racecar driver, high-board diver, or extreme skateboarder why they take part in their respective sports, and most of them willmention the word "fun." Humans are one of only a small number of species that do things for fun, and we are forever inventing new ways to enjoy ourselves. However, some people get a special thrill from engaging in activities thatcould hurt or even kill them. For these people, the thought of leading a boring existence might be even more frightening than the idea of jumping out of an airplane at 15,000 feet. Author Jack London expressed this phenomenon concisely when he wrote, "The adventurer gambles with life to heighten sensation--to make it glow for a moment."
There have been many studies on what kind of people take risks. Scientists generally agree that the genetic makeup of the typical risk-taking person is exhibited in certain characteristics. For instance, there seems to be strong evidence that men are more likely to enjoy taking risks than women. This makessense from an evolutionary standpoint, since men have almost always been thehunters and explorers and women have usually stayed close to the children andcared for them and the men in less adventurous, but no less important, ways.However, there are many women today who enjoy taking risks as well--among them many distinguished aerobatic pilots, rock climbers, skiers, hang gliders,and others. (It may be that cultural conditioning and lack of opportunity account for the large gender difference in such activities.) In addition, risk takers seem to have in common an enhanced ability for dopamine reuptake, i.e.,their brains respond more strongly to the chemicals released during stress.One Israeli study claimed in 1996 to have found what it called the "risk gene," labeling it D4DR, for "fourth dopamine receptor gene." They even located it on the 11th chromosome and pinpointed its function in the limbic portion ofthe brain. However, the study also said the gene would be responsible for only 10 percent of human risk-taking behavior.
In terms of actual personality traits, a targeted personality test (adapted in Israel from a U.S. template) has shown that risk takers tend to be fickle,hot-tempered, exploratory, extravagant, and excitable, while their risk-avoiding counterparts tend to be more stoic, thoughtful, frugal, even-tempered, and loyal. Also, risk takers frequently experience arousal similar to that associated with sex. Many skydivers, racecar drivers, and other risk takers oftencompare their favorite activity with sex, calling it "orgasmic" or even branding it "better than sex."
Another reason that some people like to take risks is that it unites them with others who participate in the same sport or activity, producing an intensecamaraderie centered around cheating death, injury, or other mishap. To the outsider, these people, when questioned, will stress the numerous safety precautions they take and their desire to pursue their chosen hobbies in a judicious manner. Yet when a group of skydivers, for instance, assemble after a dayof jumping, the talk is almost always about close calls and near disasters. This discourse creates and emphasizes the adventurers' corps d'esprit and serves to prove their mettle to each other. Most studies agree that risk takers are likely to be extremely individualistic, often to the point of being loners. Paradoxically, this is true despite their enjoyment of interacting with others who participate in their chosen activity. Most often, however, the intense friendships engendered by participating in the chosen risk will end if thatshared activity also ends.
Many people who love to take risks are also characterized by a consuming desire to control their own destiny. Far from succumbing to Freud's presumed death wish, they are avid proponents of living life to its fullest, and only feardescending into the gray, shadowless world of the mundane. By taking part inactivities in which they could be injured or killed, and by repeatedly drawing back from the brink through their use of skill and disciplined preparation, risk takers achieve the sense that they can elude death at will and are, even if momentarily, omnipotent. Thus, it is important to note that such risk takers as "extreme" athletes are not interested in dangerous activities, per se, but in experiencing danger that they can control and master to the utmostdegree. Author Michael Apter describes this as the "the tiger in the cage" phenomenon, wherein risk seekers want the danger of the tiger, but also the safety of knowing the beast can be contained. Risk seekers have a strong need for control in most or all areas of their lives. Indeed, some experts have suggested that taking risks, ironically, may bring periods of welcome abandon toindividuals who have trouble letting life "just happen."
Risk taking can occur in much more ordinary forms than the spectacular outdoor exploits that most of us just watch with awe, horror, or disbelief. For instance, some surgeons have reported getting the same adrenaline surge that mountaineers and other athletes have experienced, although their "rush" is the product of standing in one place for 13 hours to save patients from cancer orother serious illness. Again, though, the surgeon counteracts the possibly dire consequences of failure, i.e., the tiger, with the "cage" created by his or her intense concentration and skill. Even such personal acts as giving up adull but secure job to take an exciting new position can produce the rejuvenating exhilaration of excitement and risk. Indeed, some people might considerthis riskier than parachuting or mountain climbing, depending on their priorities.
Taking risks is a form of what we might collectively call "gambling"--whetherwith one's life or one's professional status. The pursuit of gambling itself, for instance, can and does lead to financial losses, and, like many of theother risk-taking behaviors, it also breaks up marriages and other relationships, can lead to addiction, and may cause personal ruin. However, to the risk-taking personality, gambling, with its threat of financial ruin and promiseof easy riches, is just as seductive as deep-sea exploration is to the diver.
Some scientists embody another variation on the risk-taker personality. Exposing themselves to professional and public embarrassment, they nevertheless persist in searching for clues to the cure for AIDS, to the smallest unit of matter, to whether God exists. All of these might be considered adventurous exploits of the mind, and are no less risky to the individuals involved. Sociobiologist E. O. Wilson has commented, "Scientists ... spend their productive lives struggling to reach the edge of knowledge in order to make discoveries."Just as the mountaineer risks death or injury to reach the summit of a difficult climb, these scientists risk ridicule and failure to discover answers tolife's most perplexing riddles.
But what of the individuals who take risks like having sex with a stranger without a condom, shoplifting, committing an act of aggression or violence, ortaking drugs? What motivates them? In short, the impetus for such individualsis partially the same as for those who participate in such risks as paragliding or cliff jumping--they get gratification from the danger involved in these activities. However, there is an important difference between the paraglider and the casual shoplifter: the latter is engaging in antisocial behavior, i.e., in behavior inconsiderate of the needs of others. One activity might beconsidered life affirming, the other a manifestation of anger and alienation.
Antisocial risk takers generally have a socially negative outlook and repeatedly engage in activities that society perceives as abnormal. Granted, the teleskier might be perceived by some as "abnormal" in the sense that most peoplewould never attempt such a dangerous exploit, but society will simultaneously reward him or her in various ways for "pushing the envelope" of human experience and endurance. Conversely, the antisocial risk taker will usually receive only imprisonment, disease, divorce, or condemnation in response to his orher activities. Gambling, unsafe sex, crime, drug use: these rarely offer any sort of benefit to either the person who does them or to anyone else. Instead, they frequently lead to misery and destruction, whereas the more positiverisk-taking behaviors could be regarded as having a spiritual aspect and anelement of joy.
Yet as with most attempts to define the human character, it is impossible toignore the dichotomies present in a single act. While we may not condone or reward negative risk-taking activities, they can still serve a purpose. For instance, the scientist who arrogantly suggests that the accepted treatment fora disease is not the best method or the artist who deliberately ridicules the revered works of the previous generation are taking risks that they themselves will be shunned professionally for their views. There might even be an argument that the drug user is experimenting with accepted mental limitations.However, this type of behavior represents negative risk taking in its best light: it manifests our refusal to limit ourselves to the norm and our stubborncommitment to self-determination and free will.
Just as the astronaut extends the horizons of mankind, the rebel helps to point out areas where we can expand. Thus, while some negative risk taking mightbe perceived as trouble making, raising hell, or just "stirring the pot," itgenerally serves the same purpose, to various degrees, as the more sociallyrewarded (and rewarding) risk-taking behaviors. Historian A. J. P. Taylor summed up this idea when he wrote, "All change in history, all advance, comes from nonconformity. If there had been no troublemakers, no dissenters, we should still be living in caves."
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你可能喜欢Food in the Movies: Media Resources Center UCB
Food and Eating in the Movies
American Adobo (Philippines / USA, 2001)Director, Laurice Guillen. Cast: Christopher de Leon, Dina Bonnevie, Ricky Davao, Cherry Pie Picache, Paolo Montalban, Randy Becker, Keesha Sharp, Gloria Romero. A story of five filipino American friends living in New York City, conflicted with their life choices and destinies, as they party away - sharing laughs, secrets, recipes and romance. An uniquely American story about what it means to be an immigrant in a land where it seems everyone is searching for an identity. 103 min. DVD 1656
ApeAnimated short. Directed by Julie Zammarchi. A grouchy, married couple battle daily over their nightly dinner of cooked, whole monkey. vhs 999:3477
Babette's Feast (Babettes g&stebud) (Denmark, 1987) Directed by Gabriel Axel. Cast: Stephane Audran, Bodil Kjer, Brigitte Federspiel, Jarl Kulle, Jean Philippe Lafant, Bibi Andersson, Henning Kristiansen Dee. On the desolate coast of Denmark, two elderly, religious women take in a young woman to be their housekeepr and cook, not knowing she is a superb French chef. When the chef, Babette, wins a large sum of money, she decides to spend it all creating a magnificent meal for the simple villagers. Based on a story by Isak Dineson. In Danish and French, with English subtitles. 102 min. DVD 5512; vhs 999:1468
Academy Award - Foreign Language Film
British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards - Best Foreign-language Film
(1978)Directed by Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott. The story of two brothers whose Italian restaurant is on the brink of bankruptcy. Their only chance for success is to risk everything they own on an extravagant feast for bandleader Louis Prima. But their big night is complicated by a lovers' triangle, a sneaky restaurant rival, and the hilarious perfectionism of chef Primo. 109 min. DVD 8352; vhs 999:1928
The Big Swallow (1901)Williamson's Kinematograph Co. "One of the earliest of all British fantasy films is entitled The Big Swallow. Made around 1901 by James Williamson, it shows a gentleman infuriated to find himself being photographed, who advances on the camera, opens his mouth as wide as the screen - and swallows both camera and operator whole. If cinema itself is a kind of consumption, hoovering up reality and feeding it to us in bite-sized chunks, then it seems strange that so little attention has been paid to the filming of the food process." [from Christie, Ian. "Feasting in the Dark." In: Consuming passions: food in the age of anxiety / edited by Sian Griffiths and Jennifer Wallace. M New York: M New York: Distributed exclusively in the USA by St. Martin's Press, 1998] DVD 1097; vhs 999:1007
Bottle Shock (2008) Directed by Randall Miller. Cast:
Alan Rickman, Chris Pine, Bill Pullman, Rachael Taylor, Freddy Rodr&guez, Dennis Farina, Eliza Dushku. Napa Valley, 1976. For connoisseur Steven Spurrier, there is no finer art than French wine. But rumors bandy about of a new California wine country that holds the future of the vine. Positive the small Napa wineries are no match for established French vintages, Spurrier challenges the Americans to a blind taste test. He finds the valley full of ambitious, and talented, novice vinters like Jim Barrett and his son Bo and realizes his publicity stunt may change the history of wine forever. Special features: Commentary by Randall Miller, Jody Savin, Ross Schwartz, Lannette Pabon, Chris Pine, J. Todd Harris, Bill Pullman & Eliza D "An underdog's journey:" the making of B "Chateau Montelena:" one winery's s trailer. 108 min.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)Directed by Tim Burton.
Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly, Helena Bonham Carter, Noah Taylor, Missi Pyle, James Fox, Deep Roy, Christopher Lee.
Charlie and five others draw golden tickets from Wonka chocolate bars and win a guided tour of the legendary candy factory that no outsider has seen in 15 years. Dazzled by one amazing sight after another, Charlie is drawn into Wonka's fantastic world. Based on the novel by Roald Dahl. 115 min. DVD 4748
Cast: Lenny Henry, Caroline Lee Johnson, Roger Griffiths with special guests. British sit-com of Gareth Blackstock, the "finest" chef in England, possibly the world, who rules the kitchen of Le Chateau Anglais, the most upscale French restaurant in England. Personnel: Although Gareth rules his kitchen with a will as hard as an iron skillet, he may be soft when it comes to sacking anyone. Beyond the pass: The struggling restaurant may be turned over to creditors...worse yet, a diner asks for salt! Subject to contract: There's a secret ingredient in today's menu when a prep assistant loses an adhesive bandage somewhere in the meal. Videocassette release of three episodes of the BBC television show broadcast in 1993. Video/C 9703
Chef!: A Second Helping
Cast: Lenny Henry, Caroline Lee Johnson, Roger Griffiths with special guests. A British sit-com of Gareth Blackstock, the "finest" chef in England, possibly the world, who rules the kitchen of Le Chateau Anglais, the most upscale French restaurant in England. Big cheese: All statuses are quo in the kitchen: it's a madhouse, especially when Chef Gareth gets ready for the arrival of an eminent restaurateur. Fame is the spur: A little TV-publicity can't hurt the restaurant but no one expects the cameras to be rolling when a prep assistant lets live crayfish escape. Rice and peas: Bumbling prep assistant Everton gets a chance to shine when the restaurant plans a special Jamaican menu. Videocassette release of three episodes of the BBC television show broadcast in 1994. 87 min. Video/C 9704
A Chef In Love (Mille et une recettes d Shekvarebuli kulinaris ataserti retsepti) (France / Georgia / Ukraine / Belgium, 1997)Director, Nana Djordjadze. Cast: Pierre Richard, Micheline Presle, Nino Kirtadze Jean-Yves Gautier, Temour Kamkhadze. French chef Pascal Ichac travels to pre-Soviet Georgia to collect recipes. What he finds is a movable feast of food, music and festivals, along with an adventuresome travel companion, the princess Cecilia. But their romantic idyll is soon threatened by the barbarism of the Russian revolution. 100 min. vhs 999:3517
Keller, James R. "A Chef in Love: The Fable of a Communist and Culinary Re-Evolution." In: Food, film and culture : a genre study
Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., c2006. (MAIN: PN K45 2006)
The Chinese Feast (Jin yu man tang) (Hong Kong, 1995)Directd by Tsui Hark. Cast: Kenny Bee, Leslie Cheung, Anita Yuen. Kit is a gangster looking to start a new life as a chef in Canada, so he can be closer to his girlfriend. But in his struggle to learn the fine art of cuisine, he runs across a red-headed beauty who will change his plans, and soon finds himself off in search of the retired master who can teach him how to win in the ultimate cooking challenge. 110 min. DVD 1792
Chocolat (UK / USA, 2000)Directed by Lasse Hallstrom. Cast: Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench, Alfred Molina, Lena Olin, Johnny Depp. When a single mother and her young daughter move to rural France and open a chocolate shop - with Sunday hours - across the street from the local church, they are met with some resistance from the rigidly moral community. But as soon as the townspeople discover their delicious products, their attitudes begin to change. 122 min. DVD 1745
Christmas in Connecticut(1945)Directed by Peter Godfrey. Cast:
Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet, Reginald Gardiner, S. Z. Sakall, Robert Shayne. "Smart housekeeping" columnist Elizabeth Lane's publisher, Sydney Greenstreet, invites himself and a handsome war hero to her fictitious Connecticut home for Christmas. Lane quickly rounds up a cottage, husband, baby and cook before the guests arrive, but real trouble begins when 'married' Lane begins to fall in love with engaged navy man Jones. Notable is the film's "delightful focus on food. Everyone seems to be either eating or talking about food here, from Jeff and his pal detailing the meals they can't wait to eat once they get out of the hospital, to the rotund Yardley's total dismissal of the concept of diet while at the farm, to Felix arguing over cooking and use of the farm's kitchen with the cook, Nora (Una O'Connor: Cavalcade). Christmas in Connecticut is so unrepentant and downright brazen in its love of food that it seems practically sinful from our point of view today, when denying the sensuous pleasures of food is supposedly a virtue." [quoted from the ] 102 min. DVD X913
Combination Platter (1993)Directed by Tony Chan. Robert is an illegal Chinese immigrant living in America and working as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. In desperate need of a Green Card, he sets out to arrange a fake marriage with an American woman. Winner of Best Screenplay, 1993 Sundance Film Festival. DVD
X890; vhs 999:1639
Andrews, David. 'Combination Platter': take one restaurant, add salt and spice. (Tony Chan's first feature film)
New York Times v143, sec2 (Sun, Oct 31, 1993):H18(N), pH18(L), col 5, 20 col in.
Maslin, Janet. Combination Platter. (movie reviews) New York Times v142 (Sat, March 27, 1993):12(N), 11(L), col 3, 11 col in.; v143 (Thu, Nov 4, 1993):C22(L), col 1, 9 col in.
Conspirators of Pleasure (Spiklenci slasti) (Czech Republic / Switzerland / UK, 1963)Director, Jan Svankmajer. "Conspirators of Pleasure" is a partially animated, surreal comedy without dialog, about six ordinary if somewhat seedy individuals who obsessively and painstakingly prepare their sexual "feasts" which usually involve bizarre, homemade autoerotic contraptions. Food: features grey-suited men as human vending machines, a couple at diner devouring a restaurant, and a tour of a canabalistic banquet. 97 min. DVD 1674
Nottingham, Michael. "Downing the Folk-Festive: Menacing Meals in the Films of Jan Svankmajer"
EnterText: An Interactive Interdisciplinary E-Journal for Cultural and Historical Studies and Creative Work, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 126-50, Winter 2004.
Consuming Passions (UK, 1988)Directed by Giles Foster. Cast: Vanessa Redgrave, Jonathan Pryce, Tyler Butterworth, Freddie Jones, Prunella Scales. At his new job at Butterworth Chocolates, Mr. Farris accidentally knocks several workers into a mixing vat, the contents of which are then sent to market. When reviews of the company's new candy come back, they are overwhelmingly negative, except for the areas that received the 'special ingredient'. Farris soon finds himself assigned the task of obtaining more of the ingredient to satisfy the nation's sweet tooth. 98 min. vhs 999:3525
(1918) Directed by Roscoe Arbuckle. Cast: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Al St. John, Alice Lake. Fatty plays a chef who comes to the aid of a pretty cashier, while emerging star Keaton is a comical waiter. DVD 1609
Cook in Trouble (Sorcellerie culinaire) (France, 1904)Directed by Georges M&li&s.
A cook has his hands full with three mischievous devils, who pop in and out of his kitchen. 4 min.
also vhs 999:1009 and vhs 999:610
The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover (France / Netherlands / UK, 1989) Directed by Peter Greenaway
Cast: Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, Alan Howard, Tim Roth, Liz Smith. A modern fable and political satire on the Thatcher years in Britain set at Le Hollandais, a gourmet restaurant. The wife of a barbaric crime boss engages in a secretive romance with a gentle bookseller between meals at her husband's restaurant, all observed by the cook. This nightly display of opulence, decadence and gluttony leads to murder, torture and revenge. DVD 609; vhs 999:2859
Delicatessen (France, 1991) Directors, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro. Cast: Dominique Pino, Marie-Laure Dougnac, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Karin Viard.
In this futuristic comedy, set in a starving, post-holocaust France, a butcher keeps his customers supplied by his cannibalistic tendencies. But when his daughter falls in love with a circus performer, only an underground band of vegetarian freedom fighters can save her beloved from the meat cleaver.
100 min. DVD 5505; also DVD 2648 (PAL, 95 min.)
Claflin, Kyri Watson. "Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro's Delicatessen: an ambiguous memory, an ambivalent meal." In: Reel food : essays on food and film / edited by Anne L. Bower. New York : Routledge, 2004. (Main (Gardner) Stacks
PN R44 2004)
Cubitt, Sean. "Delicatessen: Eco-Apocalypse in the New French Science Fiction Cinema."
In: Aliens R us : the other in science fiction cinema / edited by Ziauddin Sardar and Sean Cubitt.
L Sterling, Va. : Pluto Press, 2002.
(Main (Gardner) Stacks
PN A45 2002)
Hayes, Graeme.
"Replaying history as farce: postmodernism and the construction of Vichy in Delicatessen."
Modern & Contemporary France, May99, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p197, 11p
Thorne, Christian. "The Revolutionary Energy of the Outmoded."
October; Spring2003, Issue 104, p97, 18p
Diner (1982)Directed by Barry Levinson. Cast: Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Timothy Daly, Ellen Barkin, Paul Reiser. Set in 1959, a group of long-time buddies since high school gather in a local diner to share their escapades and make sense of their lives. As one by one they drift off to join the mainstream of life they still cling to their shared boyhood dreams. Special features DVD X2897: Behind-the-scenes documentary "Diner : on the flip side," introduction featuring writer/director Barry Levinson and the film' theatrical trailers. 110 min. DVD X2897; also DVD X368
Levinson, Barry. Levinson on Levinson / edited by David Thompson. L Boston: Faber and Faber, 1992. (Main Stack PN.A3 1992)
Poole, Gaye. "Diners and Caf&s." In: Reel meals, set meals : food in film and theatre. pp: 140-150. Sydney: Currency Press, 1999. (UCB Main
PN P66 1999)
Dinner Game (Le Diner de Cons) (France, 1998)Director, Francis Veber. Cast: Jacques Villeret, Thierry Lhermitte, Frances Huster, Alexandra Vandernoot, Daniel Prevost, Catherine Frot. Pierre and his snobbish friends have a standing date for dinner. Every week, they compete to see who can bring the biggest idiot to the party. 80 min. DVD 3631
Dinner Rush (2000)Directed by Bob Giraldi. Cast: Danny Aiello, Edoardo Ballerini, Vivian Wu, Mike McGlone, Kirk Acevedo, Sandra Bernhard, John Corbett. At New York's hottest restaurant, things are really heating up. Owner and bookie Louis Cropa lost a friend to a mob hit and now his chef's gambling problem has brought the unwelcome mobsters into their restaurant. 97 min. DVD 1694
Keller, James R. "Filming and Eating Italian: Big Night and Dinner Rush."
In: Food, film and culture : a genre study Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., c2006. (MAIN: PN K45 2006)
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie) (France / Italy / Spain, 1972)Directed by Luis Bunuel. An all-star French cast assembles for an elegant dinner party, but whenever they try to eat, something happens to interrupt them. Mixes biting social satire with bold surrealistic invention as the dinner party serves to lampoon such targets as diplomats, wealthy socialites and even radical terrorists. 100 min. DVD 445; vhs 999:78
Eat Drink Man Woman
(Yinshi nan nu) (Taiwan / USA,1994)Directed by Ang Lee. "This film by director Ang Lee looks at the relationship between a Chinese widower and his three daughters. The main character, Chef Chu, is one of Taiwan's most respected chefs. An early scene shows him rushing to his restaurant to deal with a crisis during a wedding banquet for the Governor's of Taiwan's son. Only Chu is able to avert disaster. But while food has brought him status in the outside world, it fails to gain him the respect of his three grown daughters. Each Sunday he prepares an elaborate dinner, only to watch his daughters pick dispiritedly at the food. Food is used to demonstrate the main themes of the film. Early on we learn the father has lost his taste for food, which symbolizes the fact that both father and daughters have lost their taste for life. Food is also used to illustrate the shift in values between generations - the opening scenes move from the father's extensive dinner preparations to one daughter's job at a fast food restaurant. But all turns out well in the end, as the father regains both his sense of taste and his passion for living, while his daughters all find love." [from Rhonda Parkinson's ] 124 min. DVD 1321; vhs 999:1494
Eat the Rich (UK, 1987)Directed by Peter Richardson. Cast: Ronald Allen, Sandra Dorne, Jimmy Fagg, Lemmy, Lanah Pellay, Nosher Powell, Fiona Richmond, Ron Tarr. A trendy London restaurant is suddenly taken over by maniacal subversives. Surly but sensitive waiter Alex has assembled a small band to join the people's uprising, while suave Commander Fortune, a Soviet double agent, and his sidekick Spider, are plotting the downfall of the second in command to the Prime Minister. 92 min. DVD X4232; vhs 999:3491
Eating (1990)Directed by Henry Jaglom. Cast: Nelly Alard, Lisa Richards, Frances Bergen, Mary Crosby, Gwen Welles, Elizabeth Kemp, Marina Gregory, Daphna Kastner, Marlena Giovi, Beth Grant, Taryn Power, Catherine Genender, Hildy Brooks, Jacquelin Woolsey, Sherry Boucher-Lytle, Savannah Boucher-Smith, Aloma Ichinose, Toni Basil. At a fashionable birthday party in Southern California, a parade of women playfully mingle and muse on their body image hang-ups, eating disorders, relationships, and a conformist society obsessed with beauty. For these partygoers, even their untouched slices of cake provide insight into the love-hate relationship between femmes and food. A hilarious and thought-provoking smorgasbord of "biting" observation about women, love, neuroses, and the food that binds them all. 110 min.
DVD X4401; vhs 999:1489
Eating Raoul (1982)Directed by Paul Bartel.
Cast: Mary Woronov, Paul Bartel, Robert Beltran, Ed Begley, Jr., Buck Henry.
Paul and Mary live in an apartment complex in L.A. that is being mistaken for a swingers establishment. One day Paul finds Mary fighting off a swinger and hits him with a frying pan. Their dreams of running a small restaurant seem to be in jeopardy until they decide how to culinarily dispose of the body. 83 min. DVD 2574
Corliss, R. "Eating Raoul." Time v. 120 (October 4 1982) p. 82
Bartel, P. "Paul Bartel's guilty pleasures." {Eating Raoul}. Film Comment v. 18 (September/October 1982) p. 60-2
"Eating Raoul."
Film Comment v. 17 (July/August 1981) p. 6+
Kroll, J. "Eating Raoul."
Newsweek v. 100 (October 11 1982) p. 103
The Exterminating Angel (El Angel Exterminador)
(Mexico, 1962). Directed by Luis Bunuel. The guests at a dinner party are held prisoner for several days without food, water or other essentials in a room in their host's house. 92 min. DVD
X1134; vhs 999:242
Fast Food Nation (2006)Director, Richard Linklater. Cast:
Patricia Arquette, Bobby Cannavale, Paul Dano, Luis Guzman, Ethan Hawke, Ashley Johnson, Greg Kinnear, Kris Kristofferson, Avril Lavigne, Esai Morales, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Lou Taylor Pucci, Ana Claudia Talanc&n, Wilmer Valderrama, Bruce Willis.
When a marketing executive for a huge burger chain finds a nasty secret ingredient in their burger recipe, he goes to the ranches and slaughterhouses of Colorado to investigate and finds that the truth is sometimes difficult to swallow. An ensemble drama examining the health issues and social consequences of America's love affair with fast food.
A fictionalized adaptation of the book: Fast food nation, the dark side of the all-American meal / by Eric Schlosser (Bioscience & Natural Resources
TX715 .S; Bioscience & Natural R
Business & Economics
Special features: Optional audio commentary by Linklater and S "The manufacturing of 'Fast food nation'" (2007, 55 min., a documentary by Kevin Ford, produced by Ann Carli, photography/editing, Kevin Ford, all music by Skiesfalling, [a production of] RPC Coyote); 4 short flash animation films ("The meatrix", "The meatrix II : revolting", "The meatrix II 1/2", ["The backwards hamburger"], 15 min. total); photo gallery. 113 min.
Amato, R Hamid, Rahul. "The Business of Dinner: An Interview with Robert Kenner." Cineaste; Summer2009, Vol. 34 Issue 3, p38-41, 4p
Hoskin, Dave. "Dissent with Fries: Fast Food Nation."
Screen Education, 2006, Issue 44, p24-28, 5p
Johnson, David T.
"Directors on Adaptation: A Conversation with Richard Linklater."
Literature Film Quarterly, 2007, Vol. 35 Issue 1, p338-341, 4p
Klawans, Stewart. "Unhappy Meal." Nation; 12/18/2006, Vol. 283 Issue 21, p50-52, 3p
Johnson, David T.
"Directors on Adaptation: A Conversation with Richard Linklater."
Literature Film Quarterly, 2007, Vol. 35 Issue 1, p338-341, 4p
Nelson, Rob. "Richard Linklater: Grazed and Abused." Mother Jones; Nov/Dec2006, Vol. 31 Issue 6, p90-91, 2p
Smith, Gavin. "Lost in America." Film Comment; Jul/Aug2006, Vol. 42 Issue 4, p26-30, 5p
Felicia's Journey (Canada / UK, 1996)Director, Atom Egoyan. Cast: Bob Hoskins, Elaine Cassidy, Arsinee Khanjian, Peter McDonald, Gerard McSorley.
"Joseph... is a catering manager at a large factory where he is known only as Mr. Hilditch. He is passionate about his work, dedicated to providing people with good food prepared with care. Food is also important in his private life. Each night, the middle-aged bachelor cooks elaborate formal dinners for his solitary enjoyment, working from videotapes of a 1950s cooking show, meticulously adhering to the instructions of the glamorous French hostess. Using china, crystal and silver, he takes his meals in the formal dining room of his big house. Like his meals, Hilditch's home decor dates from the 1950s, as does the green Morris Minor he drives and the music he listens to." [from ] Hilditch befriends a young woman, Felicia, who has come to town searching for her boyfriend. She is attracted to the seemingly harmless and extremely helpful Hilditch, trusting him and entering his life, only to discover too late that she is not the first woman that he has taken in. 116 min.
Gruben, Patricia. "Look but Don't Touch: Visual and Tactile Desire in Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, and Felicia's Journey." In: Image and territory : essays on Atom Egoyan / Monique Tschofen and Jennifer Burwell, editors.
Waterloo, Ont. : Wilfrid Laurier University Press, c2007.
(Main (Gardner) Stacks
PN4 I43 2007)
Holohan, Conn.
"Dreaming of home: migrant spaces in Felicia's Journey."
Irish Studies Review, Feb2011, Vol. 19 Issue 1, p87-97, 11p
Lefebvre, Martin. "Conspicuous Consumption: The Figure of the Serial Killer as Cannibal in the Age of Capitalism." Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 43-62, 2005 June
Porton, Richard. "The Politics of Denial: An Interview with Atom Egoyan." Cineaste, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 39-41, 1999.
Romney, Jonathan. "Felicia's Journey.(Review)." Sight and Sound 9.10 (Oct 1999): 34(3).
St. Peter, Christine.
"Consuming Pleasures: Felicia's Journey in Fiction and Film."
Colby Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 329-39, September 2002.
Zlotnick-Woldenberg, Carrie.
Felicia's Journey: An Object-Relational Study of Psychopathy."
American Journal of Psychotherapy, 2001, Vol. 55 Issue 1, p40, 11p
Food of the Gods (1976)Directed by Bert I. Gordon. Cast: Marjoe Gortner, Pamela Franklin, Ralph Meeker, Jon Cypher, Belinda Balaski, Tom Stovall, Ida Lupino.
A mysterious substance is oozing from the ground. A farmer sees that it acts as a growth hormone and thinks his fortune is made. But when rats, chickens, worms and wasps begin sampling the potent substance, they morph into bloodthirsty giants. Morgan and his friends are on a hunting trip when they are attacked by a swarm of giant wasps, and as they try to escape they discover that the entire island is crawling with oversized animals.
Based on the horror novel by H.G. Wells.
88 min. DVD 8752
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)Director, Jon Avnet. Cast: Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker, Cicely Tyson. A chance encounter in a nursing home leads to an unexpected friendship between a dowdy housewife and a spry octagenarian who tells her the story of a fiercely independent woman half a century ago, inspiring the housewife to change her life, often with hilarious results. "A story told in flashback about lasting female friendship and the specifically unusual food the main characters serve while running a caf& together. A slice of southern culture, with plenty of heartbreak and cultural oddities, that revolves around the preparation, serving, and consumption of food. Based on the novel by Flagg and the Ironside Caf&in Birmingham, Alabama, where fried green tomatoes are a menu staple and the secret, apparently, "is in the sauce."" [from ] 137 min. DVD 1711
From Soup to Nuts (1928)Director, Edgar Kennedy. Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy.
The newly rich Mrs. Culpepper, eager to make an impression in high society, has planned a big dinner party. Her husband is less than enthusiastic, but her worst problem is that the two waiters whom she has hired turn out to be clumsy and inexperienced bumblers. 137 min. DVD 369; DVD X306
Fun in a Bakery Shop (1902)Directed by Edwin S. Porter.
"Shows a bake shop and baker at work. A rat runs along the floor and climbs up one of the flour barrels. The baker spies the rat, seizes a handful of dough, throws it at him, completely covering his body and sticking him fast to the barrel. The baker then begins making busts of different celebrities, such as Buffalo Bill, Admiral Schley, and others. It is marvelous to see how quickly a face is formed out of the pliable dough. Finally he makes a very comical Irishman with cocked hat, clay pipe, and Donegal whiskers. By one twist of the dough the Irishman's face is changed from a broad smile to an expression of disgust. Two Irish bakers now appear on the scene, seize the offender and dip him into a barrel of flour. When drawn out, he is completely covered with the white meal, but having filled his mouth with flour, he blows it into the eyes of the two bakers, who fall to the floor in a heap." DVD 644; vhs 999:1021
(2006)Directed by Vince Navarro. Cast:
Harold Cannon, Hannah Cordero, Cesar Deniz.
Jorge 'Gordo' Fuentes, a hard-working, gifted taco maker from Mexico leaves his wildly popular taco stand and travels to America where he hopes to establish a successful Mexican restaurant in order to earn enough money to bring his family up north. Gordo arrives in California where he stays with his cousin Joel who recognizes Gordo's taco talent and lands him a job at the local franchise of Cinco de Taco, a national food chain. Appalled at how the chain makes tacos, Gordo sneaks his own ingredients into the fast food restaurant and prepares tacos the way he did in Mexico... 26 min. DVD X6989
Le Grande Bouffe (France / Italy, 1973)Directed by Marco Ferreri. Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret, Ugo Tognazzi, Andrea Ferreol, Solange Florence, Blondeau Giorgetti, Michele Alexandre, Monique Chaumette. Four world-weary middle-aged men decide to gorge themselves to death in one final orgiastic weekend full of gourmet food, call girls, and a hefty, lusty schoolteacher. Special DVD feature: Excerpt from the documentary "Marco Ferreri: the director who came from the future." 130 min. DVD X1672
The Great Chef (aka Peking Restaurant) (Bukkyeong banjeom)
(South Korea, 1999)Directed by Kim Ui Seok. Cast:
Shin Gu, Myung Se Bin, Jeong Woong In.
Han-kook Yang is the son of a Korean restaurant entrepreneur. When the once-popular Peking Restaurant is forced to close it's doors, Yang rounds up the former employees, restores the restaurant to it's original glory, and sets about making it's signature spicy sauce noodle dish the talk of the town.
95 min. DVD X3478
How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (Como Era Gostoso o Meu Franc&s) (Brazil, 1971) Directed Nelson Pereira dos Santos. In the coastal wilds of 16th-century Brazil, a French soldier is captured by a tribe of man-eating Indians. He strives to learn the ways of the tribe, hoping to figure out a way to avoid his prescribed fate of being the main course of a ceremonial dinner. "A Brazilian feature with modernist touches of the country's Cinea Novo movement (defined by Glauber Rochas' 1965 discussion of the "aesthetics of hunger"), this fictional yet ethnographically aspirational film steps back to the 1500s when the French and Portuguese battled over New World territory. When local Tupinamba Indians capture a French explorer, they set about preparing a ritualistic meal in which they will consume him, and thereby, according to legend, appropriate his strength. Cannibalism combats colonialism, although the historical accuracy of this practice within this tribe hasn't been verified. A charming work despite serious social and political themes." [from ]80 min. DVD 8152; vhs
Davis, Darien J. ""Hans Staden"; "How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman."
American Historical Review; 2001, Vol. 106 Issue 2, p695-697, 3p
Greenwald, Rachel T. "Models of Identity Exploration in Film: A Letter without Words and How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman."
Radical History Review, Spring2002, Issue 83, p175, 5p
Pena, Richard. "How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman." In: Brazilian cinema / Randal Johnson and Robert Stam, editors. New York : Columbia University Press, c1995. (Main (Gardner) S PFA
PN B7 1995)
Sadlier, Darlene. "The Politics of Adaptation: How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman."
Film adaptation / edited and with an introduction by James Naremore.
New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, c2000.
(Main (Gardner) Stacks
PN1997.85 .F55 2000)
Young, Theodore Robert. "You Are What You Eat: Tropicalismo and How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman." In: A twice-told tale : reinventing the encounter in Iberian/Iberian American literature and film / edited by Santiago Juan-Navarro and Theodore Robert Young.
Newark : University of Delaware P L Cranbury, NJ : Associated University Presses, c2001.
(Main (Gardner) Stacks
Julie & Julia
(2009)Directed by Nora Ephron. Cast: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina, Linda Emond, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Jane Lynch, Frances Sternhagen, Helen Carey, Deborah Rush, Joan Juliet Buck, Vanessa Ferlito, Casey Wilson, Jillian Bach.
A culinary legend provides a frustrated office worker with a new recipe for life in this true story of how Julia Child's life and cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" inspired fledgling writer Julie Powell to whip up 524 recipes in 365 days and introduce a new generation to the magic of French cooking.
Based on the book "Julie & Julia" by Julie Powell and "My life in France" by Julia Child with Alex Prud'Homme. Special features: Commentary with writer/director Nora Ephron (optional English subtitled commentary); "Secret ingredients: creating Julie & Julia" featurette. 123 min.DVD X2429
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards - Best Actress
(Meryl Streep)
Golden Globes - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
(Meryl Streep)
New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best Actress
(Meryl Streep)
San Francisco Film Critics Circle - Best Actress
(Meryl Streep)
Kitchen Confidential(TV, 2005)Cast: Bradley Cooper, Nicholas Brendon, John Francis Daley, Jaime King, Bonnie Somerville, Owain Yeoman.
Contains all episodes of the television series in which a New York City chef, who is also a novelist, recounts his experiences in the restaurant business, and exposes abuses of power, sexual promiscuity, drug use, and other secrets of life behind kitchen doors.
325 min. DVD 7822
Kitchen Stories (Salmer fra kjokkenet)(Norway / Sweden, 2003)Director, Bent Hamer. An observer from the Swedish Home Research Institute is sent to study the kitchen habits of an elderly bachelor in postwar Norway. The researcher's objectivity is potentially compromised by his growing friendship with the old farmer. 91 min. DVD 3022
Last Bottle in the World (UK, TV, ) Sophie Kassoulas and her wine importer uncle Charles recall a past incident when her lover, Max, editor of a wine magazine, asked Charles what he thought was the finest of all vintages. Charles nominated an 1864 Bordeaux claret for its rarity - it was quite simply the last remaining bottle in the world. Sophie's millionaire husband Kyros bought it for ten thousand pounds with which to celebrate their wedding anniversary but he was wise to her affair with Max who, along with Charles, was invited to the anniversary party for Kyros to demonstrate his revenge.
Life is Sweet (UK, 1990)Director, Mike Leigh. Cast: Cagdas Bozkurt, Leroy Delmar, Nazmi Kirik, Necmettin Cobanoglu, Naci Ozarslan, Susanna Rozkosny, Sunay Girisken, Thomas Ebermann.
Just north of London live Wendy, Andy, and their twenty-something twins, Natalie and Nicola. Wendy clerks in a shop, leads aerobics at a primary school, jokes like a vaudevillian, agrees to waitress at a friend's new restaurant and dotes on Andy, a cook who forever puts off home remodeling projects, and with a drunken friend, buys a broken down lunch wagon. Natalie, with short neat hair and a snappy, droll manner, she has a holiday planned in America, but little else. Last is Nicola, odd man out: a snarl, big glasses, cigarette, mussed hair, jittery fingers, bulimic, jobless, and unhappy. How they interact and play out family conflict and love is the film's subject.
103 min. DVD X6790
Like Water for Chocolate (Como Agua Para Chocolate)(Mexico, 1992) Directed by Alfonso Arau. Based on the novel by Laura Esquivel. Romantic fantasy set in the early 20th century about a young couple blocked from marrying by the demands of her cold and selfish mother. To be near his love the young man marries her sister, and she expresses her passion for him through her cooking. 105 min. DVD 194; vhs 999:1188
Luncheon (UK, TV, ) Author Tony Medway is thrilled to receive a phone call from Susan Mandeville, inviting him to a restaurant to discuss making a film of his book. Susan is married to an influential film producer and the deal could make Tony's fortune. Unfortunately, the restaurant of Susan's choice, Blundell's, is very expensive. Tony has budgeted himself to have a fairly inexpensive and minimal meal but Susan keeps going for items he can barely afford. Never mind, it will all come right because of her husband, won't it? Assuming he still is her husband.
Macbeth (Shakespeare Retold) (2005)
Director: Mark Brozel. Cast:
James McAvoy, Keeley Hawes, Richard Armitage.
A modern television remake of the Shakespeare's Macbeth transposed to the enclosed and passionate world of a top restaurant kitchen. Full of ambition, hierarchy, debauchery and ruthlessness...
87 min. DVD 8788
A Matter of Taste (Une Affaire de Gout) (France, 1999)Directed by Bernard Rapp. Cast: Bernard Giraudeau, Jean-Pierre Lorit, Florence Thomassin. Frederic Delamont, a wealthy businessman, hires Nicolas, a young waiter, to be his personal food taster--with escalating stakes. Delamont's shrewd, bizarre plan is to make Nicolas into a counterpart so sensitive that he can anticipate and share all of his employer's exact tastes. 88 min. DVD 1703
Noh, David
"A Director of Taste: France's Bernard Rapp Concocts a Psychological Tale of Manipulation."
Film Journal International, vol. 104, no. 9, pp. 24-28, Sept 2001
Mid-August Lunch
(Pranzo di Ferragosto) (Italy, 2008)Directed by Gianni Di Gregorio. Cast: Alfonso Santagata, Gianni Di Gregorio, Valeria De Franciscis.
A middle-aged man living with his elderly mother finds the best way to pay for their debts is to take care of the building manager's mother during the biggest festival of the year. Soon he finds himself with not two but four mothers to keep fed and happy.
Special features: "A visit with the cast": director and star Gianni Di Gregorio travels Rome to catch with the film' video interview with Di G selected recipes of the mouth-watering dishes featured in the film.
75 min. DVD X4691
Bonsaver, Guido. "Mid-August Lunch."
Sight & Sound, Sep2009, Vol. 19 Issue 9, p75-76, 2p
Johnson, William. "Pathways and Detours." Film Quarterly, Summer2010, Vol. 63 Issue 4, p10-11, 2p
Mistress of Spices. (USA / UK, 2005)Directed by Paul Mayeda Berges. Cast: Aishwarya Rai, Dylan McDermott, Nitin Ganatra, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Caroline Chikezie, Anupam Kher.
Tilo is an immigrant from India, and a shopkeeper, who is also the "Mistress of Spices." The spices which she gives to her customers help them to satisfy their needs and desires. But then her life changes when she "breaks all the rules" by falling in love with Doug, an American man. Based on the novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.
95 min. DVD 8106
Khushu-Lahiri, R Rao, Shweta. "India on a Platter: A Study of Gurinder Chadha and Paul Mayed Berges's Cinematic Adaptation of The Mistress of Spices"
Postcolonial Text, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. [13 pages], 2008
Stables, Kate.
"The Mistress of Spices."
Sight & Sound, June 2006, Vol. 16 Issue 6, p62-63, 2p
(Bella Martha) (Italy / Germany / Austria / Switzerland, 2001)Directed by Sandra Nettelbeck. Cast: Martina Gedeck, Maxime Foerste, August Zirner, Ulrich Thomsen, Sibylle Canonica, Katja Studt, Idil Uner, Sergio Castellitto. Martha is the chef who fusses and obsesses over each dish before it leaves the kitchen. The demands of her job and her natural shyness keep her from meeting new people. When her sister suddenly dies and Martha adopts Lina, her eight-year-old niece, she finds unexpected help from Mario, Martha's hunky new sous chef, who is not only a whiz on the chopping block but knows sundry magic tricks and jokes to keep Lina's spirits afloat. Just as Martha starts to grow attached to the girl, Lina's erratic father shows up demanding that he take her back to Italy with him. 107 min. DVD 1657
Keller, James R. "Mostly Martha: Appe/type and Stereo/tite."
In: Food, film and culture : a genre study Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., c2006. (MAIN: PN K45 2006)
Novero, Cecilia.
"German Cinema: Bella Martha's Recipe For Contemporary Film'." Food And Foodways, 12:1, 27 - 52, 2004
My Dinner with Andre
(1981)Directed by Louis Malle. Cast:
Andre Gregory, Wallace Shawn. Two friends, an intense, experimental theater director and a down-to-earth actor, reveal their contrasting assumptions about love, death, art and man's continuing quest for self-fulfillment during a dinner discussion that contrasts intensity with quiet humor. Although food is definitely not in the forefront of this film, Wally Shawn's discourse on the joys of cold coffee in the morning is priceless.
110 min. DVD X1723; vhs 999:3202
Night of the Living Dead
(1968)Directed by George A. Romero. Space experiments set off a high level of radiation that makes the newly-dead return to life and devour human flesh. 90 min. DVD 3161; vhs 999:825
Nina's Heavenly Delights (UK, 2006)Directed by Pratibha Parmar.
Laura Fraser, Art Malik, Ronnie Jhutti, Veena Sood, Shelley Conn.
A young woman must take over her father's Indian restaurant and compete in The Best of the West Curry Competition. When Nina then falls in love with the beautiful Lisa, she begins to question a world that has been thrown into sudden turmoil. Now she wonders if her feelings will ever be reciprocated and if they are, what will this mean for Nina and her family?
94 min. DVD 8743
No Reservations
(2007)Directed by Scott Hicks. Cast: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart, Abigail Breslin, Bob Balaban, Patricia Clarkson, Jenny Wade.
Master chef Kate Armstrong is a perfectionist who leads a regimented life while running the kitchen of an exclusive restaurant. When her nine-year old niece Zoe comes to live with her Kate's life is turned completely upside down and she is suddenly forced to split her focus between work and family. Nick Palmer is the newly hired, fun-loving, opera-singing sous chef, whom Kate perceives as a serious rival. Even as they clash, Kate is drawn toward Nick, eventually coming to the realization that Nick offers something that she needs both in her restaurant kitchen and her new life with Zoe. Based on the original screenplay : / by Sandra Nettelbeck. 104 min.
Pieces of April (2003)Directed by Christopher Guest. Cast: Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, Derek Luke, Alison Pill, John Gallagher, Jr., Alice Drummond, Lillias White, Isiah Whitlock, Jr., Oliver Platt.
Family outcast April lives in a beat-up apartment in New York's Lower East Side with her boyfriend, Bobby. In order to spend some time with her dying mother, April invites her conservative suburban family to her place for a Thanksgiving feast. While she frantically tries to complete the meal, the family drives in from Pennsylvania sharing less-than-pleasant opinions about April's lifestyle. Her dad tries to think positively, while sister Beth flaunts her good-girl status and brother Timmy captures it all on film.
Special features: commentary by writer/director Peter H behind-the- theatrical trailer. 81 min. DVD X3833
The Recipe
(South Korea, 2010)Directed by Anna Lee. Cast: Seung-Ryong Ryu, Yu-Won Lee.
Mass murderer Kim Hyun-Soo incarcerated on death row wants to taste doenjang jjigae, a spicy Korean bean paste stew, before he dies. News reporter Choi Yu-Jin hears of the inmate and researches his story for an upcoming news report. Choi Yu-Jin then comes across a mysterious woman named Jang Hye-Jin who makes doenjang jjigae that brings tears of joy to those who taste her recipe. As Choi Yu-Jin delves further, he learns of Jang Hye-Jin's heartbreaking relationship with Kim Hyun-Soo. 107 min.
Scotland, Pa. (1997)Directed by Billy Morrissette. Cast: James LeGros, Maura Tierney, Christopher Walken, Kevin Corrigan, James Rebhorn, Thomas Guiry, Amy Smart, Timothy Speed Levitch, Andy Dick, Jr. A contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. "Burgers, fries ... and a side of mayhem. Welcome to McBeth's, where fast food and ambition make up a daily special filled with murder and mystery, 70's style." 104 min. DVD 1464
Sideways (2004)Directed by Alexander Payne. Cast: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virgina Madsen, Sandra Oh. Miles is a divorced man and a failed writer who teaches junior high school English. He decides to take his best friend, somewhat famous actor Jack, on a weeklong drive through California's wine country. There they explore their failures and question their relationships. 127 min. DVD 719
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards - Best Picture
Golden Globes, USA - Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards - Best P Best Director
New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best Film
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award -
Best P Best Director
Soul Food (1997)Directed by George Tillman, Jr. Cast: Vanessa L. Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long, Michael Beach, Mekhi Phifer, Jeffrey D. Sams, Irma P. Hall, Gina Ravera, Brandon Hammond. Sunday dinner at Mother Joe's is a mouth-watering, 40-year tradition. As seen through the eyes of her grandson Ahmad, love and laughs are always on the menu, despite the usual rivalries simmering between his mom Maxine and her sisters Teri and Bird. But when serious bickering starts to tear the family apart, the good times suddenly stop. Now it's up to Ahmad to get everyone back together and teach them the true meaning of soul food. 114 min. DVD 719
Soul Kitchen (Germany, 2009)Directed by Fatih Akin. Cast: Adam Bousdoukos, Moritz Bleibtreu, Birol &Unel, Pheline Roggan, Anna Bederke, Dorka Gryllus, Wotan Wilke M&hring, Lucas Gregorowicz.
When German-Greek chef Zinos hires a gourmet chef for his struggling restaurant, it drives away his low-life regulars. In the meantime, his girlfriend, Nadine, moves back to China, but a hip new clientele brings the restaurant back to life. When he goes to China to get Nadine back, he leaves the restaurant in the hands of his criminal brother. When Zinos discovers that Nadine has a new boyfriend, and his brother has gambled away his restaurant, he knows he must work with his brother if he is to get it back. 99 min. DVD X5126
Soylent Green (1973)Directed by Richard Fleischer. Cast: Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, Chuck Connors, Joseph Cotten, Brock Peters, Paula Kelly, Edward G. Robinson. The setting is New York City, the year is 2022 and thecity is teeming with 40 million citizens, most of whom out of work. Environmental erosion is almost complete and voluntary death is encouraged bygovernment-sponsored clinics. For their food, the people have grown to rely almost totally on a synthetic greenish, wafer-like substance called soylent. Police officer Thorn investigates the murder of a magnate in the dictatorial Soylent Company, andcomes face to face with the hideous truth about the secret ingredient of their supposedly plankton-basedproduct "Soylent Green." 97 min.
Burnstein, Matthew.
"The Thanatoria of Soylent Green: On Reconciling the Good Life with the Good Death." In:
Bioethics at the moviesEdited by Sandra Shapshay.
Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009.
(Public Health
R725.5 .B52 2009)
<IMG SRC="http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/diamond.gif" width="10" height="10"Geraghty, Lincoln
"Unsettling Visions of America抯 Future Present." In:
American science fiction film and television / Lincoln Geraghty.
L New York : Berg, 2009.
( (UC Berkeley users only); Print:
PN G37 2009)
Murray, Robin L.
"Environmental nostalgia and the tragic eco-hero: the case of Soylent green and the 1970s eco-disaster film." In: Ecology and popular film : cinema on the edge / Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann.
Albany : SUNY Press, c2009. (Main (Gardner) Stacks
PN M87 2009)
Retzinger, Jean P. "Speculative Visions and Imaginary Meals."
Cultural Studies, May-Jul2008, Vol. 22 Issue 3/4, p369-390, 22p
(Japan, 1987)Director: Juzo Itami. Cast: Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Koji Yakusho.
Yamazaki Tsutomu, Miyamoto Nobuko, Yaskusho Ko-ji, Watanabe Ken, Yasuoka Rikiya, O-taki Hideji, Tsugawa Masahiko, O-tomo Ryu-taro, Okada Mariko. Tampopo follows the life of a young widow who runs a small noodle restaurant in Tokyo and her quest for the perfect bowl of ramen. Helping her to attain top ramen status is Goro, the truck driver who at first criticizes Tampopo's cooking ability and then helps her to master it. 114 min.
DVD X7256; DVD X2679; vhs 999:797
Ashkenazi, Michael.
"Food, Play, Business and the Image of Japan in Juzo's Tampopo."
Reel food : essays on food and film
/ edited by Anne L. Bower.
New York : Routledge, 2004. (Main Stack PN.R44 2004)
Iles, Timothy.
"The Lazy Gaze: The Aesthetics of Consumerism in Itami Juzo Tampopo."
Asian Cinema, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 225-33, Spring 2004.
Pauline Kael.
"Tampopo."
The New Yorker v63.(June 1, 1987): pp101(2).
Serper, Zvika. "Eroticism in Itami's "The Funeral" and "Tampopo": Juxtaposition and Symbolism."
Cinema Journal, Vol. 42, No. 3 (Spring, 2003), pp. 70-95
La Taqueria (2002)Directed by Martin Delon. Cast: Fannie Montan, Evaristo Carreon, Sylvia Garcia, Noble Chase-Pack, Mario Guajardo, Diego Castro, Jennifer Almaguer. When Dona Flor inherited her father's little restaurantin Houston, she didn't realize she would have to contend with the daily chaos of her workers and customers - a cook that drinks and passes out in thekitchen, waitresses who don't do their jobs, a pimp operating his business from the restaurant and a bus boy who causes little old ladies' hearts to flutter. It's enough to make her crazy! All of her workersagree that what their 40-year-old boss needs is a man- and soon, before they all suffer from her
craziness! 82 min. vhs
La Taqueria (2005)Directed by Carlos Griffin. Cast: Kris Campa, Yuri Cunza, Valerie Barriga.
Antioch-shot "La Taqueria," is a drama about the proprietor and employees in a taco trailer's restricted space and the philanderings of its two-timing owner. 26 min. DVD X7031
Taste (UK, TV, ) Richard Pratt, a pretentious wine expert, is one of several dinner party guests at the home of stockbroker Mike Schofield. Pratt claims to be able to identify any wine from its bouquet but Schofield has picked a really rare wine that he is so convinced Pratt will fail to recognize that he includes his house and his daughter in the wager to everyone else's horror. ..particularly when Pratt guesses it right. Part of the television series Tales of the Unexpected.
301/302 (South Korea, 1995) Directed by Chul-Soo Park. Cast: Eun-jin Bang and Sin-Hye Hwang. "Two women are neighbors in an apartment building: one is an obsessive professional cook (in room 301), the other an anorexic writer (room 302). A young policeman is investigating the disappearance of the woman from room 302. Through flashbacks, we learn the nature of the two women's relationship: the cook tries to cure her neighbor by preparing fabulous meals for her every night - only to have them left untouched."(from ) 100 min.
DVD X400; vhs 999:3462
Papazian, Gretchen. "Anorexia envisioned: Mike Leigh's Life is sweet, Chul-Soo park's 301/302, and Todd Haynes's Superstar" In: Reel food : essays on food and film / edited by Anne L. Bower. New York : Routledge, 2004. (Main (Gardner) Stacks
PN R44 2004)
Today's Special
(2010)Director, David Kaplan. Cast:
Aasif Mandvi, Jess Weixler, Madhur Jaffrey, Harish Patel, Kevin Corrigan, Dean Winters, Naseeruddin Shah.
Samir is a traditionally trained chef who works as the sous chef in an exclusive restaurant in Manhattan, but when he learns he's been turned down for an expected promotion, he leaves in a huff and isn't asked to return. Samir considers heading for Europe to attend a culinary academy, but}