ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[southendmd]

Plot:  With the help of TV Host Bubber and chef Thomas Castberg Larsen six children open their own restaurant and learn how to cook.

=aside=
I've met Barbara Lynch a few times in her South End eateries!

[Fran]

Also known as:  Like Water for Chocolate

From IMDb: Tita and Pedro want to get married, but Tita has to take care of her aging mother and is not allowed to marry. Pedro ends up marrying Tita's sister, but lets Tita know he only married her sister to be closer to her. When Tita is forced to make the wedding cake, the guests at the wedding are overcome with sadness... Tita has discovered she can do strange things with her cooking.

[memento]

IMDB: This is a very intelligent, hilarious, and slightly poignant movie. The 'dinner' of the title is a regular gathering at which some smug young Parisian gentlemen compete to invite the most amusingly ridiculous character as their guest. Pierre Brochant (Thierry Lhermitte) believes he has a sure winner in François Pignon (played brilliantly by Jacques Villeret) whose passion is the construction of intricate models from matchsticks. Ironically, it is Brochant who ends up looking the fool, morally if not intellectually. And it is the slightly sad but hilarious antihero Pignon who emerges as far the wiser of the two. Despite the premise, which seems to offends some delicate souls, this is a very humane, as well as witty, movie.

[Lynne]

Plot Summary from Wiki:

The film tells the story of a semi-retired and widowed Chinese master chef Chu (Sihung Lung) and his family living in modern day Taipei, Taiwan. At the start of the film, he lives with his three attractive daughters, all of whom are unattached. The three daughters represent three stereotypes of woman:

    * the oldest one an old maid school teacher with a broken heart
    * the middle one the career woman who is afraid of commitment
    * the youngest one the school girl who is curious about love.

As the film progresses, each daughter encounters new men. When these new relationships blossom, the stereotypes are broken and the living situation within the family changes. The film concludes with a surprise ending involving the chef himself.

=aside=
Can this really not have been played yet?!

[Fran]

Also known as:  Four Shades of Brown

From IMDb:  "Four Shades of Brown," as the title would be in English, tells the story about a stressed out hotelier and his wife and his elderly parents (who are traveling magicians); about the receptionist at an animal crematory and his family misadventures; about the members of a cooking course (who mostly talk about their sorry lives) and, fourthly, about the funeral for a womanizing trotter jockey, who tries to continue orchestrating the family from beyond the grave by singing and appearing in 3D during the funeral, thanks to high-tech equipment that has cost his entire fortune. (The family gets nil; not even the famous horse is given to the family!)

[memento]

From IMDB: This is a very good movie about garlic with shots from the Gilroy Garlic Festival and lots of good information about cooking with garlic from some of the best cooks in the SF Bay Area. I view this as a comprehensive guide to garlic provided in a very entertaining fashion. Wish I could find it on DVD!! Information by folks like Alice Water of Chez Panisse in Berkeley showing how to use garlic for cooking a nice pig dish are amazing and make you want to sit down and eat it right there. Other information on uses of garlic that you would never think of such as real garlic salt, for squid recipes, sausages and of course warding off vampires. There are ways to handle garlic for cooking and how to peel it easily as well as how to chop, mince etc for best effect. Highly recommended.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDHbDqBcNak[/youtube]
                                    Excerpt 2:47

[Lynne]

There's a memorable scene between Kate Winslet and Jack Black in a sushi restaurant...

[Fran]

From IMDb:  Director Cagan Irmak had moved his audience to tears with his beautiful, semi-political, semi-melodramatic "Babam ve Oglum" only a few years ago. Now, here he is with a much more mature and deeper depiction of a tortured soul of our times. At a certain point, it is reminiscent of Allen's "Annie Hall" and there is a gentle, sly nod to Scorsese's "Taxi Driver", and this film deserves comparison to both of these films; no need to be modest. The main character is a handsome, young restaurant owner, a chef in Istanbul and his casual relationships with a large variety of women say something about his actual loneliness. On the other hand, she is a lively, lovely young woman with a pretty little costume shop and when they meet, it's not love at first sight, but a love that grows and is woven with their efforts, especially hers. But this is not an ordinary, straightforward womanizer-turned-romantic-by-true-love-kind-of story. It is the sad story of a man who has alienated himself from all emotional human contact because of a life in "the big city". It is all the more sad because he is aware of it, he wants to open up and get rid of it, but he just can't. And she was just about to make it easier for him... Anyway, this is definitely a movie worthy of seeing. It is not just a local story, I'm sure people all around the world will identify with the characters in this film. I hope little films like these are seen by large and different audiences and get the praise they deserve.

=aside= Lynne
Very nice avatar photo!

[southendmd]

AKA Jacob the Liar

Plot:  A Jewish ghetto in the east of Europe, 1944. By coincidence, Jakob Heym eavesdrops on a German radio broadcast announcing the Soviet Army is making slow by steady progress towards central Europe. In order to keep his companion in misfortune, Mischa, from risking his life for a few potatoes, he tells him what he heard and announces that he is in possession of a radio - in the ghetto a crime punishable by death. It doesn't take long for word of Jakob's secret to spread - suddenly, there is new hope and something to live for - and so Jakob finds himself in the uncomforting position of having to come up with more and more stories.

=aside=
Can this really not have been played yet?!

Lynne, it was played as "Yin shi nan nu" many rounds ago.

[oilgun]

AKA:  The Chef (International: English title)



==ASIDE==
Well, I'm back from visiting the relatives in Ottawa where seemingly everyone wears those Yak Trax on their boots.  I got a pair as a gift and they are just the best inventionl  I went running on ice covered streets with them on and felt very secure.