Film
Feasts at Five
Our annual collaboration with the Atlantic Film Festival this year is a mouth-watering mini-retrospective of films about food. These acclaimed and popular classics will whet your appetite for some of the Atlantic Film Festival’s other offerings, whether they by big screen adventures or more intimate receptions. Each film is screened at five o’clock at Dalhousie Art Gallery during the Festival. Admission is free, but donations are gratefully accepted. Seating is limited — and dinner arrangements must be made independently!
Friday 14 September: Babette’s Feast
Gabriel Axel, Denmark/France, 1987, 102 minutes. A 19th-century Parisian political refugee in a rough Danish seaport melts her hosts’ Scandanavian reserve with a meal so resplendent that it liberates beyond politics. In Danish and French with English subtitles.
Saturday 15 September: Eat Drink Man Woman
Ang Lee, Taiwan, 1994, 123 minutes. One of Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee’s early hits was this story of a widower who ritually prepares a traditional Sunday meal for his three successful, modern, and occasionally mixed-up daughters. In Chinese with English subtitles.
Sunday 16 September: My Dinner With Andre
Louis Malle, USA, 1981, 110 minutes. The most legendary dinner conversation ever. Playwright Wallace Shawn and avant-garde theatre director Andre Gregory range over endless subjects--and meal courses--in this enduring art-house classic. In English.
Monday 17 September: Like Water For Chocolate
Alfonso Arau, Mexico, 1993, 113 minutes. A young woman, disappointed in love, discovers her cooking has magical and even erotic powers in this lush and extraordinarily visual Mexican feature drama. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Tuesday 18 September: Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Luis Bunuel, Spain/France/Italy 1972, 110 minutes. Winning an Oscar for Best Foreign Film, Bunuel’s late surrealist masterpiece presents a dinner party where the guests, eternally interrupted, never get to eat their meal. In Spanish and French with English subtitles.
Wednesday 19 September: Tampopo
Juzo Itami, Japan, 1986, 114 minutes. The legendary Japanese Noodle Western’ by the late actor and director Juzo Itami (A Taxing Woman, The Funeral), Tampopo explores the subversive qualities of food and its preparation. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Thursday 20 September: The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
Peter Greenaway, France/Netherlands, 1989, 124 minutes. Set almost entirely in a high-class restaurant, this playfully formal and intellectually vigorous film sports a stellar cast (Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon, Tim Roth) in a tale of exquisite food and brazen adultery. With a shocking surprise ending, this film is not recommended for young audiences.
Friday 21 September: Big Night
Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott, USA, 1996, 109 minutes. in this witty and wonderful American indie flick, two brothers struggle to float an authentic Italian restaurant in New Jersey circa 1955 by preparing a sumptuous feast that will attract entertainer Louie Prima.
