Food on the menu for Utan Kayu Film Festival

Food on the menu for Utan Kayu Film Festival

JAKARTA (JP): It's food, glorious food, explored on dining
tables and in kitchens around the world, from Japan (Tampopo) to
Denmark (Babette's Feast), during the Films on Food Festival at
Teater Utan Kayu.

Each of the films examines the subject matter beyond the
biological need of simply sustaining life, often delving into the
appetizing matters of the heart. So it is with Eat Drink Man
Woman, which will be shown on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., a brilliant,
captivating work by Ang Lee, now the darling of Hollywood for the
Oscar-nominated Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Eat Drink Man Woman (Comedy/Drama, 1994). Starring Sihung Lung
(Chu), Kuei-Mei Yang (Jia Ren), Chien-Lien Wu (Jia Chien), Yu-Wen
Wang (Jia Ning), Winston Chao (Li Kai). Directed by Ang Lee.

Anyone who has seen the memorable opening sequence of this
movie would do better than to underestimate a chef's work. Or,
for that matter, the universal healing powers of food.

Master chef Chu's dazzling, hyperkinetic rendition of what
goes on in the kitchen, away from the limelight of a glitzy
restaurant or a family dinner table, is so fun, so crazy, so
enjoyable to watch -- and it has helped catapult this movie into
the ranks of the all-time great food films.

Fresh from the international success of The Wedding Banquet,
Taiwan's uber-director Lee picked up where he left off and took
his passion for food to a level higher in a rare film in which
food, family drama, cross-cultural dynamics and generational
conflicts come together in equal measure. The uncontrived dialog,
the easy rapport between the characters and the spontaneous yet
nuanced characterization further distinguish it in a genre where
those qualities often come second, or not at all.

The film tells of the relationship between an aging Chinese
widower and his three grown-up daughters. The oldest is a shy,
unmarried schoolteacher, the second a beautiful and ambitious
corporate airline executive and the third a starry-eyed romantic
who periodically acts as the movie's conscience. Crippled by a
communication gap, their relationship finds articulation in their
Sunday dinner ritual, in which the father prepares a gourmet
feast fit for an emperor and, maybe, just maybe, has some sort of
interaction with the girls. Here food takes the central role --
as a life-saver, a sanctuary, a common denominator, a lingua
franca, the beating heart of the family.

Ang Lee's characters have a richness and depth that go way
beyond stereotyping, and the comedy that ensues is natural,
reality-driven and refreshingly unsentimental. Heightened by
gorgeous food cinematography and an otherwise no-frills direction
by a director who knows his cross-cultural issues well enough so
as not to turn this movie into a rambling exercise of
orientalism, this is one big-hearted celebration of life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness -- and the perfect meal.

Other films during the three-day festival are 1973's La Grande
Bouffe with Marcello Mastroianni as one of three men engaging in
orgies of feasting (Friday, 4:30 p.m.), Tampopo, a 1986 Japanese
film centering on the title character's dreams of life outside a
ramen noodle bar (Friday, 7:30 p.m.), Babette's Feast, with
French actress Stephane Audran playing a master chef living way
out on the windswept coast of Denmark caring for two sisters
(Saturday, 2:30 p.m), Like Water for Chocolate (Saturday, 4:30
p.m.), 301, 302 (Sunday, 2:30 p.m.) and Big Night (Sunday, 4:30
p.m.). There will also be a discussion with culinary expert and
restaurateur William Wongso at 7 p.m. on Sunday. (Laksmi P.
Djohan)

Teater Utan Kayu is at Jl. Utan Kayu 68H, East Jakarta (tel.
857-3388).