Seeking Suggestions on Food-Related Films

[Grady Hendrix]

The films that spring immediately to mind are:

UDON (as above)
RAMEN GIRL (not great, but certainly a food film)
FLAVOUR OF HAPPINESS
SUSHI KING GOES TO NEW YORK
THE TASTE OF FISH (the scenes with Yoshiyoshi Arakawa are the movie's
saving grace)
TEA FIGHT (very uneven, but still interesting)
CAFE SEOUL (in the spirit of TEA FIGHT's Japan/China lineage, CAFE
SEOUL is a Korean/Japanese co-production with an international cast
and Japanese director)
(Also, on this same tip, ANTIQUE is a Korean movie based on a Japanese
manga and it's one of the best pastry movies ever made)
There's also the Japanese remake of SIDEWAYS that just came out,
sparking a bunch of conversations (not very interesting ones,
unfortunately) about cultural appropriation.

And there are movies that take place in restaurants and cafes like
KAMOME DINER and CAFE ISOBE.

Hope that helps,

Grady Hendrix



On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 10:25 AM, Varner, Melinda Sue <mvarner at ku.edu> wrote:
> Katsuyuki Motohiro's comedy Udon (2006) provides a nice fictional look at regional food "booms".
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780167/
> http://www.lovehkfilm.com/panasia/udon.htm
>
> Melinda Varner
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu on behalf of Joshua Schlachet
> Sent: Tue 11/17/2009 2:16 AM
> To: kinejapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> Subject: Seeking Suggestions on Food-Related Films
>
>
> Greetings All,
>
> My name is Josh Schlachet, and I am currently a student in the University of Michigan's Center for Japanese Studies. I do not have a significant background in Japanese film (my field is Japanese history), but I am currently preparing a paper on food and film for a Japanese cinema class that I am taking this semester. I was hoping that someone might have some suggestions on Japanese films (other than Tampopo) that focus on or prominently feature themes and/or scenes related to food and eating. If you have any such films (or exceptional articles on the same topic) in mind, I would greatly appreciate all of your expert advice. I would prefer films that I could likely find with subtitles, but I do speak some Japanese in case that is not an option. Thank you very much for your help, and I look forward to hearing from you.
>
> Sincerely,
> Joshua Evan Schlachet
> M.A. Candidate
> Center for Japanese Studies
> University of Michigan
>
>