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The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014), Comedy-Drama (Involving Restaurants) Directed by Lasse Hallström and Starring Helen Mirren


Kibbee Nayee

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If you haven't see this film, go now. There has never been a better food-themed movie in history. I've see all of them -- Eat, Drink, Man, Woman; Clemenza's spaghetti sauce in Godfather II; Ratatouille; Chocolat; Tampopo; and earlier this year, Jon Favreau's Chef. Go see this movie.

Trust me.

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I finally got to see this. I felt a bit let down. Some seriously nice eye candy will make most viewers pleased, but I was kind of disappointed at how little we learned about Indian food in this movie. And did it bother anyone that Hassan was "gifted" with his deceased mother's spices...which would have been YEARS old, according to the film's chronology...and he USED them? What gifted cook uses obviously old spices? Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it in many respects, especially as a love story between older folks, but I expected more cooking gusto.

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I finally got to see this. I felt a bit let down. Some seriously nice eye candy will make most viewers pleased, but I was kind of disappointed at how little we learned about Indian food in this movie. And did it bother anyone that Hassan was "gifted" with his deceased mother's spices...which would have been YEARS old, according to the film's chronology...and he USED them? What gifted cook uses obviously old spices? Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it in many respects, especially as a love story between older folks, but I expected more cooking gusto.

The more "popular" an esoteric subject gets, the harder it is to satisfy experts in the subject at hand.

Don't show me a film about piano unless the person is actually playing. If you need to get a body double, do, but don't fake playing in front of me (refer to Geoffrey Rush (*) in the embarrassingly bad, and Academy Award-winning, "Shine"). I haven't scrutinized Navin Chowdry - the child who played Manek in "Madame Sousatzka" - in years, but I remember the film being able to present him as a child virtuoso without insulting me. I'm pretty sure Chowdry played the scales in the scene where he had his first lesson with Madame Sousatzka, so he's at least "very good," and that might be good enough if you have a talented film editor.

I remember seeing a made-for-TV movie with Vince Van Patten in it (he was the son of the more famous Dick Van Patten). He played a tennis teaching pro at a country club, and I remember thinking to myself, 'Gosh, they're doing a good job with this,' because he was serving the ball very well, and it didn't look like they had a stunt double in. And it turns out that they didn't: Vince Van Patten was a legitimate touring professional who got to the 3rd round of Wimbledon one year.

You have to get these things right - there are just too many experts, and with the internet, you're going to get called out very quickly.

(*) Go to that link, do a "find" on "piano," and the result will be "not found."

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