Foodie Film

So as promised, I am writing another of my Foodie Film Reviews.

Like Water For Chocolate

So this film was amazing! (and the obvious source of the later made, watered down but with a still cute Sean Patrick Flannery vehicle "Simply Irresistible")

The basic premise is this: Tita, our cooking heroine, falls in love with Pedro, but her mother will not accept his offer of marriage because of a family tradition which states that Tita, the youngest, can't marry for she must take care of her mother until her death instead (I know! over-barring mom much?). Instead of his love Tita, Pedro marries her sister, Rosaura, instead. Bastard! Except Pedro tells Tita that he married her sister to stay close to her (classic guy logic).

Tita, depressed and forced to watch her love marry her sister, turns to cooking and in a Marquez-esce bout of magical reaslism, starts cooking her feelings into every meal. Her sisters wedding banquet for example, consumes the dinner guests with all of her sadness and passion till they are all crying and vomiting by the end of the night (sounds like a Polish wedding). When Tita recieves a bouquet of roses from Pedro and uses them to cook quail, her family becomes consumed by passion, so much so her sister sets fire to the shower shed and runs off (naked btw) with a revolutionary soilder.

I won't delve too deeply into the story and that would be boring for you (that's what wikipedia is for after all) but I will say this. The food scenes are brilliant, and like so many other magical realism driven works, it manages to reach your real life experiences through the fantastic. Plus who hasn't dreamed of feeding someone you hate a meal that gives them a lifetime of gas...(oh yeah)

In short, go. Rent. Now.