Top Iranian Films

This is an update to the previous Top 10 list.

Top 10 Iranian Films of All Time:

1. Taste of Cherry (1997, Abbas Kiarostami)

2. Crimson Gold (2003, Jafar Panahi)

3. Chess of the Wind (1976, Mohammad Reza Aslani)

4. The House is Black (1963, Forugh Farrokhzad)

5. Close-Up (1990, Abbas Kiarostami)

6. A Man of Integrity (2017, Mohammad Rasoulof)

7. A Separation (2011, Asghar Farhadi)

8. The Cow (1969, Dariush Mehrjui)

9. The Wind Will Carry Us (1999, Abbas Kiarostami)

10. Turtles can Fly (2004, Bahman Ghobadi)

Honourable Mentions (alphabetical order):

Be Calm and Count to Seven (2008, Ramtin Lavafipour)

Downpour (1972, Bahram Beyzaie)

Iron Island (2005, Mohammad Rasoulof)

It’s Winter (2006, Rafi Pitts)

Salam Cinema (1995, Mohsen Makhmalbaf)

This is not a Film (2011, Jafar Panahi)

A Time for Drunken Horses (2000, Bahman Ghobadi)

Where is the Friend’s House? (1987, Abbas Kiarostami)

The White Balloon (1995, Jafar Panahi)

Best TV Shows of all Time

This is an updated list to last month’s Top 10.

My Top 10 TV Shows

1. Schitt’s Creek (Seasons 1-6)

Pure comedic gold! Perfection in each episode. This was a much-needed TV series to watch and rewatch during the early years of the pandemic from 2020-2021.

2. Twin Peaks Season 3 (The Return, 2017)

Some have argued this to be considered as a movie but I consider this as a TV show. This series became must watch TV for me as I tuned in weekly to see the newest glimpse into David Lynch’s enigmatic world.

3. Delhi Crime (Seasons 1-2)

Brilliantly acted and directed by Ritchie Mehta, both seasons use real life crimes (horrific in the case of Season 1) to create a tension filled nerve-wracking show.

4. Call My Agent (Seasons 1-4)

A witty and hilarious look at the chaotic world of talent agents who go to great lengths to meet their client’s ever increasing demands. This French series also gives a peek into some of the background scenarios involving film production, distribution and film festivals.

5. Sacred Games (Seasons 1-2)

A hearty mix of politics, crime, religion, Film industry, terrorism. Based on Vikram Chandra’s novel of the same name, this series brings together a stellar cast and directors (Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap). And it ends on a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers. Please let there be a Season 3!

6. Ted Lasso (Seasons 1-3)

Like Schitt’s Creek, Ted Lasso was much needed during the Pandemic. A charming, delightful series that is perfectly acted.

7. Chernobyl

The series is based on the 1986 Nuclear reactor disaster but its 2019 release date foreshadowed the response of many nations towards the pandemic. This is because at its core, the series highlights the damage to society when poor planning and leadership are combined.

8. The Wire (Seasons 1-5)

This is one of those rare TV shows that uses the long form to properly create stories and characters which examine society both from a micro and macro level. The focus of all five seasons is the cat-mouse game between cops and drug dealers, with the series illustrating the logistics of drug dealing and police surveillance. The show also covers evolution of surveillance from pay phone and landlines to cell phones and the challenges that came with the technology change. Season 2 covers the port and how drugs are smuggled in, Season 3 focuses on local municipal politics, Season 4 highlights the school system and how funding impacts level of education while Season 5 parks itself in a newsroom and observes how journalists cover stories.

Many key characters are present in all 5 seasons even though some of them change jobs. This changing perspective of some characters and their different jobs smartly depicts how imbalances in society impact lives of people across all economic scales. The series covers an entire social, political, economic spectrum of Baltimore via this lens of drugs trade.

The power of the show weakens with each season and Season 4 and 5 are the weakest of the lot and contain many episodes/scenes which pale in comparison to Seasons 1-3.

9. Breaking Bad (Seasons 1-5)

10. Justified (Seasons 1-6) tied with Mad Men (Seasons 1-7)

Honourable mentions (in no particular order):

Severance (Season 1)

Farzi (Season 1)

The Family Man (Seasons 1-2)

Note: this is the Indian TV series that stars Manoj Bajpai

The White Lotus (Seasons 1-3)

Slow Horses (Seasons 1-4)

Mickey 17 and the Films of Bong Joon-ho

This is a follow-up post to last year’s Spotlight on the films of Bong Joon-Ho.

Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)

Memories of Murder (2003)

The Host (2006)

Mother (2009)

Snowpiercer (2013)

Okja (2017)

Parasite (2019)

Mickey 17 (2025)

Mickey 17, based on Edward Ashton’s book Mickey 7, has themes related to a few of Bong’s previous films such as Snowpiercer, The Host and Okja: sci-fi setting and humanity on verge of extinction (Snowpiercer), connection with an animal (Okja), killing an alien creature with chemical gas (The Host). The perception around the creature changes as the film progresses in a similar manner to that shown in The Host. At first, the alien creature is terrifying but the film changes that perception when it highlights the cruel violent nature of humans. In this aspect, the monstrous nature of humans is similar to that depicted in Okja. Interestingly, Bong first depicted scenes of humans cruelty towards animals in his first feature Barking Dogs Never Bite.

Mickey 17 also pokes at class differences akin Parasite but those differences are presented as a matter-of-fact and the film doesn’t linger on those differences. Amusingly, the sophisticated rich elites are shown to be morons while the perceived moron Mickey (Robert Pattinson) turns out to be pretty adept at navigating the alien world. The dark humour one associates with a Bong Joon Ho film is found in spades and Mickey 17 also manages to sneak in a very on-the nose Trump reference. Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) is shown to be a failed politician who lost two elections (unlike our real world) but he has a cult like appeal over his fans, some of whom are seen wearing a red cap in the audience. In addition, Marshall’s speeches and his overall demeanour is akin to Trump. Marshall’s persona is in fitting with his over-the-top cartoonish wife Ylfa (Toni Collette) whose character appears to a distant cousin to Tilda Swinton’s characters from Snowpiercer and Okja.

Parasite was always going to be a tough act to follow and in that sense, Mickey 17 is a step down from the heights of Parasite. The film has some impactful moments but the tone is uneven and certain segments don't add up to a coherent whole. While Mickey 17 fits in with the overall cinematic body of work of Bong Joon-ho, the film’s shortcomings are also a reminder that Parasite is the perfect illustration of Bong Joon-ho's style.

Updated ranking of Bong Joon-ho’s features and shorts:

1. Memories of Murder (2003)

This film still holds on as the best Bong Joon-ho film. 

2. Parasite (2019) 

A very close second. The most perfect distillation of Bong’s style. 

3. The Host (2006)

4. Mother (2009)

5. Snowpiercer (2013)

6. Okja (2017)

7. Mickey 17 (2025)

8. Influenza (2004)

9. Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)

10. Incoherence (1994)

11. Shaking Tokyo (2008)

12. White Man (1994)

Best TV Shows of all time

This is a long-awaited follow-up to the 2014 post about Best new TV shows, which in itself was a follow-up to a 2013 post about Best TV Shows.

Naturally, TV shows have changed substantially since that 2014 post more than a decade ago. Far more TV shows have been released since then, many on the multiple streaming platforms fighting each other for our attention. Therefore, it feels like a good time to take stock of things and rank my Top 10 TV shows. The ranking of these TV shows is based on the previous criteria:

Excellence Per Minute (EPM) and Soap Opera Moment (SOM).

1) EPM measures the dramatic high points of the show. Every minute of the show is not excellent, no matter what some TV critics say, but one can often pick out those great jaw dropping moments which involve a great piece of acting, repeatable dialogue or a memorable event. A rough tally of all these EPMs was used to determine which show had the best content per minute.

2) SOM is a negative indicator which will to be used to subtract from a  show’s EPM.

These two criteria certainly provide an advantage to limited TV series or shows with less than 8 episodes per season. This is because a limited amount of TV episodes wouldn’t have that much bloated filler content as shows obligated to have 12-13 episodes per season. Also, shows with a shorter running time per episode (45 min or less) would have a better chance to outperform shows with running time of 50-60 min per episode.

My Top 10 TV Shows

1. Schitt’s Creek (Seasons 1-6)

Pure comedic gold! Perfection in each episode. This was a much-needed TV series to watch and rewatch during the early years of the pandemic from 2020-2021.

2. Twin Peaks Season 3 (The Return, 2017)

Some have argued this to be considered as a movie but I consider this as a TV show. This series became must watch TV for me as I tuned in weekly to see the newest glimpse into David Lynch’s enigmatic world.

3. Delhi Crime (Seasons 1-2)

Brilliantly acted and directed by Ritchie Mehta, both seasons use real life crimes (horrific in the case of Season  1) to create a tension filled nerve-wracking show.

4. The Wire (Seasons 1-3)

This is one of those rare TV shows that uses the long form to properly create stories and characters which examine society both from a micro and macro level. The starting focus of Season 1 is on drugs sold at the street level, but the show smartly pulls back and shows how imbalances in society as a whole impact lives of the people across all economic scales.

Note: There are 5 seasons of The Wire but only the first 3 were seen as part of this list.

5. Sacred Games (Seasons 1-2)

A hearty mix of politics, crime, religion, Film industry, terrorism. Based on Vikram Chandra’s novel of the same name, this series brings together a stellar cast and directors (Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap). And it ends on a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers. Please let there be a Season 3!

6. Ted Lasso (Seasons 1-3)

Like Schitt’s Creek, Ted Lasso was much needed during the Pandemic. A charming, delightful series that is perfectly acted.

7. Chernobyl

The series is based on the 1986 Nuclear reactor disaster but its 2019 release date foreshadowed the response of many nations towards the pandemic. This is because at its core, the series highlights the damage to society when poor planning and leadership are combined.

8. Breaking Bad (Seasons 1-5)

9. Justified (Seasons 1-6)

10. Mad Men (Seasons 1-7)

Honourable mentions (in no particular order):

Severance (Season 1)

Farzi (Season 1)

The Family Man (Seasons 1-2)

Note: this is the Indian TV series that stars Manoj Bajpai.

The White Lotus (Seasons 1-2)

David Lynch's cinema

The news of David Lynch passing away on Jan 15, 2025 came as a shock especially since I had hoped that he was secretly working on one last feature. A final film that I hoped would have combined the creative worlds of Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive. But not to be.

David Lynch was a filmmaker unlike any other and his legacy will continue forever especially since his unique style labeled as Lynchian is often used to describe other films or cinematic scenarios.

He is also the rare filmmaker whose films I saw entirely in non-streaming formats. I saw his films via Theater, TV, VHS Tapes and DVD. Of course, I saw Season Three of his Twin Peaks series (The Return, 2017) via cable TV while caught up with the original Twin Peaks Series via both VHS and DVD. This also speaks to the limited output of his works over the last two decades. His last feature Inland Empire was released in 2006, while his feature debut Eraserhead came out in 1977. In total, he directed 10 Feature films, 40+ shorts, 4 TV series and many music videos, commercials and web series.

I did a spotlight on his works back in 2007 as I wanted to see all his previous features, shorts and TV series in anticipation of Inland Empire. Little did I know that after Inland Empire, no more features would be released although Twin Peaks: The Return did thankfully arrive and provided 18 incredible episodes, some of those episodes packing more punch than any feature film.

Here is a ranking of his 10 features roughly in order of preference. Unlike some others, I do not consider Twin Peaks: The Return to be a film which is why I am not including any of those 18 episodes or the entire series in this ranking.

1. Mulholland Drive (2001)

Silencio. Then fade to black. Yet, many questions linger long after this intriguing puzzle of a film ends. Mulholland Drive is a perfect encapsulation of David Lynch’s style and contains a refined version of elements, character types one has seen in his other films.

2. Eraserhead (1977)

A cinematic treasure! A true measure of a film is that it transcends time and remains fresh no matter which decade it is watched in. It is hard to believe that Eraserhead was released almost 5 decades ago. Even today, very few films can match the cinematic richness that David Lynch offered with his debut film. This black and white film is one of those works that are tailormade for film studies courses -- hours can be spent discussing the lighting, the dreamy imagery, the haunting background score and the abundant symbolism. For example, the alien baby that Henry and his girlfriend have provides enough material for dissection -- the baby represents an alien creature who imposes on the life of this couple and alienates them further. That the baby looks like an alien only reinforces the idea. This is a film that needs to be watched with all the lights off and is a work that one can easily be lost in.

3. Blue Velvet (1986)

This film and its many images, especially the severed ear, are forever etched in cinematic history. The movie starts and ends up in a happy white picket fenced town. But between those scenes, we are introduced to a strange world where evil people lurk. That strangeness is now associated with the Lynchian term and helped usher in a new cinematic language.

4. The Straight Story (1999)

This is the most straightforward (no pun intended) film that David Lynch directed. If one didn't look at the credits, then one would never know that David Lynch was behind this work as the film is devoid of his auteur signposts. At least Elephant Man includes a few dream sequences which hints at the director's familiar style but The Straight Story is a clean and emotional journey. The film also turned out to be the last work of Richard Farnsworth and this is clearly his movie from the first frame. Farnsworth plays Alvin Straight, a man who undertakes a 300+ mile journey on a lawn-mower to see his brother, Lyle. The two brothers have not talked in almost a decade after a falling out, but after Lyle has a stroke, Alvin decides he needs to make this journey on his own terms to set things right.

We get to see the wide-open road, beautiful fields and shining stars as Alvin makes his brave journey. Along the way, he encounters an interesting collection of people (a runaway teenager, competition cyclists, a deer-loving woman who is agonized by deers hitting her car on a weekly basis) and wins everyone over (except the deer loving woman who is in too much grief) with his straightforward no-nonsense approach to life.

Based on a true story, The Straight Story is well acted and leisurely paced so that we can soak up every minute of clean country air.

5. The Elephant Man (1980)

With the exception of the opening and closing scenes, the rest of the film is a linear humane story. On top of that, the locale is Victorian England, not America, which sets this apart from other Lynch films. However, this Black and White feature is an appropriate follow-up to Eraserhead. Both The Elephant Man and Eraserhead start with images of birth -- in Eraserhead, we see an alien life form taking shape whereas in The Elephant Man, we see how a woman's child will be disfigured and take on the title of Elephant Man. The performances of Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt are top-notch and the screenplay is highly touching. Even though the story is inspired by a real tale, the movie has shades of the The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

6. Inland Empire (2006)

Worm holes, time travel, multiple characters, dreams, imagination, Lynch’s subconscious mind and Laura Dern’s magnificent face which stretches to whatever emotion is required of her. Inland Empire feels like the essence of Mulholland Drive drugged with the time travel element from Lost Highway with a tiny dash of bizarre from Twin Peaks. It is complicated, inaccessible but never dull or boring. This film makes Mulholland Drive look like an easily decipherable film. In Mulholland Drive, one can clearly draw a line between the dream and reality. But in Inland Empire we are dealing with multiple versions of dreams and reality which are further complicated by Laura Dern’s characters existing in both dream and real state in multiple space-time fields (L.A, Poland).

One way to describe this film is that it is akin to hyperlinks on the internet – we jump from one link to another and so on. Eventually, near the end of the movie, we are simply hitting the ‘back’ arrow on the browser and are returned to our starting page. Along the way, we find related links and stories but they are all different. Another description is that the movie is reels projected across David Lynch’s mind acted out by Laura Dern whose face is a guide to what we should be looking for.

7. Lost Highway (1997)

The start of Lost Highway is echoed by Haneke’s Caché (2005). In both films, a couple gets videotapes where someone has recorded their home from the outside. In the Lost Highway the spy physically enters the couple's home and tapes them sleeping. However, in Caché, the spy does not physically enter the couple's home but penetrates the main character's psyche. That is where the differences between the two films end.

The dreamy version of L.A life that David Lynch has explored in his later films (Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire) are first found in Lost Highway. This film also contains building blocks used in Mulholland Drive as both films contain puzzles and mysteries which need to be unlocked. Lost Highway plays with the concept of time and space much more than Mulholland Drive although its plot isn’t as tightly bound as that of Mulholland Drive. Lost Highway has plenty of scenarios that don’t fit with the overall film structure whereas everything in Mulholland Drive is connected and wrapped up in one mysterious blue box!

8. Dune (1984)

It is fascinating to see how Frank Herbert’s book has led to two completely cinematic treatments. Denis Villeneuve’s two Dune films have gotten far more love than David Lynch’s 1984 version did. Yet, it is incredible to believe what Lynch accomplished back in 1984 as Dune was just his third feature. Back in the 1980s, the concept of multipart films didn’t exist so Lynch had to pack the contents of the entire Dune novel in just one film. That difficult task is something that Villeneuve was able to learn from and he took his time in telling the Dune story in two parts totaling over five hours in length, more than double the running time of Lynch’s version. In addition, Lynch didn’t have full creative control over the film. That aspect was much more common back in the day when studios exerted much more control over the final cut of the film.

The experience of working on Dune and its aftermath ensured that David Lynch followed a completely different path. After Dune, Lynch set out to create his own cinematic world rooted in Earth but still transcending space-time boundaries.

9. Twin Peaks:Fire Walk with me (1992)

The 1992 Twin Peaks film serves as a prequel to the 1990 TV series and gave Lynch a chance to revisit Twin Peaks. Lynch expanded on the dream realm world in this film and incorporated elements that came to define his future works. For example, the green ring and the dreams have the same mystery appeal as the blue box in Mulholland Drive.

10. Wild at Heart (1990)

My least favourite David Lynch film happens to the one that won him the Palme d’Or at Cannes 1990. The acting performances are indeed prizeworthy but not the story and treatment. Of course, over the last three decades, far more awful films have gone on to win the Palme d’Or so at least Lynch got a Palme d’Or, one that he surely deserved for Mulholland Drive (won best director instead).

Best Films of 2023

As 2024 draws to a close and Best of 2024 Film Lists are published, I am finally ready to publish an updated Best of 2023 list. It has taken me almost two years to catch up with many of the worthy 2023 films. This list updates the previous 2023 list.

Best Films of 2023

1. Past Lives (USA/South Korea, Celine Song)

A tender emotionally beautiful film. Like a soothing piece of music.

2. La Chimera (Italy/France/Switzerland/Turkey, Alice Rohrwacher)

A warm shape shifting film that tugs at both the mind and heart.

3. Close Your Eyes (Spain/Argentina, Victor Erice)

Erice returns after a long spell to deliver pure cinema! A film that reminds of cinema’s power to evoke memories. The kind of cinema that feels rare nowadays.

4. Eureka (Argentina co-production, Lisandro Alonso)

Another exciting cinematic work from a master filmmaker. Alonso expands his lens in a manner that recalls the hyperconnected world of Eduardo Williams' The Human Surge.

5. The Taste of Things (France/Belgium, Trần Anh Hùng)

A lovely film that takes us on a food journey from growing ingredients to careful food preparation ending with pleasures of food consumption. The film is also a tender love story forged over food and extends the statement “that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Because in this film, a man also cooks for a woman, thereby making the kitchen an equal space for men-women to neatly perform their food dance.

6. Godzilla Minus One (Japan, Takashi Yamazaki)

Shin Godzilla was about logistics and problem solving while Godzilla Minus One smartly builds on that and depicts how to use engineering to solve a very large Godzilla problem.

7. Laapataa Ladies (India, Kiran Rao)

Kiran Rao and writers Biplab Goswami, Divyanidhi Sharma, Sneha Desai have done an outstanding job by seamlessly stitching socially relevant topics within the fabric of a humorous comedic film.

8. The Delinquents (Argentina/Luxembourg/Brazil/Chile, Rodrigo Moreno)

Takes the bank fraud at core of the 1949 Argentine film Apenas un delincuente and transforms it into a languid stroll through the countryside.

9. How to have Sex (UK/Greece/France/Belgium, Molly Manning Walker)

At first, this appears to be cut from the same cloth as Spring Breakers but the film digs deeper into how men can still circumvent consent in a post #MeToo world.

10. 12th Fail (India, Vidhu Vinod Chopra)

It is hard to believe that Vidhu Vinod Chopra, a major name in Indian Cinema, has made one of the best films of his career at the age of 70 (he is 71 now). 12th Fail is a film stripped of any fat and with a singular focus. The struggles of exams and getting a job in India have been documented in cinema before but Chopra has infused the film with plenty of hope.  Part of the reason for that could be that the film is based on the real life story of Manoj Kumar Sharma and Shraddha Joshi and highlights how that there was always a ray of hope around the corner for the main character despite many pitfalls.

Honourable Mentions (in order of preference):

Kho Gaye Hum Kahan (India, Arjun Varain Singh)

A highly relevant contemporary film that depicts impact of social media on current generation. The film is set in Mumbai but the scenarios and characters can be found in most internet-connected nations around the world.

Evil Does Not Exist (Japan, Ryusuke Hamaguchi)

Keeps thing on a slow burn until knocks you out with a silent emotional punch!

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Vietnam co-production, Thien An Pham)

An earthy interpretation of Apichatpong’s spiritual cinema.

La Cancha (Canada, Mustafa Uzuner)

Mustafa Uzuner lovingly depicts how a community basketball court in Montreal can be a meditation on life and social connections. Pure cinema.

Io Capitano (Italy/Belgium/France, Matteo Garrone)

A film that goes beyond the headlines and depicts the perilous journey of its two characters from Senegal to Italy. Garrone also shows how communities spring up and sustain characters in cities/nations that find themselves at centre of migration.

Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (Romania co-production, Radu Jude)

One of the funniest films of the year that manages to take a dig at lengths corporations go to manufacture/sustain their social image. The constant social media attention of main character means she wouldn’t be out of place with the characters in Kho Gaye Hum Kahan.

Mast Mein Rehne Ka (India, Vijay Maurya)

Samsara (Spain,  Lois Patiño) 

Blackberry (Canada, Matt Johnson)

The Settlers (Chile co-production, Felipe Gálvez Haberle)

About Dry Grasses (Turkey/France/Germany/Sweden, Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

Worthy 2022 films seen in 2024: 

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (India, Lijo Jose Pellissery)

Trenque Lauquen (Argentina/Germany, Laura Citarella)

The Beasts (Spain/France, Rodrigo Sorogoyen)

Showing Up (USA, Kelly Reichardt)

Zwigato (India, Nandita Das)

Uses an example of a food delivery worker to provide a smart commentary on plight of workers in our current tech savvy app driven world.

Hong Sang-soo watch, part III

This is a follow-up to the previous post where I had managed to see 30 / 32 Hong Sang-soo features to date. Since that post, I have managed to see In Our Day which now brings my total to 31 / 32 films. That means the only remaining film is his newest, the 32nd film By the Stream (2024), which will get a proper theatrical release in 2025. This is the closest I have come to having seen all of his features. Of course, I know he will release multiple films next year so the gap will widen again.

1. The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well (1996)
2. The Power of Kangwon Province (1998)
3. Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (2000)
4. On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (2002)
5. Woman Is the Future of Man (2004)
6. Tale of Cinema (2005)
7. Woman on the Beach (2006)
8. Night and Day (2008)
9. Like You Know It All (2009)
10. Hahaha (2010)
11. Oki’s Movie (2010)
12. The Day He Arrives (2011)
13. In Another Country (2012)
14. Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (2013)
15. Our Sunhi (2013)
16. Hill of Freedom (2014)
17. Right Now, Wrong Then (2015)
18. Yourself and Yours (2016)
19. On the Beach at Night Alone (2017)
20. Claire’s Camera (2017)
21. The Day After (2017)
22. Grass (2018)
23. Hotel by the River (2018)
24. The Woman Who Ran (2020)
25. Introduction (2021)
26. In Front of Your Face (2021)
27. The Novelist’s Film (2022)
28. Walk Up (2022)
29. In Water (2023)
30. In Our Day (2023)
31. A Traveler’s Needs (2024)
32. By the Stream (2024)

The Top 10 Hong Sang-soo films list still stays the same

1. Right Now, Wrong Then (2015)
2. The Day He Arrives (2011)
3. Tale of Cinema (2005)
4. Like You Know It All (2009)
5. The Day After (2017)
6. In Front of Your Face (2021)
7. Woman Is the Future of Man (2004)
8. On the Beach at Night Alone (2017)
9. Night and Day (2008)
10. In Another Country (2012)

Top Food Films

This list of Best Food Films is long overdue. In the past, I tried to do a proper Food Cinema series for the Cinematheque but the series never happened. As consolation, I programmed a few contemporary food related films for various film festivals but a proper spotlight was always elusive. In a way, the delay was perhaps meant to be considering that the top 2 films in this list have been released in the last 3 years. Now, the timing is right.

Top 20 Food Films

1. The Taste of Things (2023, France/Belgium, Trần Anh Hùng)

A lovely film that takes us from the journey of growing food, sourcing local ingredients, careful food preparation ending with food consumption. This is that rare film that lets us hear the moaning pleasure of having that delicious dish while also showcasing the glutinous nature of devouring vast amounts of food. The film is also a tender love story forged over food and extends the statement “that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Because in this film, a man also cooks for a woman, thereby making the kitchen an equal space for men-women to neatly perform their food dance.

2. The Great Indian Kitchen (2021, India, Jeo Baby)

The film, true to its title, showcases scrumptious dishes being prepared. The food preparation and techniques are shown in incredible detail but it becomes apparent that the film is more than about food and the kitchen is more than just a space to make food. The difference in roles of the husband and wife are emphasized as are the expectations of a woman in some segments of society. The Great Indian Kitchen is in stark contrast to The Taste of Things in showing the different roles of men-women in a kitchen. The Taste of things shows a more equitable kitchen but Jeo Baby’s indian film transforms a kitchen as an isolated prison for a woman forced to cook.

Even though this film is rooted in South India, aspects about marriage and treatment of women are applicable to many other patriarchal societies around the world. Credit to the director Jeo Baby of how this depiction is shown, by repetition of the same tasks, which definitely produces a visceral reaction.

3. Tampopo (1985, Japan, Jûzô Itami)

The pleasure of food consumption is shown in all its glory highlighted by this scene of how to properly eat a bowl of ramen. The film is hilarious, thoughtful and makes one hungry.

4. The Lunchbox (2013, India/France/Germany/US/Canada, Ritesh Batra)

Another tender love story forged over meals but in this case, for the longest time, the cook and the eater don’t share the same space. In fact, their meals are transported in the tiffins which exchange many hands as their long journey via trains, bicycles and walking.

5. Pig (2021, US/UK, Michael Sarnoski)

Pig covers many aspects of the food business process, right from procuring ingredients to suppliers who distribute those ingredients to restaurants to chefs who use or misuse those ingredients. In addition, the film also highlights the fickle nature of restaurants and trends and smartly shows how memory is tied with our food experiences. The sun is hardly seen during the film and the overcast look enhances the film’s mood and energy, which in one incredible sequence channels the same spirit as that of Fight Club.

6. Eat Drink Man Woman (1994, Taiwan/US, Ang Lee)

The food preparation is shown in loving detail in addition to how food brings a family together.

7. The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014, US/UAE/India, Lasse Hallström)

Food preparation and recipes are at the core of this film but like Ratatouille, The Hundred-Foot Journey challenges the notion of who can cook and be considered a chef.

8. Ratatouille (2007, US, Brad Bird/Jan Pinkava)

Food preparation is in focus but film also illustrates the role critics play in increasing a restaurant and a chef’s fame. There is also a challenge to traditional notion of who can cook and who is worthy to be considered a chef. And all of these are neatly packaged in a glossy animated gift.

9. Big Night (1996, US, Campbell Scott/Stanley Tucci)

Even though restaurants are featured in other films on this list, Big Night focuses more on the nut and bolts of the restaurant business and what it takes to keep the lights on. Also, pasta is highlighted unlike most films on this list.

10. Babette’s Feast (1987, Denmark, Gabriel Axel)

Babette’s Feast is the ultimate food movie and for the longest time was #1 on this list. In spirit, this film is a precursor to The Taste of Things. While The Taste of Things keeps the food circle small, Babette’s Feast focuses on a village and community.

11. Like Water for Chocolate (1992, Mexico, Alfonso Arau)

Like Water for Chocolate emphasizes how love is an invisible yet key ingredient in food dishes. This film hammers that point home when in the absence of love, sadness and tears turn the dish bitter.

12. Mid-August Lunch (2008, Italy, Gianni Di Gregorio)

No matter the age, people love to eat. And some love to cook even more. Easily, one of the most charming and light hearted films about food on the list. As a bonus, this tender film features a different age category than the other films on this list.

13. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011, US, David Gelb)

The only documentary on this list. Pure brilliance.

14. In The Mood for Love (2000, Hong Kong/France, Wong Kar-Wai)

The act of picking food up from stalls is elevated in the most seductive manner via “Yumeji’s Theme” used for the noodle-stand scene between Maggie Cheung and Tony Chiu-Wai Leung’s characters. There is no dialogue in the scene and the score turns a normal occurrence of going to the noodle stand into a seductive waltz. 

15. Ramen Shop (2018, Singapore/Japan/France, Eric Khoo)

In the tradition of Tampopo and Eat Drink Man Woman, Ramen Shop is a mouth-watering film that scrumptiously shows that in different cultures, food is more than just sustenance. The film covers the incredible Singaporean food scene and also depicts a way to combine Japanese and Singaporean food cultures in a unique manner. Ramen Shop also shows that how a food can lead to a love story, which in this case is via the Singaporean dish Bak kut teh (Pork rib soup).

16. Hunger (2023, Thailand, Sitisiri Mongkolsiri)

Hunger highlights the cut-throat food competition that fuels some chefs to create new dishes. The film also gets to the core of what makes a soulful dish and pits street food vs high end cuisine.

17. Ravening (2018, India, Bhaskar Hazarika)

Aamis (Ravening) boldly pushes the boundaries of food by covering the vastly different dishes that exist in North East India, dishes which turn our entire conception of Indian food on its head. The film then goes into even more uncharted territory by including an ingredient that will make people squirm in their seats.

18. East Side Sushi (2014, US, Anthony Lucero)

Fusion of different food cultures is highlighted along with the struggle a chef has in establishing her mark in a culinary world that often looks at a person’s gender or ethnicity rather than letting their dish do all the talking.

19. The Menu (2022, US, Mark Mylod)

The first 20 minutes are a beautiful testament to the perfection some chefs seek in preparing their dishes. Then the film changes course completely and descends into a much more gory territory.

20. Chef (2014, US, Jon Favreau)

Covers food trucks and the how that has played an important part in the North American food culture over the last few decades.

The films of Jean-Pierre Mocky

Notes on three films directed by Jean-Pierre Mocky:

Les Dragueurs / The Chasers (1959)

Litan (1982)

À mort l'arbitre! / Kill the Referee (1984)

I hadn't heard about Jean-Pierre Mocky until I came across Radiance's trilogy.

The title Kill the Referee stood out because but it was the same title of a Belgium documentary released in 2009. The Belgium doc Kill the Referee (co-directed by Yves Hinant, Eric Cardot, Delphine Lehericey) changed its title to The Referees, which is closer to the original title of Les Arbitres. The change felt appropriate given the hostility towards some refs in European competitions. Of course, back in 2009,  I had no idea that the title actually referenced Mocky's film title as I didn't come across Mocky's name when reading reviews about the Belgium documentary. The documentary touched the real life outrage and death threats directed towards referees, a similar idea used as a launching pad for Mocky's film which is based on the book The Death Penalty by Alfred Draper. 

In Mocky's Kill the Referee, a referee (Maurice Bruno played by Eddy Mitchell) gives multiple penalties against the away team causing their supporters to be enraged. Their supporters, led by the spirited Rico (Michel Serrault), blame the ref for the defeat and want to teach the ref a lesson. When they see the ref being interviewed by a local tv station, they arrive at the station and chase the ref and his girlfriend Martine (Carole Laure). Their chase leads them to a mall where Maurice and Martine are hiding. During their chase, Rico accidentally kills Béru, one of their group members. Instead of admitting his guilt, Rico tells everyone that ref killed Béru and now the entire group is out for the ref's blood. The chase for Maurice leads the group to Martine's apartment building, where there are some fights, death defying escapes from the building, and ultimately the group find themselves in a mine with Rico driving their team bus towards Maurice and Martine's vehicle. 

The film does exhibit the satirical style of Jean-Pierre Mocky with some over-the-top scenarios which results in an unexpected ending. In addition, there are some pertinent messages embedded in the film about mobs, the ref's behaviour, elites vs locals all depicted in B-style production values. The low-budget production values don't take away from the film's message and importance. 40 years after its release, the film is still highly relevant as refs find themselves under more fire in today's climate.

Welcome to Litan

Sci-fi, horror, mythology, folk stories are all meshed up in Jean-Pierre Mocky's film set in the village of Litan where strange occurrences take place. Litan starts off with a nightmare yet that pales in comparison to the events the main characters find themselves in. The scenarios need to be seen to believed as elements are taken from a blend of films such as locals' mind taken over by an entity, locals are frozen in a trance like state, acid waters which vaporizes a person's body.

There are plenty of creative ideas in Litan yet not all are coherent with scenes edited in a way that make it look like a real film exists somewhere on an editing table. Of course, given the low-budget nature of the production, the highly edited scenes are likely the final product.

The Chasers

Mocky's first film Les Dragueurs is the most polished of the three and a top-notch film that could easily be an extension of the French New Wave style, with the exception of the final third which depicts a sex-party / orgy set in a manor. The final third and the characters' journey through the Parisian night life is akin to the territory that Kubrick explored in Eyes Wide Shut (1999), a film based on Arthur Schnitzler's 1926 novella Dream Story.

Pushing boundaries

Mocky's Radiance trilogy is called The Agitator and the three films called provocations. A sentiment echoed by Emmanuel Macron who called Mr. Mocky “an eternal provocateur". The other description of his films center around low-budget nature of his productions and prolific nature of his films. He directed over 60 features, releasing a film every year, or twice a year.

Daniel E. Slotnik had this to say in Mocky's obit in 2019:

"Mr. Mocky was a contemporary of the French New Wave directors François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, a longtime friend. Like them, he relied on inexpensive equipment and swift shooting schedules. But his films, unlike theirs, were decidedly more grindhouse than art house. He subverted the perceived sophistication of French cinema and made unapologetically raw films that could alienate critics but draw audiences."

These words calling his films grindhouse may apply to Mocky's later films but Les Dragueurs is an exception to the above as the 1959 debut film is a work of art.