Sometimes, the best way to hype yourself up about cooking and/or eating is to watch a good movie with some gorgeous food photography and/or food preparation. For Thanksgiving this year, let’s queue up the type of movie that makes food look so good you can smell it through the screen.
With one exception, these are not necessarily movies set at Thanksgiving or even in the autumn. Turkey day is not the goal here. If Planes, Trains, and Automobiles or Home for the Holidays are part of your holiday tradition, that’s awesome! But this year, it’s all about the meals. I wanna talk about noodles, pizza, sandwiches, barbecue, butter, wine, emotional support pies, and everything in between. Anybody know any good salad movies? Let me know, and let’s get into it.
Pieces of April (2003)
Let’s start with one that is, actually, a Thanksgiving movie and get that out of the way. The charming indie is about a girl hosting her first Thanksgiving dinner in an earnest attempt to reconnect with her cynical and mostly estranged family. It’s about food preparation as well as the holiday. The way April learns about cooking from her neighbors as she enters very different kinds of kitchens, conversations about food throughout, and even the snacks her family eats on their road trip to her Manhattan apartment reveals so much about the ensemble cast of characters.
On the flip side, there are few things heartwarming about The Menu, the horror comedy about a vengeful chef who designs a killer tasting menu from frequent Succession and Game of Thrones director Mark Mylod. There’s no family here, dysfunctional or otherwise. Your milage may vary on whether or not the concept of eating the rich satisfies you during the holidays. It might! I certainly wouldn’t judge you. No spoilers, but one of the dishes at the end definitely has the capacity to give you warm and fuzzies even after all the horrors. Regardless, you can’t deny that the food looks great. Dark and twisted, but delicious.
Mystic Pizza (1988)
When you want out of the kitchen and wish you could just order a pizza, why not watch this classic romantic comedy? Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts, and Lili Taylor play the three young waitresses at a pizza parlor in Connecticut. They pursue various romantic, academic, and professional passions over the course of the film. The cheese pull on the pizza is perfect, as is an iconic New England lobster dinner scene that features a baby Matt Damon.
Julie & Julia (2009)
Between the Julia Child biopic hidden in this movie and the saga of Amy Adams’ character Julie blogging her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking, love letters to food don’t get much better than this. It’s about how therapeutic cooking can be, and oddly prescient in how it explore the anxieties that can crop up when you decide to monetize your passions and/or make art about someone else’s art. It’s about two women with supportive partners who couldn’t be more different. And it’s a Nora Ephron movie, so you know that despite all conflicts it’s going to be cozy.
Chef (2014)
Sure, a Cubano sandwich doesn’t traditionally scream “Thanksgiving,” but why not?? Food is food is food. Chef does for the food truck craze what Julie and Julia did for the food blog craze. It’s also one of the first movies to dramatize a Twitter meltdown. Only instead of Meryl Streep as Julia Child, we have Robert Downey Jr. as the eccentric ex-husband of the main character’s ex-wife who funds a culinary venture. As the truck travels the country, Carl (Jon Favreau, who also wrote & directed & produced the film) picks up other local recipes. Chef is a celebration of the American melting pot with some excellent, mouth-watering food photography.
Babette’s Feast (1987)
Like Pieces of April, this period drama ultimately follows a woman as she prepares a single meal. Babette is a French refugee living and working in Denmark as a housekeeper. She prepares beautiful but humble meals. One day, she wins the lottery and decides to spend her earnings on a decadent night of food and wine that gets the whole town talking. The film is sweeping, romantic, bittersweet, and so yummy.
The Taste of Things (2023)
As you can see above, this film is for forearm enthusiasts as much as it is for food enthusiasts. Juliette Binoche is probably best known for Chocolat, a sensual film about, well, chocolate. In this 2023 French film, Binoche plays a cook and longtime partner to a gourmet chef played by Benoît Magimel. Every single shot of food in this is so carefully framed, you might completely freak out. If that doesn’t get you, the yearning will.
Waitress (2007)
The obvious pick from 2007 is Ratatouille, but I’m a little bit worried that my millennial is showing. So instead, let’s talk about the late Adrienne Shelley’s indie comedy Waitress. The protagonist Jenna (Keri Russell), a pregnant waitress in an abusive marriage, tries to escape her miserable life with cash and an affair. But her real escape is baking. The pies she creates based on her emotional state are so viseral that practically tell the highs and lows of her story for her. If you’re feeling ambitious, you could also stream the pro-shot of the musical adaptation of Waitress with songs by Sara Bareilles–who did not originate the role of Jenna on Broadway but does appear in the recording.
Uncorked (2020)
This Netflix film, from Insecure showrunner Prentice Penny, is about a guy named Eli (Mamoudou Athie) who’s poised to take over his family’s barbeque business. However, he’d rather study to become a sommelier. It’s like October Sky for the food service industry. Eli may be choosing drink over food, but wine and the study of wine tasting and pairing is such a culinary experience! Life and other complications get in the way, but Eli’s passion for the palette cannot be beat.
Tampopo (1985)
This movie is a little NSFW. I know your homes may be populated by more young eyes than usual at this time of year, so take heed! There are some sexy scenes involving food/foodie scenes involving sex in this movie about a ramen shop’s rise to prominence. This is another film that infuses food into almost every conversation and piece of characterization, whether the food in question is noodles, ice cream, or fresh oysters. It’s also very funny, tasty to look at, and happens to appear in a lot of famous people’s “Letterboxd four favorites” and Criterion Closet videos. Put it on your list ASAP!
(featured image: Fox Searchlight Pictures)
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