The Great Wave of Cancellations that followed the pandemic-spurred shutdown this spring didn’t just take BottleRock and “Hamilton.” It snuffed out film festivals, too, from Cannes to Tribeca. We’re especially sad about the Napa Valley Film Festival — delayed until 2021 — where cinematic offerings were always paired with gastronomic delights and “wine intermissions.”
So we’re devising a DIY film festival of our own, with movies set in foreign climes and food and drink pairings to match. The venue? Your couch. The eats? Takeout or homemade bites that complement the flick.
“Crazy Rich Asians”
It wasn’t just the romantic sizzle, the behind-the-scenes plotting and the stunning Singapore sights that made us swoon over “Crazy Rich Asians,” the 2018 movie based on Kevin Kwan’s bestselling novel. It was the hawker fare: the satays, noodles and other street food deliciousness depicted in mouthwatering detail. Director Jon Chu knows what great food looks like — his parents own Silicon Valley’s Chef Chu’s, a foodie destination for techies, including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.
The plot: NYU econ professor Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) is delighted to accompany her boyfriend Nick Young (Henry Golding) to Singapore for his best friend’s wedding. Once there, she discovers not only is his family crazy rich, but he’s the most eligible bachelor in the country. Romantic hijinks and hiccups ensue.
The platform: Catch the movie on HBO or rent it through Amazon Prime. A sequel is set to debut in 2021 — if anything about our sheltered-in-place world can be said to be “set.”
The eats: Forget the popcorn and soda. We’re all about the Singapore Sling, a gin-based cocktail made famous by the historic Raffles Hotel, where Rachel and Nick stay in the movie. It’s the perfect sip to accompany Singapore chicken satays with peanut sauce and chef Kenji Alt-Lopez’ flaky scallion pancakes.
“Unorthodox”
Based on Deborah Feldman’s bestselling memoir, “Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots,” this drama-thriller explores the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community of Satmar Jews living in Brooklyn. With unprecedented access and pitch-perfect details — a Yiddish script, stunning costumes — the production is a window into an otherwise closed society and its treatment of women.
The plot: Pregnant Esty Shapiro (Shira Haas of Netflix’s “Shtisel”) escapes her arranged, loveless marriage and the confines of her Hasidic life for Berlin, where she is taken in by a group of young musicians. Once there, she begins to find her voice — literally — until her past catches up with her.
The platform: The four-part miniseries is currently available on Netflix.
The eats: Israeli food is exploding across the Bay Area, from Cupertino to Oakland. In the South Bay and on the Peninsula, it doesn’t get more legit than the huge, creamy hummus bowls at Oren’s Hummus Shop. In the East Bay, get over to Mica Talmor’s Pomella in Oakland for shakshuka, halva babka and more. Both restaurants offer take-out and delivery.
“Pain and Glory”
After nearly two dozen feature films spanning several decades, masterful Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar is at his finest in this 2019 Oscar nom for Best International Feature Film. Taking a nod from his own life, “Pain and Glory” explores an aging filmmaker’s tender, melancholy and honest look at his life and loves.
The plot: Suffering from both physical and mental illnesses, filmmaker Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas) finds himself in a creative crisis while recounting his past — in the flesh and in flashback — beginning with his childhood in a simple village in Valencia (Penélope Cruz plays his mother, Jacinta), to his first adult love in the Madrid of the ’80s. It is only in recovering his past that Salvador is able to break his writer’s block.
The platform: Catch the movie on Hulu or rent it through Amazon Prime.
The eats: We’re all about the trendy Spanish gin y tonic, which can be paired with a variety of tapas, like Joyce Goldstein’s classic albondigas served with aioli, or crispy salt cod fritters. Prefer to order in? Telefèric Barcelona, which has locations in Palo Alto and Walnut Creek and recently launched an online market, offers takeout and delivery. May we suggest a paella kit?
“Parasite”
It wasn’t just the brilliant satire, shocking class divides and deeply cunning characters that made our hearts pump watching “Parasite,” the thriller-drama-comedy that won the 2019 Oscar for best picture. It was also the Korean comfort food, from steaming bowls of ramen noodles and table-top grilled meats to jars of fermented foodie heaven. Filmmaker Bong Joon-ho uses food to make the inequalities between the rich and poor even more palpable for viewers.
The plot: Ki Woo (Woo-sik Choi) and his family, the Kims, try to uproot their life of squalor by trying to con an upper class family, the Parks, into hiring them for all kinds of services, from private tutoring and driving to cooking and housekeeping. But they aren’t the only ones playing a con.
The platform: Watch the movie on Hulu or rent it through Amazon Prime or Google Play.
The eats: Benu chef Corey Lee’s recipe for Easy Vegetarian Bibimbap is a must-try, or you can bring on the meat with takeout from one of the many fantastic Korean barbecue joints in the Bay Area, from Jang Su Jang, the Michelin-recommended spot in Santa Clara and Milpitas, or Spoon Korean Bistro in Berkeley.
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Wes Anderson’s quirky, witty films are pure escapist fare. Whether they revolve around a submarine, a Khaki Scout troop or a (very full service) concierge, they’re all set in richly imagined, dreamy locations that feel real. The 2014 “Grand Budapest Hotel” is set in the Republic of Zubrowka, which is a Polish vodka, not an actual country. (Anderson’s next film, “The French Dispatch,” will take us to the fictional French city of Ennui-sur-Blasé this summer.)
The plot: Concierge Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes) presides over this grand Alpine hotel in the 1930s, seeing to the needs of all its guests, but especially the elderly women. When one of his white-haired paramours dies mysteriously and a priceless painting “disappears,” Gustave and the painting are soon on the run, helped in the escapade by his protege Zero, a lobby boy, and his girlfriend Agatha, who works for the Mendl patisserie.
The platform: Rent it from Amazon Prime or YouTube.
The eats: Pair that Polish vodka or Champagne with patisserie sweets, macarons shipped from Emeryville’s Oui Oui Macaron, perhaps, or curbside pickup from Cocola Bakery in San Jose’s Santana Row. Or go all out and make the multi-colored, Mendl-inspired Courtesan au Chocolat with help from BingingWithBabish.com.
“Honeyland”
The first-ever dual nominee for documentary feature and international feature, 2019’s visually stunning “Honeyland” follows Europe’s last wild beekeeper, a rural Macedonian woman who uses ancient methods to harvest wild honey in a mountain region deep within the Balkans. Shot over three years and with no subtitles, the film is driven by emotion and body language and reminds us of the fragile connection between humans and nature.
The plot: Hatidze Muratova lives in a ramshackle tent with her paralyzed mother in a village with no electricity or running water. Her source of income is the honey she collects from mountain beehives she’s been tending all her life. This quiet existence is threatened when a nomadic family with seven unruly children, a noisy truck and herd of cattle move in and the patriarch senses opportunity on a larger scale.
The platform: Rent it on Apple TV, Amazon Prime or Google Play.
The eats: While the Bay Area has no North Macedonian restaurants, you can sate your craving for bureks, musaka and other Balkan dishes at Santa Clara’s Euro Grill, which is offering takeout by calling 408-244-9745. Live in the East Bay? Get your fix at a fave Turkish or Greek restaurant, like Berkeley’s Turkish Kitchen, or Simply Greek, with locations in Oakland and Pleasanton.
“Downton Abbey”
This 2019 movie takes Crawley fans back to the grand Yorkshire estate, where neither war nor influenza can dampen the eternal optimism of Lord Grantham, Lady Cora and their progeny — although an impending royal visit may frustrate the household staff half to death. The action could have fit into a cozy 45-minute PBS episode, rather than a full-blown movie, but we’ll take our comfort anywhere we can get it these days.
The plot: It’s 1927, and the King and Queen of England are heading to Downton for a brief visit, an event that throws the Downton Abbey household into a frenzy of preparation. Add in a would-be assassin, an unexpected romance, an inheritance scandal and a devious wine cellar plot hatched by Anna, who was always our fave.
The platform: Stream it on HBO and Hulu.
The eats: A nice cup of tea, of course, to accompany Isobel Crawley’s signature smoked salmon tea sandwiches.
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