When the movie finally opens today, I drove home after work, cooked a normal quick and delicious dinner – frozen dumplings, ate it and off to the movie theater. As I expected, there are two groups of people who came to this movie on the first weekend, old couples and middle aged women. When I got into the showroom, the “coming attraction” had started. I found a good seat in the middle, passing by a group of 4 women who looked like coming to this well planned movie event.
The movie is completely delightful. While it tells parallel stories of Julia Child's story of becoming a master cook and Julie Powell's one year project of cooking through Julia's cookbook, the movie really is a celebration of French cooking and Julia Child. I've watched the trailer many times over the last two weeks, it seemed everywhere. Not that I can blame the movie of over commercialized, it's really because all I watch these days are cooking and food shows, and mostly read arts and culture sections of all the newspapers. I'm glad that the trailer captures the essence of the movie and doesn't give away too much. It's a real buzzer if the trailer has the best parts of an entire movie.
After the movie, on my way driving home, I heard this film critic on NPR saying the movie is snobbish and superficial, like other ones by Nora Ephron, the gem of the movie was the performance of Meryl Streep. I don't care if the movie is really snobbish or superficial, it's light-hearted and warm and really pleasant. Like You've Got Mail, which I've seen a million times, this film makes me forget what's going on in the real world and takes me to the wonderful place of food, cooking and love. I do, however, agree that the Meryl's performance is the icing on this delicious cake. Also having Stanley Tucci as her sidekick, just like in The Devil Wears Prada, Meryl plays a wonderful and lively Julia Child. Her body language especially captures Julia's almost awkward height, makes the character more real and likable.Her voice is on higher pitch than the real Julia and the personality is unreal cheerful. But as she said in an interview I read earlier, she was playing Julie Powell's version of Julia Child, which is quoted, “perfect”.
My own experience of watching Julia Child is always pleasant. I don't remember the details but I think I first saw her show on Food Network and quickly became a fan of this old lady with a strange accent (especially given she actually grew up in Carlifornia). Food Network in the early 2000 really focused on fine dining and master cooking. Shows like the original Iron Chef, and hosted by master chefs Julia Child, Mario Batali, Sarah Moulton and etc, showcased the elegant style of fine cooking and these chefs' tremendous skill. I've always enjoyed watching the chefs mastering their crafts. It's not much different from listening to a pianist playing a wonderful piece of music. Unfortunately Food Network has changed direction over the years towards more clientele of everyday Americans. The channel is all about easy home cooking and comfort food.The elegance of fine dining/cooking is nowhere to find. I've now switched to game shows that actually showcase skills such as Top Chef and Project Runway.
Sometimes I wonder why I like cooking. I'm not a good cook, although I'm not too bad either. Relatively speaking, I cook quite often. Even sometimes I only heat up frozen food or make quick noodle soup, I try to add a little extra to it. Vegetables, different sauce, or a quick salad, something makes it more like a real meal. When really put attention and time to it, I can make a nice dish as well. And in times of stress, cooking always serves as a way of reaching Zen. It's not so much of what I make, it's the process of occupying both hands and mind actually calms me down and guides me through the stress. By the end, I will forget the stress and have a full stomach.
So when I finished the 2-hour movie, sitting in front of my kitchen table and sipping a sweet Italian mix red wine (sounds really snobbish, I know), all I think of is buying a copy of Julia satisfying cookbook and cook that famous beef bourguignon.
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