OK, they’re not all strictly films, as in movies, but hey - they were all FILMED and anyway I can’t really resist a bit of alliteration.
I’m sure that the minute I press ‘publish’, I’ll think of loads more that I really wanted to include - so this may well become ‘More Marvellous Movies’ or something very soon!
Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories
I was just completely captivated the very second I started watching this series on Netflix.
Each episode is only about 25 minutes so super-easy to watch.
There’s just so much to love about it.
The stories and characters are brilliant, and I love the way the story each time is around a particular dish.
And I love that sort of theatre thing of the actors acknowledging the audience at the end.
Oh and of course it instantly made me really, really, really made me want to go to Tokyo - and go to this diner - yep, in my mind this is all real, not fiction at all.
One episode is all about omurice, a stuffed omelette and which I then spent some time learning to make! If you’d like to make it too, my recipe is HERE.
JULIE AND JULIA
Well this one I can just watch again and again and again (and again).
I love it. Everything about it.
I’m a huge Francophile and am currently reading Julia Child’s memoir, ‘My Life in France’ and it’s making me want to watch the film again right now.
Watch it HERE (as I’m about to do!).
BABETTE’S FEAST
What an incredibly beautiful film, just stunning. I don’t even have words to describe this film - the sisters, the bleakness, the landscape, the feast, the food, everything.
It came out in 1987 (when I was 17) and it wasn’t on general release, just in a few cinemas.
My mum wanted to see it so we all came to London for a weekend from Norfolk and saw it at the beautiful Lumiere cinema on St Martin’s Lane (sadly no longer there) and it was so special.
I’d been wanting to see it again for ages and it didn’t seem to be on DVD and then last year I found it HERE on Amazon Video.
JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI
Just amazing.
Jiro is 86 and still working, still working towards perfection, to improve.
He has three Michelin stars and his restaurant is downstairs in a Tokyo metro station with just ten seats.
It’s about food, fatherhood, perfectionism and minimalism.
I can’t find it on Netflix any more but if you can find it, do watch it!
CHEF’S TABLE
And probably my favourite programme ever … Chef’s Table.
I adored this from the moment I watched the first episode of the first series and I adore it still.
I think I love every episode more each time.
I might just go back to the start and re-watch it all.
This isn’t about food or chefs, it’s about LIFE.
All of life.
And it’s totally wonderful.
