
Expect to be very hungry (and perhaps amorous) after watching this contemporary classic in the small genre of food
movies that includes
Babette's Feast and
Big Night. Director Alfonso Arau (
A Walk in the Clouds), adapting a novel by his former wife, Laura Esquivel, tells the story of a young woman (Lumi Cavazos) who learns to suppress her passions under the eye of a stern mother, but channels them into her cooking. The result is a steady stream of cuisine so delicious as to be an almost erotic experience for those lucky enough to have a bite. The film's quotient of magic realism feels a little stock, but the story line is good and Arau's affinity for the sensuality of food (and of nature) is sublime. You might want to rush off to a good Mexican restaurant afterward, but that's a good thing.
--Tom KeoghPrice: $9.99
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