Chewing the Scenery: Food and the Glasgow Film Festival

THE FOODIE POP-UPS
The centrepiece of the food-themed bit of this year’s Film Festival programme is the series of Street Food Cinema screenings, with the food coming from the fine folks at Street Food Cartel. Set in the appetising surroundings of the former fish market at the Briggait (Smell the history! Ignore that part of the history! Focus on the fresh history!), there are four showings which display varying degrees of sanity. 

At the ‘Mmmm...’ end of the scale, Goodfellas. Italian mob films may be filled with copious swearing and excessive violence, but they always seem to have great food so they’re OK in our book. Expect razor-sliced garlic and the sound of hundreds of Glaswegians shouting at each other about ‘shine boxes’. Fri 21 Feb, 6pm, £20.

Or go for Withnail and I and see everyone shouting in a more general sense. Quite what food they’ll match with this one we aren’t quite sure – cakes from an old English tea room? Past-their-prime saveloys? Lots and lots of wine? Actually, now we think about it, this is a brilliant idea. Sun 23 Feb, 7pm, £20.

As is the screening of When Harry Met Sally. What other film festival would come up with the chance to pester hard-working street food folk with hilariously particular orders while watching a giant Billy Crystal from the comfort of a former fish market? Good work Glasgow, we’ll have what… have… she’s have… ah forget it, let’s move on. Sat 22 Feb, 7pm, £20.

The other pop-up on the list is a bit more ‘Hmmm...’ than ‘Mmmm...’, as Pixar’s brilliant Ratatouille graces the Briggait. Of course, it’s a love letter to Parisian food and architecture, and the delightful story of one man’s quest to be a great chef. It is also a tale in which a gang of sewer rats over-run a kitchen, kidnap an environmental health officer, and convince a food writer that there’s no need to be so snarky. The first two we can forgive, but come on, Glasgow Film Festival, even the mob never went after the journalists. Sun 23 Feb, 2.30pm, £10.

THE FILM ABOUT WAR AND CITRUS
Telling tough tales about recent conflicts is always tricky, so what better way to take the edge off than with a bit of food? OK, maybe not, but Tangerines does show that there are quirky elements to the darkest of stories.

Georgian director Zaza Urushadze’s film tells the brutal story of the 1992 war in Abkhazia through the eyes of two men who pick citrus fruits for a living and end up taking in wounded soldiers from both the Abkhazian and Georgian sides of the conflict.

Not exactly laugh-a-minute but arriving in Glasgow with plenty of buzz, we eagerly await the American remake in which American and Iraqi soldiers solve the problems of the Middle East by opening a lemonade stand. Thu 27 Feb, 8.45pm and Fri 28 Feb, 3pm, Cineworld.

THE ‘CAKES AND GUNS’ FILM
The Italian Pastry Chef. That’s an innocuous title, and the first half of the notes for this Italian feature also seem a little flat, like the setup for a weekday afternoon documentary. It’s the tragic story of a diabetic cake-maker who can’t eat the delicious treats he crafts. Intriguing, but we need some action.

Then you get to the bit in the synopsis where the chef finds a dead body, and some men with guns find him. All of a sudden, it’s on like Donkey Kong, with car chases and rogue cops all over the shop. 

Can our sugar-intolerant hero transport a mysterious corpse to safety while being hunted by all sorts of good and bad guys? How will his ability to knock together an excellent ganache help him to make his escape? Does hitting someone full in the face with a cream cake carry the same magical qualities in a noir thriller as it does in children’s TV? Only one way to find out, folks. Tue 25 Feb, 8:45pm and Wed 26, 3pm, Glasgow Film Theatre.

THE TALE OF TWO LUNCHES
Normally, being given the wrong lunch is a recipe for despondency and a belligerent attitude for the rest of the day. Or maybe you just take it back and demand that the person behind the counter make what you actually asked for. To each their own.

In Indian romance The Lunchbox, a foodie mix-up leads to what is basically the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan classic You’ve Got Mail but with more engaging leads and tastier grub. A text-based relationship kicks off between Sajaan and Ila after Mumbai’s ‘dabbawala’ lunchtime delivery service accidentally sends Ila’s husband’s food to Sajaan. 

As is traditional in these kinds of films, there are spurned lovers, complications, and all manner of pondering, but any film that spreads the message that getting the incorrect meal isn’t something to go all Raging Bull about is a good thing. Tue 25 Feb, 8.40pm and Wed 26 Feb, 1.15pm, Cineworld.