Weekend Cooking: Two South American films

I love a foreign film festival. We have a cinema chain here who has a steady stream of them from British to German and French, Scandinavian and so much more. Recently, it has been the Spanish and Latin American film festival, and two of the films that I have seen have had a foodie connection, one more than the other.

Let's start with the second movie we saw which is a Peruvian film called Mistura.

When a society woman's husband leaves her for a younger woman, she is left with the mortgage for the house and no idea how she is going to make ends meet. This is 1960's Peru, and upper class women do not work but she only has four months to come up with a plan. Her reputation is already damaged enough because of the scandal associated with recent events.

Nora's father was the French ambassador and he loved to cook and Nora loved to learn from him. She has a recipe book where she recorded the recipes he shared. After being initially distraught and retreating to her bedroom to smoke and drink, her driver Oscar convinces her to try cooking again, and from there she decides to to open a classical French restaurant in the room that used to be her husband's studio.

Whilst the reviews for her restaurant were good, the people did not come. It was only once a customer asked for a ceviche that things began to turn around. Whilst Nora didn't initially have an appreciation for the food of her adopted country, her team members began to share their own comfort food. Will changing the focus be enough to save her house. 

This is one of those films which is filled with images like a lemon being juiced in slow motion, and sauce being stirred slowly. In other words, this is a food porn movie. I don't know a lot about Peruvian food, but I did leave the cinema wishing that I could try some.

It wasn't only food that was focussed. This was set in Lima and so we got to see what I imagine would be key events in Peruvian history, we got to see the amazing cliffside of Lima, and Nora's 60s fashion was amazing!

If I am going to be a bit critical, there's one aspect of the story which was telegraphed from quite early in the movie and I don't know that it really needed to be in the movie, but it was! But the food and fashion more than made up for it! I would definitely watch it again if I happened across it

Here's the trailer:

The first film my friend and I saw was called Nothing Between Us and explores an affair which happens at a corporate conference between a Mexican man, Guillermo, played by Gael García Bernal and a Uruguyan woman named Mechi played by Natalia Oreiro.

The two work in different regions in South America but are bought together in Baja California in Mexico due to a commerical crisis for the large company they work for. For Mechi it is something of a surprise that she was invited, and it gives her a break from a crumbling marriage and a sullen and rebellious daughter. Guillermo has his own issues at home where he feels distant from his wife and son.

On the first night, they meet by chance on the beach in the middle of the night and soon they begin an illict affaiir which they must keep secret from their colleagues, and of course their respective families. Their connection is strong and immediate and over the course of the few days they are drawn together time and again.

You may be wondering what the food aspect is here. It is a company that produces canned foods and they have been caught up in a case of food poisoning which has left hundreds of people ill or dead. At first the CEO seems to think that just an apology will do but soon the group that is sequestered together must come up with some other strategies to deal with the crisis and rebuild the confidence of the public. It is an interesting glimpse into that kind of world.

Whilst I ddin't love this movie, it was interesting enough, and the scenery looked amazing!

Here's the trailer

Weekly meals

Saturday - Away 
Sunday - Chicken, Chorizo and Orzo
Monday - Pork Chops, mash, broccoli and gravy
Tuesday - French Onion Rigatoni (new)
Wednesday - Pork nachos
Thursday -
Friday -

A note on the future of Weekend Cooking

I love doing Weekend Cooking and have no plans to stop. I often have Weekend Cooking posts planned weeks in advance and don't often run out of content. However, as an event there are really only a couple of us who are linking up each week so going forward I am not going to worry about putting in Mr Linky or the whole banner and blurb thing. 

Please feel free to continue to add your link in the comments if you want to.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page