My Other Love: Food and Cooking and Julie & Julia

I love movies, but I don’t go out to see them very often. Their expensive, and well, the drinks and popcorn are stupid expensive. A small bottle of water is $4.25. I mean really. That’s obscene. Besides, I belong to Netflix and pay Time Warner a small fortune for cable with premium channels. And, it seems as though films–even popular ones–are getting to inDemand, Netflix, and other services with increasing speed. You can even watch some on TV the day they open in theaters. Surveillance is one such film, and I recommend it.

But about once a year or so, there is a movie that I can’t wait until it makes its rounds to cable or Netflix. The last one was The Dark Knight; I saw it the day it opened. This year, that movie was Julie & Julia. I’ve mentioned before how much I was looking forward to seeing it. I’ve just returned from the matinee.

So many times we are disappointed by things we highly anticipate. Each holiday season we’re told not to get our expectations too high, or we’ll be sure to be disappointed. As today, opening day for Julie & Julia, neared, I tried to temper my eagerness to see the film. What if after all the hype it wasn’t very good? I’d told so many people how anxious I was to see it, how could I tell them it was a less than enjoyable film?

I needn’t have worried. I loved the film. There were several people in the theater for the first showing. Most were older women, women who were probably very familiar with Julia Child’s cooking shows and books. The woman sitting directly behind me was probably in her 70s. Before the film, she and her companion kept talking about all the films Amy Adams had been in. They chatted about many other young actors and actresses and their latest work. Her knowledge of contemporary stars put my film knowledge to shame. But, when it comes to classic films, I’d go up against her any time!

People are probably correct to assume that this film is mostly for women. Though the audience for this showing was overwhelmingly female, there were males in attendance; you could hear them guffaw at the funny parts, and there were several.

Meryl Streep was the perfect Julia Child. There were a couple of times when I had to do a double take, because I thought they were showing some clips from Julia’s show. I loved Stanley Tucci as Paul Child, but then I love Stanley Tucci. Amy Adams was so fun to watch. I loved how she threw herself into the project. And how she recognized that she sometimes gave it too much importance.

I read a review the other day that said the Julie Powell character was self-centered, whiny, and had a “poor me” attitude. Yes, at times she was self-centered. And yes, at times she was whiny and had a dose of self-pity. But, I could say that about many people I know online and in real life. I think most of us go through that at one time or another. I know I sure have. But there’s a big difference between Julie Powell and some of the people I know: Julie Powell looks for a way to get out of that self-pity rut. Sadly, too many people seem to relish in “poor me.”

Yesterday I saw an interview with Nora Ephron, the film’s director. One of the interviewers said not to get popcorn and snacks, because you’ll want to go home and cook real food after the film. My first stop after the film ended (besides the bathroom)? Yep, the grocery store. I’m not big on French food, but I love fresh veggies. So I got fresh spinach, beets, green beans, and asparagus. I also got a nice piece of bluefish. Perhaps I’ll play Chopped and see how I can combine at least some of those ingredients for dinner.

And yes, the film renewed my wish to someday go to chef school.

Oh, and there is knitting content. In one of the scenes, the Childs’s maid is sitting outside knitting. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve spent an unexplainable amount of time online trying to find out if Julia Child knit. Alas, I found nothing. If you know, please let me know.