Noma: My Perfect Storm
In Noma, Chef René Redzepi is compared to great artists who see possibilities others overlook. His Copenhagen restaurant (named “Best in the World” several times) has become a destination for world travelers and an influence on chefs across the globe. Redzepi’s concept of “Nordic food” helped to inspire the growing emphasis on eating local and seasonal. Director Pierre Deschamps interviews Redzepi and other foodies and follows the chef into his kitchen and on foraging expeditions.
The Merchant of Venice
This 1973 British TV production brought old and new together with Laurence Olivier as Shylock, Joan Plowright as Portia and Jeremy Brett as Bassanio. Set in the Victorian Era, this Merchant features a cast entirely natural in their roles and comfortable speaking their parts in a language not entirely their own. The Emmy-nominated movie by director John Sichel recreates a London stage production that engagingly tells a complicated story of love, money and prejudice.
A Married Woman
Infidelity is one of humanity’s oldest stories. With A Married Woman (1964) Jean-Luc Godard worked to find new ways to tell the tale. Filmed in stark black and white, A Married Woman begins as a sequence of short takes whose protagonists discuss the vagaries of love amidst an eroticism potent for revealing so little. Along the way, Godard takes swipes at contemporary society and allows his characters to speak of his favorite subject—film.
Confession of a Child of the Century
Luxuriously adapted from 19th-century French author Alfred de Musset, Confession of a Child of the Century (La confession d’un enfant du siècle) follows Octave (Pete Doherty) after catching his mistress in the arms of his friend. A duel ensues along with a decline into debauchery. Obsessive flashbacks register Octave’s emotional state: He cannot forget his mistress, love another or go on without love. Suffused with anxiety over the possibility that life is meaningless, Confession also wonders whether art always falls short of life.
