Food in “The Departed”

Food in “The Departed”

No spoiler alert here – nothing plot-critical is given away.

Scorsese always does a good job using chow in his flicks, which is reason enough to give his most recent effort some Oscar consideration.

“The Departed” starts in a dinette, where Costello/Nicholson is shaking down the owner; he spots Sullivan/Damon, and he has the dinette owner get the kid a bunch of food (Wonder bread, bologna, milk) – a food offering to gain trust; the theme of trust (usually misplaced) being central to the storyline.

When Sullivan goes out to eat with the Pretty Shrink, he expresses disappointment that he couldn’t get Duck L’Orange, “’cause, you know, it’s a French place and all.” Scorsese uses a cliché-type dish to reflect the basically unsophisticated tastes of a social climber emulating what he believes to be the preferred tastes of the uppa classes. After their first night together, Pretty Shrink nibbles a banana while discussing Sullivan apparent problems in bed…and later offers him (somewhat luridly, I thought) a French donut.

There are too many restaurants and meals at home in the movie to mention; everyone is eating all the time. During Costello's first discussion with Costigan/DiCaprio, he munches bread while removing a dead hand from a bag; “Bryan” is interrupted during lunch to be murdered; when Costigan is freaking out, Wahlberg/Dignam says “Calm down; I’ll buy you an ice cream”; and whenever the hooligans call one another and want to keep the conversation coded, it’s always something like “Hi mom/dad, looks like I won’t be home for dinner,” etc.

Two of Costello’s henchmen are named after the yin/yang of condiments: French and (dela) Hunt.

The movie ends with a bag of bagels framed by the door of a hotel room splattered with a brain that’s “mushroomed” (a food-related term used earlier in the film to explain the way the brain reacts to a bullet passing through it).

Overall, a movie that really helps work up an appetite.

Hammond

I'm watching it now on DVD.

Another Oscar contender in which food plays a significant part is Volver, for which Penelope Cruz (just think, she could have been Cruz-Cruise) is nominated for Best Actress. A stand dishing up food for a film crew figures prominently as a symbol of feminine empowerment and self-discovery. It doesn't hurt, in pursuit of that goal, that her dead husband is in the deep freeze (that's not a spoiler beyond the first ten minutes, by the way).

On the other hand, among the many ways in which Babel compounds a tale of human misery beyond my capacity not to giggle is by taking us to many places around the world... and not showing us any food to speak of. Morocco, Japan, a wedding in Mexico... scarcely a bite to be had, since food would lead to happiness across cultures, and that's not what the movie is about.

On the other other hand, what gets eaten in Letters From Iwo Jima and The Last King of Scotland is best not thought about.

Mike G wrote:On the other hand, among the many ways in which Babel compounds a tale of human misery beyond my capacity not to giggle is by taking us to many places around the world... and not showing us any food to speak of. Morocco, Japan, a wedding in Mexico... scarcely a bite to be had, since food would lead to happiness across cultures, and that's not what the movie is about.

Babel. Holy jeez, what an ordeal. My spirits buoyed when the couscous came out (White Woman's refusal eat it, of course, being a reflection of her cultural uptightness, That Which Separates Us, blah, blah) and then again momentarily during the wedding when some decent beans and enchiladas made an appearance, but otherwise it was a painful experience. No way Oscar goes to that one. Not enough food.

Unfortunately, I suspect it will win, on the basis that Academy voters choose the movie they can most relate to. Last year, it was a movie about driving in LA. This year, a movie about adventure travel and nanny problems. I'm working on a script about how getting a bad table at Morton's is a symbol of the alienation of modern man.

Off topic, but I braved the weather to drive (had to be on big screen) (which, BTW was only $2 at LaGrange)...anyways, my point is, well, no Goodfellas.

Now there's a food movie! Every time I slice garlic, I think of Paulie doing it in stir with a razor blade.

You got it right about Volver being a great food movie. I'm going to a party tonight where everyone brings a dish about a movie (it's really loosely translated, believe me). But I settled on bringing the "wafers" made by Penelope Cruz/Raimunda's "dead" mother, which I believe, are pestinos.

Goodfellas is a great food movie. But I can't see gazpacho without thinking of Almodovar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

A stale discussion, I know, but I just endured Babel on DVD. Everything that's bad about Hollywood wrapped up in one crappy package. Scary Movie was less of a spoof. I have a concussion from being beaten about the head and neck with unsubtle metaphors and facile ironies. I was hoping a helicopter would pick up everyone and crash into the desert during the credits, but no dice. Really makes you not think.

In Babel, there are a few food scenes, but all are foreboding or conflicted - there's the stop at the local Moroccan town, where Blanchett and Pitt have a tense coded discussion about the miscarriage (?), the scene at JPop where food is pretense for exhibitionism, and the wedding in Mexico which, obviously, will lead to more conflict.

After I finished watching Babel, I needed to drink a lot of alcohol. What an empty movie...it was the cinematic equivalent of spending time with a friend whose wants to tell you all about her problems and doesn't bother asking how you are.

Queijo wrote:After I finished watching Babel, I needed to drink a lot of alcohol. What an empty movie...it was the cinematic equivalent of spending time with a friend whose wants to tell you all about her problems and doesn't bother asking how you are.

I do feel, however, that the title of this film is quite...apposite.

indeed yes!