Movie Reviews: Eat, Drink, Food, Metaphor (Food on Film)

By Lynn Hamilton

Like Water for Chocolate

Isabelle Allende's magical Like Water for Chocolate was surely not the first novel to propose food as a surrogate for unfulfilled passion. But the Oscar-winning film of the same title gets a lot of credit for introducing food as a metaphor to the mainstream film industry.

Allende's fairly mediocre book (suitable for the gifted middle school curriculum, perhaps) makes a brilliant film, its simple-minded emotions and symbols brought to life and layered with nuance by Director Alfonso Arau.

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