Guest Post By Grazia Caroselli
The ultimate meal that foodies the world over have been waiting years for is finally here! Not to a restaurant near you, but to a neighborhood movie theater near you.
CITY OF GOLD is a tasty documentary on Jonathon Gold, the first food critic ever to win a Pulitzer Prize. It satisfies cravings on all five senses. Laura Gabbert’s feature-length film expertly succeeds in sharing Gold’s favorite hard-to-find, tiny mom-and-pop restaurants in L.A.’s deepest ethnic neighborhoods. She mixes cinematic tools like a chef mixes fine ingredients to create a perfect dish. Close-ups of succulent food combinations sizzle and take us into the heat. Sounds of the street pop and mingle under lively sequences of the city in action underscored by a diverse original score by Bobby Johnson. The camera rides right alongside Jonathon in his green pick-up truck as he traverses scrappy roads to get us to his favorite far-flung discoveries. Slo-mo aerials glide over snarled L.A. freeway traffic lanes at twilight, turning rear lights into mesmerizing red rivers below. We get a peek into the authentic Los Angeles that has taken him years to lovingly, painstakingly uncover with his passionate palate.
The wine industry provides a great backdrop for movies. Films centering on the wine industry range from the comedy/dramas, such as the humorous Sideways and the based-on-a-true-story Bottleshock, to documentaries,...