We might as well begin with the aforementioned Quentin Tarantino, as he tends to shoot food in a manner for more visceral than the deliberate and delightful cartoonishness that his violence exhibits. His use of food in movies has been so noticeable that other writers have picked up on the motif. Elvis Mitchell has spoken about how Tarantino likes to use food to signify power, from the rice in Kill Bill, the beer in Django, the diner food in Pulp Fiction, or screwdrivers in Jackie Brown.
My personal favorite, though, is the strudel scene with Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds. There are many things about this scene that are delicious—the tension, the dramatic irony, the line delivery and general disposition of Hans Landa—but god, that strudel looks amazing. Tarantino shoots it in pretty extreme close up, with shallow focus, and the pastry and cream combine to make a dessert that looks transcendent, even as one of the most despicable villains eats it, offering it to the Melanie Laurent character who is being made sick, perhaps because she is reminded of the milk Landa drinks in the movie’s opening scenes. Either way, I want some. And Landa seems to savor it as much as Daniel Plainview savors his imaginary milkshake in There Will Be Blood.
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