All in this Tea Tagged Articles at Cinematical

When epicurean delights hit the big screen, magic fills the air. The color is often magnified, and there's always a shining gleam in the eye. But you don't need faerie dust and magical spells to make this happen -- it's all within the food -- the hard, yet giving crunch of a piece of chocolate, the melting creaminess of aged cheese, the glistening slice of a fresh roast turkey, and even the refreshing bite of wine, or the calming warmth of tea to cap it off.

Although foodie movies are without their two greatest allies -- the sense of smell and taste -- some still manage to portray the enchanting spirit of fine feasts. Many films have food in them, but not as many delve into the passion of it -- the appreciation of flavor and texture, as well as the art. Stranger than Fiction has some tasty treats, but they're a side benefit of the film. Ying Ning's Perpetual Motion taps into it a little more -- detailing the creation of a feast, as well as the sensuality inherent in appreciative eating. But then there are others where it is all about the cuisine. It may seem picky, but in a world where we want the best of everything, is it really that snobbish to love a delectable piece of food?

The nibbles might bring people together, or drive them on the path of their lives, but either way, the films would be lost without it. In the wake of the holiday that makes gourmet gluttony a national celebration, here are seven films for foodies. They only tap into a small portion of both the world of cinema and culinary delights, but they hit many aspects of it, from the real drama of tea to the magic of chocolate. Nibble on these, and be sure to share your own.

Thanks to the rise of digital video and the increase in box office, documentaries have become far more plentiful in recent years. In some ways that's a good thing; it means more worldly, educated moviegoers walking around. But it's also a bad thing for anyone who has to see more than a half dozen over a year's time. You start to notice the exact same techniques employed: talking heads, archival clips, filmed photographs, perhaps a narrator, and perhaps -- if we're lucky -- some actual new motion picture footage exposed just for the project.

Public television (not to mention Humphrey Jennings and his World War II-era industrials) years ago defined the format and rhythms for documentaries, and most filmmakers slavishly follow them, even if it flies in the face of their subject matter. I've seen documentaries on groundbreaking, and even indefinable artists such as John Cage and Syd Barrett filmed in exactly this same format. You'd think that the filmmakers would get inspired by their subjects and break out of the routine. Even more frustrating was the recent doc An Unreasonable Man, which told the story of Ralph Nader, and used Ralph Nader as one of a series of talking heads -- in his own movie. If the filmmakers had access to Nader, why not actually utilize him?