Uchida Eatery/Shokudo
A22-633 Courtney St.
Nootka Court
Victoria, BC
250-388-7383
In a mad rush to a Springboard Lecture to launch 2013’s Victoria Film Festival, a quick bite was needed. Inside Nootka Court, I lucked out at seeing that Uchida was still open. I remember this place used to be Daidoco, but this operation closed before James and I could return to weigh in at more of the tastes this Japanese diner offered.
Last year, I reviewed one food related film that was playing during the Victoria Film Festival. This year, there were more! I could have gone to them all but what stopped me was what something more intriguing: I had to decide between drama or documentary, and that was a tough one. I chose the latter because of the environmental messages being delivered.
The impact food wastage has on a global scale (and shortage too) is very serious, and I thought the documentary, Taste the Waste, made many important points that are also applicable in North America too. This movie primarily focuses in on the European Union. Just because one item in a packaged unit going to market looks like a mutant, it really should not be disposed of. That would put the rest of the good products in that unit to waste. With moldy products, that makes sense.
One might think that being in a big city you’d expect a group of Occupy Vancouver members to dash into a corporate owned store and loot manufactured goods in the name of the people. Since that’s what a limited number of people thought the recent riots were for, not many are clever enough to repeat such a failure.
But in North Vancouver, an entirely different flash mob made it’s presence known. One can’t help but watch the Middle Eastern styled show unfold.
Russell Peters stars in Breakaway, a hockey comedy with an Indian flair. But maybe he’ll lend his star power to a Thrifty Foods produced Bollywood musical about a male grocery clerk who falls in love with a female customer above his station. Perhaps they’ll call it “Clean Up In Aisle Five.”
I’d pay admission price to see it.
It’s very rare when I get a chance to write about my interest in film on this blog. When there’s a foodie connection, I just knew I had to write about it. That’s assuming I can squeeze into a jam-packed theatre.
I can’t say I was impressed with the venue, the Empire Theatre (formerly known as Capitol 6) that the Victoria Film Festival uses. The individual movie screening rooms felt small. And after seeing another film at the Odeon half a block away, if this movie was shown there, they would’ve accommodated the dozen or so stragglers who wanted to see the film, but were denied due to the film being sold out.
Thankfully, my patience won out and I managed to see this movie, and it certainly had me hungry at the end! The acting is very sublime and the subtitled translation is good. What I particularly enjoyed about this movie is its enduring quality: the look at the human condition of being torn away from civilization was at the heart of this film. When the lifeline is only a phone call away, just how many people really want to pay $8 a minute just to talk with loved ones, or even to the operator at the opposite end of the line.
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