Now on VOD: FINDING GASTON
Patricia Perez’s exploration of a country through its cuisine debuted at San Sebastian last year. Other fest screenings have included Napa Valley, Miami, and Cine+Mas SF Latino.
Perez offers a laudatory profile of Gaston Acurio, a French-trained chef who re-embraced his Peruvian background, becoming a rockstar restaurateur whose Astrid y Gaston establishments have sprung up around the world. As repeated ad nauseum here, he’s credited not only with revitalizing ad universalizing Peruvian cuisine, but with bolstering Peruvian pride in general. Strangely omitting Acurio’s wife altogether, Perez instead offers a parade of admirers, from Noma’s Rene Redzepi and Osteria Francescana’s Massimo Bottura to ordinary Peruvians, to praise the likeable chef. More interesting is Acurio’s championing of regional sourced ingredients, meeting with local farmers and fishermen, and celebrating sustainability. Still, for all of its shortcomings, Perez’s film does present a healthy dose of food porn which will prove very appealing to foodie audiences.
what (not) to doc 