BEFORE: OK, I'm not exactly sure how many films I'll watch in August, but I've got 41 films to get me to October, so maybe I'll watch 20 of them in August and 21 in September? I may have to start the horror films a little early this year, because we're planning for a week's vacation in October, and I may lose a couple days to New York Comic-Con, plus I hope the theater will be open again before then, so yeah, it could be a busy month. If I move four October films into September, that cuts down October's movies to 19, plus 8 days off makes 27, plus 3 days for NYCC makes 30, and October has 31 days, so yeah, I think I can swing it. It's all kind of coming together, my plan to wrap up Movie Year 14 - who knows, I may have to revise it, but at least there is a plan, one that prevents me from adding any more documentaries to the Summer Rock & Doc Block.
Anyway, here are the links that should get me to the end of August - José Andrés, Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, Oprah Winfrey, Dizzy Gillespie, Stevie Wonder, Al Sharpton, Stephen Colbert, Deon Cole, DeWanda Wise, Chris Pratt, Taika Waititi, Toby Jones, Penelope Wilton, Denzel Washington, Isabel Arraiza and Corey Stoll. Yep, that's only 17 people to link 21 films, I'm that good. David Letterman carries over from "The Super Bob Einstein Movie".
THE PLOT: A chronicle of how Chef José Andrés and his nonprofit rebuild nations in the wake of disaster, providing healthy food to those affected.
AFTER: Today's film comes with a personal story, I worked at the gala NYC premiere for this film, back in early May. Because it was produced by National Geographic, it was a big deal, extra security was hired for the theater where I work, there was a big outdoor set-up for the celebrities to arrive and check in, tents, a yellow carpet, and there was extra personnel to check people in, run things and do a lot of the things the usual theater staff does - I'd had a bad cold the week before, so I was fine with being relegated to outdoor tasks, like monitoring the ADA ramps and keeping the sidewalk traffic moving safely. It's not challenging work, but on the days with big premieres these things still need to be done, and it's kind of all hands on deck, no complaining allowed. I like the outdoor work because then I can watch the celebrities arrive, and since my wife and I watch so much Food Network, I recognized so many people - Ted Allen, Gail Simmons, Marcus Samuelson, Rachael Ray - from a fair distance away, but still, I was a bit star-struck. Director Ron Howard and chef José Andrés spoke after the film, with the conversation moderated by Padma Lakshmi from "Top Chef" (again, I watched a bit from afar, like the back of the theater).
I worked late, supervising the tent breakdown, maybe got home at midnight or 1 am, and my wife was out the same night, at a co-worker's funeral. But the next day, she texted me that after interacting with everyone at the funeral she took a COVID test, and it came up positive - so I ran to the nearest walk-in clinic and got a test myself, and I was positive, too. Since I had felt sick the week before maybe I gave it to her, or maybe she caught it at the funeral and gave it to me, we don't really know. I called in sick and didn't go to work for two weeks, until I tested negative, but man, was I glad I worked outside that day. I didn't want to be the guy who gave COVID to half of the stars of Food Network, or even Ron Howard. I had to report my status to the school that runs the theater, and they wanted to know which of my co-workers I'd interacted with the night before, and thankfully all those interactions were outside, talking with other masked people.
I greatly admire the work that's been done by World Central Kitchen - Chef Andrés felt so strongly about fighting hunger caused by disasters that he went ahead and DID it, he didn't let not knowing exactly how to do it at first stop him. Then he assembled a team of like-minded individuals, people willing to dedicate themselves to doing whatever it takes to feed people due to a mixture of kindness, dedication and not having something else to do with their time, or finding themselves at a personal crossroads, and figuring that this was at the very least a positive way to take action. Anybody who's been out of work for any length of time might recognize that feeling - taking a job because, well, it's something to do, and maybe I can make a positive change in one little corner of the world.
The film follows Chef Andres through several disasters, like when Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017, and President Useless thought he could fix things somehow by throwing rolls of paper towels into a crowd (really?) while Chef Andrés was figuring out a way to make sandwiches while waiting for the paella to be done. Which person was ultimately more helpful? From there, Andrés moved on to a volcanic eruption in Guatemala, and then a couple years later he was delivering meals to the Navajo nation at the start of the pandemic, then figuring out how to get restaurant kitchens in major U.S. population centers opened again to help make meals for city-dwellers. I'm awestruck, I'm envious and ashamed - envious of people who have such a clear mission and direction in their lives, and ashamed that I haven't done more for charity over the years.
I tried doing volunteer work for City Harvest, but they just sent me around the Union Square Farmer's Market in Manhattan with a bag to see if I could collect unsold produce at the end of a day - I wasn't good at it, I hated feeling like a beggar and so I didn't keep doing it, I figured I could just mail in a contribution to the charity and probably accomplish more in the long run. Meanwhile my father, who worked a trucking job five days a week when I was young chose to spend his weekends hauling loads of furniture for Catholic charities to restock their donation centers. I helped him with that a few times when I was a teen, but my heart wasn't really in that either. Again, mea culpa, I feel like I could have, should have done more. I used to donate blood regularly but then I got busy, so I haven't done that in years either.
Hey, I kept people safe outside the screening of "We Feed People", that's something, isn't it? They couldn't have a gala premiere and spread their message if they were worried about people tripping on the ramps outside, or if fans were bothering the celebrity chefs who had come to attend the event. No need to thank me, I got paid for my services and then of course took two weeks off so I wouldn't give anybody COVID. Really, I'm a giver, but nobody wanted me to give them COVID, so Food Network stars, you're welcome. If you can get over the feeling of inadequacy that this film may cause, it's important stuff - they should make more documentaries about people doing charity work, because it is uplifting.
Also starring José Andrés, Carlota Andrés, Inés Andrés, Patricia Fernandez de la Cruz, Sam Bloch, Robert Egger, Nate Mook, Kyle Pounders, Trevor Riggen, Carole Sugarman, Maisie Wilhelm, Richard Wolffe,
with archive footage of Ferran Adria, Joe Biden (last seen in "Becoming"), Bill Clinton (last seen in "George Carlin's American Dream"), Craig Ferguson (last seen in "The Ugly Truth"), Bobby Flay, Martha Stewart (last seen in "Let's Go to Prison"), Donald Trump (last seen in "Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me"), Melania Trump (ditto)
RATING: 7 out of 10 distribution centers on the Ukraine-Poland border
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