The Bon Vivant of Brooklyn

There Will Be OSCARS.  Oh yes, there will be Oscars.

Paul Thomas Anderson may not be the most prolific auteur in Hollywood, but he is without a doubt the most consistently brilliant.  It's been five years since Punch Drunk Love, and it's been eight years since Magnolia, but it has surely been worth the wait, because this film is his Citizen Kane.  It is an epic tragedy of ambition that pulls whole cloth from Shakespeare's MacBeth and any number of depressing Greek sagas, but weaves the tale with an originality that is rarely found these days.  He has honestly made Ang Lee and Brokeback Mountain look pathetic in comparison (okay, well, that's a romantic tragedy, but you get my drift).

Daniel Day-Lewis delivers one of the most compelling performances I have seen in a very, very, very long time.  If he does not win Best Actor this year, it will be absolutely criminal.  And his genius is all in the details:  the nuance of his facial expressions, the gesture of a limp that stays with the character throughout his life, and the perfect inflection of his voice reflecting exactly what his character is thinking at that exact moment.

Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine, L.I.E.) has an inspired performance himself as the adversarial town preacher, but somehow it feels like the casting choice was slighty off.  He cannot compete at all with the monumental Day-Lewis, and thus his frenetic and fanatic character comes off a bit more childish than it should, despite his valiant attempts at religious fervor.  Dano is simply a young flower wilting in the shadow of the mature oak tree that is Daniel Day-Lewis, who is at his peak powers playing the wildcat oil man who runs along the razor's edge of madness.

And Anderson is also scaling and topping his own creative heights.  His director's vision is uncanny, and the images he captures in the film border on supernaturally beautiful.  I'm thinking in particular of the way he exhibits the harsh desert landscapes; the portrayal of the rough mechanisms of turn-of-the-century industry - churning derricks, wooden rigging, rusting metal, men as cogs in the unstoppable machine of progress; and even a peaceful moment of blue sky and fluffy clouds reflected in the shiny yet abyssal blackness of a pool of crude oil.  The tension in the film is unrelenting without being dissatisfying, and the original score by Jonny Greenwood (lead guitarist of Radiohead) masterfully plays out this coil of suspense, winding and unwinding it throughout, complementing the pure insanity that drips out of Daniel Day-Lewis at all the right moments.

Kudos to Paramount Vantage and Miramax for blowing this incredible breath of fresh air back into cinema.  Paramount Vantage is having a banner year with the release of No Country For Old Men, Margot at the Wedding, and Into The Wild - but this masterpiece is the tastiest icing on that cake that I can imagine.  Well done, and may you win the awards you richly deserve!

(Gawker-style note:  I had a brief celebrity sighting of Peter Sarsgaard and Maggie Gyllenhaal arm in arm at the concession stand, and thought "OMG how cool" in my inimitable not-yet-used-to-seeing-celebrities-in-real-life style.)

When I first came across The Golden Compass as a novel, several years ago, I was pretty fascinated by the concepts presented in it; every reviewer compared it to Tolkein as similar in scope.  And to some degree, I think this is true; the alternate world in Phillip Pullman's trilogy is grand and diverse, with a sweeping, rich tapestry of history.

If only the first cinematic installment of that trilogy had achieved that same sense of scale!  I won't say that the film was a bad adaptation of the story - it was fantastically true to the spirit of the book.  I also won't say that the effects or the cinematography were poorly executed; the animal Daemons are probably the pinnacle of CG, and the design of vehicles and buildings and other pieces of sets and production is truly fantastic in all senses of the word.  I can't even say that the performances in the film were subpar - every word uttered by Nicole Kidman was tinged with venom and madness, and Derek Jacobi played the self-righteous leader of the Magisterium with every ounce of skill he had.

My disappointment with The Golden Compass is that it has a running time of one hour, fifty-three minutes.  In an era of long-ass movies, on the heels of the twelve hour extended uber-fantasy Lord of the Rings, director Chris Weitz took the bold step of shoehorning this story into a two hour slot.  And it's my belief that squeezing 200 minutes of fantasy movie into a 150 minute film has detracted from the experience.  I wanted more of the actor's performances than I got.  I wanted to be watching a movie that didn't feel as though it were stuck on fast forward.  It barely made sense in places; how did the relationship between those two characters become so deep and strong so quickly?  If you blink in some places, you'll miss what's happening, if you don't listen very carefully, you'll miss the important setup that the characters are talking about.  Maybe it was just an odd side effect, that somehow the sense of time passing in the film wasn't conveyed properly.

I really wanted to love this movie, but I only liked it.  Damning praise, I know, but my standards are pretty high.  I suspect that it will do well at the box office no matter what, as it's a "kids' movie" and parents will take their kids to a movie during the holiday season (and there's no Harry Potter flick to compete with it).  And there will surely be sequels no matter what.  Really what I'm suspecting is that no one of these movies will be able to stand on its own - but I bet all three, probably even watched all at once, will make one fantastic story.

So, should you go see it?  Well, it is a pretty dry season for movies right now.  But if you're like me, you'll find that The Golden Compass goes down like Chinese food... you'll be hungry for something else right after you finish.

As we approach Winter in the city, my thoughts turn to some of the trends I've noticed in food and dining - restaurant openings and closures, what's "hot" and "not" and so forth.  So I've decided to start a new quarterly feature highlighting the current gustatory whims of New York, and I'm blatantly stealing a page from WIRED magazine and inventing my own categories:  Gold, Old, and Mold.

GOLD  (indicating the hottest, freshest trends)

Australian - The quest for novel foodstuffs has lead many New Yorkers to the outback; good grief no, I'm not talking about that horrific chain steakhouse - I'm talking Australian national cuisine.  Light-hearted and vivacious Aussie restauranteurs have been opening up new places all over the city:  Kingswood and Tuck Shop in Manhattan, and Wombat in Williamsburg, to name several.  While it remains to be seen whether this trend sustains or is simply the fashion of the moment, there's no doubt that folks are currently intrigued by what comes from down under.

Barbecue - Undeniably the hottest meal ticket in town; literally, if you end up going to Hill Country.  Blue Smoke still rules the roost, but other contenders keep popping up in and around the Meatpacking District, and also notably Fette Sau in Williamsburg.  Also much muttered about:  Mason Dixon in the LES (note mechanical bull in picture).  While there's still no comparison to the real Cue you get much further South, a lot of people are trying very hard to bring that "down home flava" to the big city.  There's no doubt the glistening pulled pork, rubbed spicy beef, gooey sauces, and heaping mounds of side dishes are bringing in the customers!

OLD  (indicating trends on the downturn)

Molecular Gastronomy - I'm actually not sure if this ever caught on in the first place, but it's definitely not something anyone's talking about in restaurants these days.  Maybe it's the high cost of preparation in both time and materials, or maybe it's because people care more these days about actually eating their food rather than staring at it and thinking about how cool their food is.  Presentation and preparation are very important, but nobody wants to see those taken to the extreme.

Sushi - While it hasn't quite reached Mold status yet, sushi is about as commoditized as it gets; it's practically a bodega item at this point, though there are still a lot of folks skeeved out by the idea of raw fish.  It seems like more places are opening with pan-Asian themes, centering on exciting things like noodles and dumplings and pork products of various sorts.  Maybe people are getting a bit tired out by all the rice and nori?

MOLD  (why are we even talking about this?)

Burgers - Remember the $100 burger?  Yeah, me neither.  Who cares about that overly massaged Kobe cow these days?  Everyone's got a burger on the menu now, especially for brunch.  "Sliders" have moved away from the traditional miniature burger to all kinds of other tiny sandwiches.  And if there were a death knell for the burger, the closure of Burgers and Cupcakes on West 23rd would be it.

Italian - I don't think anyone gets excited by the opening of a new Italian restaurant any more.  Which on one hand is a shame, as there's so much to be said for this cuisine, but no one seems to really be doing anything interesting with it these days.  Some restauranteurs will claim regional differences in their menus, but it's rare to find an Italian place with menu items and recipes that venture into uncharted culinary territory.  There definitely needs to be a new Renaissance here - maybe some new kind of fusion with barbecue??

If I had to pick my favorite type of American cuisine, it would have to be Southern style food.  I may be a yankee from the North, but I was raised on Italian food, pasta and meat in crazy portions - not the bland and seafood-centric fare of New England - so I don't think of myself as a New Englander, food-wise.  And while I enjoy Tex-Mex as much as the next guy... I've always had a soft spot for deep fried everything, flaky fruity pies and biscuits, and that mysterious substance known as grits.  I've even been sighted inside Waffle Houses when I'm below the Mason/Dixon.  You just can't beat Southern cuisine's comfort food factor.

And now there's good news for people who share my Southern inclination - a tiny little mecca next to the Wiliamsburg bridge known as Pies n Thighs.  The picture you see here is basically the entire restaurant; it's just a counter with three people crammed in behind it, and it serves up some of the most delicious food I've had since I moved to New York.  And not only is it tasty, it's probably one of the best deals around - I recently had brunch there with three other friends, and we ate a massive amount of food for right around $40 plus tip.

The brunch options are just absolutely incredible.  The huevos rancheros (pictured) are practically pornographic, served with fresh salsa and perfectly cooked beans.  Now it's unfortunate (though understandable given the size of the kitchen), but Pies n Thighs does NOT serve chicken and waffles.  This would be the most perfect of brunch spots if that were the case, but they just don't have a good way to make waffles there.  So they are forgiven for this.  Especially because their fried chicken is completely perfect in all ways.

I may not have done a comprehensive survey of all fried chicken outlets in all five boroughs, but I feel very confident when I say that Pies n Thighs offers the Real Deal ^tm.  And when you order fried chicken, you get essentially half of a chicken, a biscuit as big as your fist (and I've got big fists, check out that pic with the biscuit in it) and two sides - this "fried chicken box" is a mere and unbelievable $8.  And this is the real deal; buttermilk fried chicken covered in crunchy flakes surrounding succulent white and dark meat.  The macaroni and cheese is gooey and filling, made with whole cream, and it's served with splashes of tabasco sauce - and I love this, because it is not optional.  I didn't ask for hot sauce (I would have, of course) but it was put on the mac and cheese because that's how it's supposed to be served.  I'm here to tell you, I am one hundred percent behind this kind of cooking.

Now if good dinner and brunch was all these guys had to offer, it would be enough.  But, as their name implies, they are more than just Thighs... they are also Pies.  Oh, the luscious, luscious pies.  The pie offerings seem to be seasonal, and change regularly - I've seen Key Lime, Pecan, Apple, and Strawberry Rhubarb.  But, my friends, they aren't simply bakers of fine pie - they're also doughnut makers of the highest order.  In fact, their doughnuts won "best of New York" from New York Magazine this year.  You may have noticed donut holes in one of the previous pictures; you should know that those very donut holes are available for FREE at the counter while you await your order.  And you will eat them, because it's likely that your order will take a while as PnT offers delivery, and they're cooking nigh constantly.  They also have a tendency to run out of food at inopportune times, but they are happily attached to a very large and fun looking bar where you can enjoy a few beverages while the meal is being prepared.  And speaking of beverages - do not leave this establishment before trying either the lemonade or sweet tea!  They are drinks not to be missed, prepared in true Southern style!  And I did get confirmation from the bartender that she would happily spike my lemonade or tea if I brought it over from the kitchen side.

What are you waiting for?  Go get you some vittles!

[Where: 351 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211]

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What does Zen Buddhism have to do with food?  A lot more than you might think.

This documentary from writer/director Doris Dorrie regales us with the personality and philosophy of zen master chef (also called a tenzo) Edward Espe Brown of the Tassajara center in San Francisco.  I had previously heard of the Tassajara bread book and the Tassajara cookbook, but had not realized that these came from a zen meditation center!  When I first saw the trailer for this film at the IFC Center, I was thrilled - when I got to see a screener of the film some time ago, I was utterly captivated.

I've always believed that there should be a religion based solely on food.  I think that Edward Espe Brown has gotten as close to that goal as anyone else ever has.  He is a fascinating character; a calm and present zen master who utterly lacks patience, and becomes overwhelmed by emotion!  I almost found myself comparing him to Star Trek's Mr. Spock, who would be completely rational one minute, then be getting jiggy with his Pon Far the next minute.  You can easily see that Brown is filled with passion for food - the film goes from cooking class to lecture to dinner table and back again, and every scene is a tale or a tantrum from Mr. Brown.

In between each narrative section of the film, there is a gorgeous shot of a foodstuff that represents the subject matter of that section.  It's a great segue technique... I almost found myself drooling a couple times while watching the food and the preparation.  There's really not much more to say - the film is essentially just a character study of the chef, with only fleeting appearances by students and other members of the zen cooking staff.  But I highly recommend the film, whether you're interested in the study of zen, or interesting characters, or food and cooking, or all of the above.  The film itself is really a meditation on life and being, as enabled by the literally creative process of cooking and eating.  It'll be playing at the IFC Center for the next two weeks, catch it while you can!

[Where: 323 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10014]