One of the best foodie movies ever made, The Recipe seamlessly merges the talents of Anna Lee (American-trained director of the extraordinary sci-fi romance Rub Love back in 1998) and Jang Jin.
Ryu Seungryong plays a hard-bitten TV news producer who follows up an intriguing lead (he learns what a condemned prisoner’s last wish was) and goes in search of a particular doenjang stew. It’s a common Korean dish, made with fermented bean-paste, but this one recipe makes it taste like the food of the gods. There are a couple of false trails before he learns the truth about 100% pure sodium chloride crystals, lacquer-tree spring water, ume-petal earthenware and the rhythm of chirping crickets – not to mention a goblin man, a builder of drains with no sense of smell and a mysterious woman named Hyejin.
Film details
- Country of production
- South Korea
- Year
- 2010
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2015
- Length
- 107'
- Medium/Format
- Betacam Digi
