Eating Reviews

Part documentary, part fiction, part psychodrama, Henry Jaglom's films exasperate and enthrall in equal measure, but they seldom elicit a tepid response. He's up to his usual tricks in EATING, a memorable, if typically uneven, addition to the Jaglom canon. Helene (Lisa Blake Richards) has decided to throw herself a fortieth birthday bash, but since one of her friends, Kate (Mary Crosby), has just turned thirty and another, Sadie (Marlena Giovi), is about to turn fifty, she expands the party into a joint celebration. The disparate guests, some tony, others bohemian, convene and engage in plenty of savvy conversation about the various life passages. Martine (Nelly Alard), a houseguest of Helene's from Paris, is making a documentary for French television on what she describes as "Southern California behavior." When the three cakes are cut and the slices passed around amongst Helene, Kate and Sadie's friends, Martine discovers that not one of the thirty-eight women gathered there will take a bite, and the filmmaker discovers an unexpected new slant for her project. It soon emerges that, as different as the assembled guests are from one another, they all share one common trait: The unique and powerful role that food plays in each one of their lives. The assembled women reveal how so much of their lives have been dominated by food, either too much as a substitute for affection or too little as a form of self-destruction. Helene's patrician mother Whitney (Frances Bergen), at first disdainful of the conversation taking place, eventually sheds her inhibitions and joins in, as does Sadie's daughter Jennifer (Daphna Kastner), who overeats in defiance of her domineering mother. One of the few truly independent American filmmakers, Los Angeleno Henry Jaglom's films, from SITTING DUCKS to ALWAYS to NEW YEAR'S DAY, work best when the strong ensemble acting which is his trademark is grounded in a coherent narrative. Not surprisingly, his latest effort abounds in memorable performances; Jaglom is clearly empathetic, and his actresses appear to benefit immensely from his intimate, low-tech filmmaking style. Unfortunately, EATING lacks a main plot or any truly involving developments, and the film, after a promising beginning, loses steam.