Now, Forager

I saw this film as part of the Rotterdam Film Festival 2012. It is an honest portrait of what happens in a restaurant behind the scenes: preparation, kitchen work, and last-but-not-least the outdoors logistics to obtain the proper ingredients. It is also against pompous menu's showing off expensive ingredients, for example demonstrated in the catering scene where the hostess merely wanted to impress her guests.

The story is slowly paced, mostly in line with the subject (one quote: "You cannot rush a mushroom hunt.") There were moments, however, that I felt the need to move on.

Our two main characters seem a nicely cooperating couple in the beginning, but their relationship deteriorates later on. Their separation is not out of malice. They simply grow apart when following different career paths.

The final Q&A emphasized that the story is not important in itself, just used as a vehicle for a logical development in time. We also learned that many shots of living mushrooms "in the wild" were collected before (you cannot wait that long with a film crew on your back).

All in all, a very interesting movie about things we don't see usually and conveniently take for granted. A "must see" recommendation for all those interested in this "back stage" part of what happens in restaurants.