City of Gold

source: City of Gold

If I am honest, I have never understood the appeal of the city of Los Angeles, but that is because perhaps I have never sought to understand it the way I have New York City. Jonathan Gold comments in the beginning of City of Gold that, "If you live in L.A. you're used to having people explain your city to you." He explains that tourists often think they have unravelled the secret of a city that - instead of developing from a central business district outward - has developed from multiple scattered, unique centers which have over time bled toward one another leaving odd bits of space in between them where almost anything could develop. Gold points out that with this many cultural influences and communities, "The fault lines between them are sometimes where you find the most beautiful thing." While the film is technically about Gold, who is the first food critic to receive a Pulitzer Prize for his writing, this is also a love story about the individual human threads that make up the city of Los Angeles and how the interaction of people through food helps define and preserve a sense of community. Gold comments at one point that in L.A., "There really is a there-ness beneath the thereness," and the film is a visually appealing blend of sweeping aerial views and gritty, carefully chosen street level cameos paired with sounds that highlight the city's worlds within worlds and keeps what otherwise might have been merely a series of commentated meals from feeling monotonous. Calvin Trillins, Evan Kleinman, Roy Choi, Ruth Reichl, and many others join in those meals and their carefully curated asides help explain how Gold writes, and why he doesn't operate similarly to any other food critic because as David Chang put it, "His empathy level is higher than anyone else's." A favorite scene in the film follows Gold and his two children through an art museum. His son was slightly shaggy and inquisitive, and his daughter was wearing all sorts of layers and colors, her eyes were wide, and her smile was like sunlight on water. It was apparent that they were fully aware they were allowed to be themselves, and this summed up a lot about the way Gold perhaps sees, eats, and writes: You take things as they come because they are what they are for a reason, and they feed us in different ways. I brought a friend with me to a screening of the film whose tastes in viewing do not usually tend toward documentaries, and he was irritated with me afterward. It turned out he had immensely enjoyed the film, but complained that it had made him terribly hungry. I didn't apologize. Watch City of Gold, and tip over the edge into Jonathan Gold's world of spices, scents, and beautifully chosen words until you understand what he means when he says that cooking is what makes us human. You might leave hungry, but hunger is life, and you can always go eat something unexpectedly real after the film is over.

Just thought this documentary, directed by Laura Gabbert, was enjoyable as well as informative. It centers on Jonathan Gold, acclaimed food critic for the L.A. Times, and winner of the first Pulitzer Prize for food criticism, in 2007. We follow Gold as he cruises through the streets of Los Angeles, describing or visiting the many multi-cultural restaurants, or street vendors, along the way. Gold specializes in reviewing the smaller ethnically oriented establishments, often surprisingly located in small mini malls or even based out of food trucks. Based on interviews with his colleagues, Gold has a reputation of being extremely fair and empathetic towards those that he critiques, with Gold stating himself that he'll visit an establishment a minimum of 4 to 5 times before he'll write a review. The movie is not all food, as we learn about Gold's remarkable history and upbringing, and we'll get to meet his family as well. They'll also be quite a lot of humor in the film, as well as some heartfelt interviews with several of the restaurant owners. Finally, for those concerned about such, there is explicit language laced throughout the doc. All in all, I thought this film was quite interesting, and one of the better documentaries I've seen in s while.

"City of Gold" (2015 documentary; 96 min.) is a documentary about Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic for the LA Times. As the documentary opens, we see Gold sitting at his computer and looking at a blank screen. Then all of the sudden the words start to roll and the voice-over gives us Gold's 2014 review of Guerilla Tacos, a food truck, To tell you more would spoil your viewing pleasure, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out. Couple of comments: the documentary is written, produced and directed by Laura Gabbert, who previously brought us the equally delightful "No Impact Man". Here she profiles the well-known food critic (and erstwhile music critic) Jonathan Gold. I really didn't know much about this man before seeing this. Turns out he is a down-to-earth guy, driving around his Dodge pick-up truck, little ego to speak of yet obviously very smart. One thing that he is very passionate about is his love for LA (he grew up there), and the diversity of the food that is available there, due to the city being a melting pot of cultures (or as Gold coins it, "a great glittering mosaic"). It seems that he'd rather visit and review food trucks and authentic holes-in-the-walls as opposed to the fancy 5 star French restaurant. Just as Gold is using food only a pretext to write about the city, so also does Habbert only use Gold as a pretext to paint a portrait of LA. And along the way, we get the answer to questions such as "why do we need food critics when we have Yelp reviews?" If you are wondering whether you need to be a foodie yourself in order to enjoy this film, my answer is a clear "no" (I'm not a foodie either). Bottom line: this is an enjoyable and insightful documentary about a food critic and his interactions with the food scene in Los Angeles. "City of Gold" recently had a one-week run at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. As it happened, I caught the movie on its very last day of that run. Not surprisingly, I had a private screening, as in: I literally was the only person in the theater. Hopefully this is the kind of movie that will find a wider audience once it becomes available on VOD and eventually on DVD/Blu-ray. Meanwhile, if you like documentaries or if you are a foodie, "City of Gold" is certainly worth checking out.