seductive planes, succulent ingredients, pans on the fire, knives that shine when cutting with mastery... no, it is not a sequence of Chef's Table, is Red, the new movie from Pixar, which can currently be seen on Disney+.
This story – about the coming of age of a chinese teen Canada in the 2000s – has given much to talk about. An overwhelming majority of critics have said that it is one of the best Pixar movies; but it has also been said that it's hard to connect with her (this by true male universe of the Internet, who does not believe that it is possible to identify with the experience of an adolescent) or that I shouldn't talk of the issues she talks about (this from another corner of the internet, the conservative one, who doesn't think show teen sexual arousal and the arrival of the period is appropriate).
Red, Pixar (2022).
And then why do we talk about food? Because while the culture war about a story full of humor and heart is hotly disputed, there is another opinion that has been spreading widely: the food you see in Red is, without the slightest doubt, very appetizing.
dishes that give want to eat in an animated movie? It is true that draw food that they look succulent is an arduous task, but it is also something that, when done well, is memorable. The legendary Japanese animation director, Hayao Miyazaki, always knew. It is no accident that the dishes they eat their characters (who by the way really enjoy eating) are something they remember and fantasize about his fans.
But what about in the case of Net? The new Pixar film featured the production designer Ron Liu, who was very serious about making food a transcendent part of the life of this family (as it was in his and the director's, Domee Shi, both also of Chinese origin). In a scene as memorable as capable of salivating Mei's father –the teenage protagonist– cooks with all the characteristics of a brilliant gastronomic documentary... and the result is not far from her inspiration, as this video reflects.
Almost real lettuce in Pixar's 'Red' (2022).
To make food look tasty and realistic Liu says they took several factors into account: First, the ingredients could be overdone. (fluffier, more saturated colored, more stylized), but the way they reflected the light had to imitate reality; second, a layer of "fat" makes everything look better. For example, in the case of sautéing bacon and lettuce, the vegetable is an unreal bright green and the layer that reflects the light is water, not oil... but there is a reflective surface which gives realism. The same goes for the shiny dumplings that are cooked in boiling water.
Liu already had a certain experience representing food. Prior to Net she worked in Beam, the short that Shi directed before making this feature film. In it, an anthropomorphic bao befriends a boy. And in it the food already had a remarkable appearance.
Bacon or fiction? In Pixar's 'Red' (2022).
But it is not only about these two instances. In Luca, another of the recent films from the animation studio, pesto pasta dishes that the children protagonists gobble up look like the ones you would eat in a alley of the Italian Cinque Terre. And it is that Pixar even has a youtube channel in which they prepare dish recipes that appear in his films. They take their food seriously.
Already a few years ago, when it premiered Ratatouille, Pixar's animation team trained in the kitchen of The French Laundry, to learn techniques and perform faithfully the world of a restaurant. But his intention was never for the food to look photorealistic... in fact they thought it could be counterproductive, a kind of gastronomic uncanny valley.
Years later, however, watch Net prove the opposite. At the end of the film, in addition to a feeling of enjoyment and a smile, there are still some irresistible desire to run out to eat congee, baos or a pancetta stir fry that shimmers with the golden hue of soy.