![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.blueicedocs.com\/badges\/MIngr_poster.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nReviewed by Elizabeth Gain. \u00a0Viewed at Fiesta 5 theater in Santa Barbara, CA.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Missing Ingredient is a charming documentary in the \u201cscreen cuisine\u201d category of the SBIFF. \u00a0\u00a0It tells a tale not just about food, but about the culture of food and people\u2019s attachments to restaurants in New York City. \u00a0This was the West Coast premier for the film, and the director and the star of the film were present, both nervously waiting to see if Californians could appreciate it. \u00a0We sure did! \u00a0The audience was responsive throughout the movie\u2019s twists and turns, and it got a rousing applause.<\/span><\/p>\n The movie tells the story of Pescatore, a New York City restaurant that attempts to pick-up business by putting up the same wallpaper as Gino\u2019s, another restaurant nearby, described as an \u201cinstitution.\u201d \u00a0Californians can be thankful that an entire chapter of the movie is devoted to explaining what type of restaurants constitute a NYC institution. \u00a0Interviews with restauranteurs, food critics, families, patrons, and businessmen build a solid ideology of how New York City residents revere their restaurants as social hubs with unique personalities. \u00a0In following chapters, we learn how to understand the significance of Gino\u2019s wallpaper, and the story unfolds about Pescatore\u2019s owner\u2019s bold decision.<\/span><\/p>\n While many documentaries get bogged down by too much rambling, the structure of this documentary was delightful. \u00a0The editing and zippy music maintain a moderate tempo, with no transitions between chapters. \u00a0The best part of the film is that it has surprising reveals, and it saves many interesting new personalities for later in the film (for example, the interior decorator). \u00a0We become connected to Charles Devigne, Pescatore\u2019s owner, so we are proud of him when he attempts his controversial renovation, and we’re glad to keep following.<\/p>\n As a documentary, one of the joys of this film was how it revealed many layers to its story. \u00a0It celebrated broad strokes of human culture while it told about the striving of one man who was following in the footsteps of giants before him. \u00a0It was surprising that a private restaurant renovation could be so culturally complex, and it was convincing that social interconnectedness made this one action so significant.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not a fan of foodie tv shows, and I don\u2019t care about gourmet cooking, but I was enthralled by this underdog movie. \u00a0I clapped and whistled when we got to meet Charles Devigne for real at the end of the screening. (I clapped for Michael Sparaga, the director and producer, too!) \u00a0I hope this film gets picked up for distribution because it deserves being seen.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reviewed by Elizabeth Gain. \u00a0Viewed at Fiesta 5 theater in Santa Barbara, CA. The Missing Ingredient is a charming documentary in the \u201cscreen cuisine\u201d category of the SBIFF. \u00a0\u00a0It tells a tale not just about food, but about the culture of food and people\u2019s attachments to restaurants in New York City. \u00a0This was the West […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25108,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,3,272],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-documentary","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2016"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/25108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}