Hot Docs 2023 Review: Food and Country

by Andrew Parker

Messy, but well intentioned, the documentary Food and Country makes some great points about the continued devaluation of farmers, restaurants, and overall nutrition, but the package as a whole leaves plenty to be desired.

Director Laura Gabbert teams up with esteemed, award winning food writer Ruth Reichl to examine the state of the agricultural and restaurant industries during and in the wake of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Through conversations Reichl has with those struggling to make a living providing nourishment for people across America, Food and Country does a commendable job at illustrating how the cultivation of food and appreciation of where it comes from has been on a steep decline since the Nixon administration, and the current state of the world is only making things tougher.

It’s easy to get on board with what Food and Country is trying to say, but the approach is scattered and uneven. Gabbert and Reichl never settle upon a satisfying thread outside of dumping a bunch of interrelated stories into a pile together and letting them play as they are. Food and Country often feels like a bunch of short films that have been awkwardly stitched together under a vaguely unifying banner. The film works whenever it examines the overall difficulties of being a farmer in the modern economy or the devaluation of nutrition, but stumbles whenever trying to broach the bigger issue of food insecurity, which is an inarguably larger topic. Sometimes the entire thing veers off to talk about Reichl’s accomplishments or offer up moments where people can complain via Zoom about how rough things have been without offering more than some added personality.

Even the style of Food and Country – which includes everything from glitchy online chats to stunningly photographed profiles – is all over the place. It’s easy to get on side with the things Food and Country is saying, but as documentary, it has more in common with the sort of things it’s trying to combat.

Sunday, May 7, 2023 – 11:00 am – TIFF Bell Lightbox 3

Food and Country was originally screened as part of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

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