Morte Cucina
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Polish premiereTheatrical Screenings
Kinoteka 4
Kinoteka 4
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Film description
Sao is a chef of exceptional talent. Her skills catch the attention of a man with whom she shares a dark past. He fails to recognise her, but memories of past trauma drive her towards one of the most intricate schemes ever devised in either revenge cinema or food films.
In his latest feature, Pen-ek Ratanaruang – the subject of a retrospective at the 3rd Five Flavours and a long-time audience favourite – constructs an enigmatic narrative labyrinth that unfolds in unexpected directions before our eyes. Here, flavour becomes a vehicle for memory and revenge, as successive layers of the story are revealed like the stages of an elaborate recipe, ingredient by ingredient. Drawing on the principles of traditional Thai medicine, in which food can have both healing and deadly properties, Pen-ek crafts a story about the ambiguous boundary between love and resentment. In his world, little separates care from obsession, or nurturing from compulsion.
The film marks another collaboration between Pen-ek Ratanaruang, actor Tadanobu Asano and cinematographer Christopher Doyle, who previously worked together on Last Life in the Universe and Invisible Waves. Through Doyle’s celebrated lens, Thailand’s contrasting landscapes – from the vibrant streets of Bangkok to the tranquillity of Chiang Mai – form a sensual backdrop to a story co-written by Kongdej Jaturanrasamee (P-047).
text:
Łukasz Mańkowski
Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Born in Bangkok in 1962, studied art history at New York’s Pratt Institute from 1977 to 1985. He began his career as an illustrator and designer before joining Film Factory in Bangkok in 1993, where he met Wisit Sasanatieng. Both directors are regarded as leading figures of the Thai New Wave. At Film Factory, Pen-ek made several highly successful commercials that won numerous awards. A few years later, he made his feature film debut with Fun Bar Karaoke, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. In the 2000s, Pen-ek became involved in a series of pan-Asian productions, collaborating with filmmakers from Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong, among others. In recent years, he has divided his time between collaborative projects and his own films. A retrospective of his work was presented at the 3rd Five Flavours Asian Film Festival, which also distributed his film Samui Song. In 2026, two of his films, Ploy and Morte Cucina, were selected for the festival programme.
1997 Fun Bar Karaoke
1999 69 / Ruang Talok 69 / 6ixtynin9
2001 Monrak Transistor
2003 Ostatnie życie we wszechświecie / Ruang Rak Noi Nid Mahasan / Last Life in the Universe
2006 Niewidzialne fale / Invisible Waves
2007 Ploy
2009 Nimfa / Nang mai / Nymph
2011 Headshot: Mroczna karma / Headshot
2014 The Life of Gravity / Raeng dueng dood
2017 Samui Song
2025 Morte Cucina
