Welcome to issue 74 of EatDrinkFilms.

This week, Risa Nye reviews Ava Chin’s book Eating Wildly, with a keen appreciation for the way it moves from the experience of loss to the act of finding, balancing autobiography with a personal guide to foraging in the city. “It’s the unexpected bounty and regenerative powers of nature that have deepened my connection with my hometown, my family, and even myself,” Chin writes. We also feature Chin’s recipe for Wild Greens Pie, a main ingredient of which is lamb’s-quarter, a nutritious weed that gardeners dislike but chefs love.

Also in issue 74, Eat My Shorts shares a selection of short films that The Gift writer-director and Black Mass actor Joel Edgerton has made with his brother Nash, works that more than hint at what he is bringing to cinemas now. Publisher Gary Meyer praises Berkeley Rep’s adaptation of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s movie Amélie as a musical for the stage, in a review that keeps the film version on the periphery and focuses on live performance’s capacity for change. We also present the first installment of Meyer’s interview with Leonard Maltin, who is introducing a selection of rare films on Turner Classic Movies on September 28, in conjunction with a new edition of his Classic Movie Guide. The interview is a conversation between longtime friends with a passion for and encyclopedic knowledge of movies. It covers youthful enthusiasm and self-publishing, influences, the quirks of research, and the pleasures of discovering or sharing a favorite film. Come back next week for part two.

This week also sees the return of Daniel Barnes and Darcey Self-Barnes’ column His & Hers Beer Notes, which samples Skully Barrel No. 26, a sour ale from Colorado’s Paradox Brewing Company.

Thank you,

Johnny

Johnny Huston has written about film, music, and visual art for 25 years at newspapers, magazines, and websites. He has co-created movies and put together film programs shown at Artists’ Television Access, Yerba Buena Center of the Arts, and the San Francisco International Film Festival, and written and made collage work for exhibitions at [2nd Floor Projects] in San Francisco.