Just for kicks, I thought I would perform a Google search for movies with the word Tea in the title. There were more than one would think. So I give you the 5 Best Tea Movies. Who thought there could be such a thing?
I took it a step further and decided to watch these movies with the word Tea in them. This is a BLOG about Tea after all. What I came up with was a bunch of movies I never heard of. What surprised me was the caliber of actors and actresses that were in these films.
Let’s take a look at them. How do you prepare for a day of movie watching? Pop yourself some popcorn and brew yourself some tea of course. This should be an interesting ride.
Tea With Mussolini
An orphaned Italian boy is raised among a circle of British and American women living in Mussolini’s Italy before and during the Second World War.
This movie starred Cher. Cher. That just blows my mind. Why did I never hear of this movie? I love Cher. It also features Judi Dench from James Bond fame, Lily Tomlin and Maggie Smith.
The movie has a solid script and with a cast as mentioned captivating performances throughout the film.
I always appreciate period pieces and attention to detail. With most of the film being shot in The Piazza Cisterna in San Gimignano, the cinematography looks beautiful.
The Taste of Tea
Hajime has fallen in love with a girl at school, while his sister, Sachiko, is seeing bizarre visions, usually, her own gigantic doppelganger following her through town, a specter she’s convinced will go away if only she can pull off a perfect backflip.
This Japanese film is originally called Cha no aji. This movie is subtitled and it reminds me of a story that doesn’t necessarily go with the movie, but it does involve tea and subtitles. I learned a valuable lesson about them.
I invited a lady to coffee one afternoon. Someone I hadn’t met, but we were getting along well in chat. You know one of those social dating sites. It’s there where I said a pretty stupid thing.
As we continued to talk we were discussing our favorite movies. That’s where I stuck my foot in my mouth. She asked me what I thought about subtitles. I replied something smart ass to the effect that I don’t like to read my movies. If I wanted to read I would grab a book. We both laughed at this, but what I didn’t know is that this set off a red flag for her.
In my mind, things went really well. What I had forgotten, however, is the fact she’d told me she was partially deaf. She texted me after our meet and greet that she didn’t think we would work out because she has to go to movies with subtitles. And that my friends was a lesson to learned and that my friends is why I now watch subtitled movies. A bit off subject, but it reminded me of that one that got away so to speak.
All In This Tea
World-renowned tea expert David Lee Hoffman travels to the remote regions of China in search of the best handmade teas in existence. Tea-making secrets that have been handed down through generations of tea makers over thousands of years.
As a tea importer, Hoffman’s obsession with this ancient beverage led him from “insipid tea bags in America” to far-flung tea regions in Asia. In the process, he discovered the rarity of good, handmade tea, especially in China, where the ancient craft of making tea has been giving way to mass production. Tea-making secrets have been handed down through generations of tea makers over thousands of years. In this, his first digitally shot film, Les Blank takes his famous fly-on-the-wall approach. The film moves from modern, urban settings to a pastoral China rarely glimpsed by westerners. Scenes shot in cinema véritéare interwoven with more formal presentations about the fundamentals of tea.
In this documentary, you’ll journey through the forests of Asia Anthony Bourdain
Eat a Bowl of Tea
Second generation Chinese-American Ben Loy Wang grew up solely with his father Wah Gay Wang since the American exclusion laws prevented Ben’s mother from emigrating to the US from China. It’s 1949, and Wah Gay has settled into a life in New York City without his wife, who he has not seen in twenty years.
The Wang’s story is similar to other Chinese-American families. As such, New York City’s Chinatown is populated with old Chinese men and their now grown sons, who have few opportunities to marry into their own culture. But times are now a little different. Ben, an ex-American GI, has just returned to New York City from his mother’s home town in China with his Chinese bride, Mei Oi.
The meeting of Ben and Mei Oi was arranged by Ben and Mei Oi’s respective parents. Mei Oi’s family is much the same as Ben’s, with Mei Oi’s father, who she has never met, living in New York City, while Mei Oi lived in China with her mother. By happenstance, Ben and Mei Oi seem to hit it off, and even fall in love by the time of the wedding. Although the expectations for Ben and Mei Oi are the same – live a prosperous life with many children – achieving that expectation weighs heavily on the two who have their own issues.
Mei Oi, for who Ben is supposed to be her primary focus, is trying to adjust to American life without the support of family or friends. And the pressures of meeting his obligations of providing for the family and the overwhelming expectation of his father and his father’s friends to produce an offspring sooner than later is causing Ben not to be able to perform sexually while in that environment. Despite their love for each other, the question becomes whether Ben and Mei Oi’s marriage can survive these problems.
Tea For Two
Nanette (Doris Day) has dreams of Broadway, but lacks the funds to stage the musical her boyfriend, Larry (Billy De Wolfe), has written.
After extracting a promise from him to make her the star of the show, Nanette turns to her wealthy uncle (S.Z. Sakall) for the money. He agrees to lend her the $25,000, but on one condition — that for an entire day she must answer “No” to any and all questions. Though she readily agrees, Nanette soon realizes the bet is easier made than won.
