Film
Dining
Luna: An Inspired Picnic Without The Ants By He nr y Stark
Patton Oswalt and James Morosini in “I Love My Dad” (Photo: Provided)
Fathers And Shells
Patton Oswalt Gets Dark And ‘Marcel The Shell With Shoes On’ Turns The Light Back On By Br yan VanC ampe n
J
ames Morosini’s dark farce “I Love My Dad” (Magnolia-Hantz Motion Pictures-Atlas Industries-Burn Later Productions-American High, 2022, 90 min.) opens with a sentence: “The following actually happened.” Then: “My dad asked me to tell you it didn’t.” Based on a true incident involving Morosini’s dad, “I Love My Dad” stars Patton Oswalt as Chuck, a toxic father and compulsive liar, the kind of guy who steals a lost dog in the opening scene. Chuck has spent his whole life disappointing his son Franklin (Morosini), extremely fragile after a suicide attempt. Fed up, Franklin blocks Chuck from his social media, and Chuck, a tech wiz, hacks the identity of Becca (Claudia Sulewiski), a local waitress, creates a bogus online profile and actually catfishes his own kid just to get back into his life. I think of “I Love My Dad” as a farce, since the story kick-starts with a lie, and then another, and then another until the whole thing pops like a balloon. This is the first time I’ve seen Morosini, who writes, directs and co-stars in “I Love My Dad”. In the production notes, Morosini says, “I’ve long been a fan of discomfort comedy. I laugh the hardest when I’m the most uncomfortable.” His movie is like Phoebe Cates’ speech in “Gremlins” (1984) about her hatred for Christmas. It’s only funny because it’s not happening to you. If it’s happening to you, it’s profoundly messed-up. Chuck gets everyone so tied up in knots that the film is almost too excruciating to bear; it feels like a car wreck in slow motion, and as Burt Reynolds said of drinking
16 T
H E
ITHAC A T IMES
and driving in “Hooper” (1978), “Eventually, there’s gonna be a hell of wreck.” Patton Oswalt is my favorite contemporary comic, and I love him when he goes dark in movies like “Big Fan” (2009) and “Young Adult” (2011). Morosini finds a way to visualize the impact of Franklin and Becca’s “relationship” in more and more twisted ways. Lil Rel Howery (“Free Guy”) is hilarious as the movie’s moral conscience, and Rachel Dratch gets the kind of layered, complex comic character that she’s long deserved; she’s so funny yet sad as one of Chuck’s co-workers who reluctantly agrees to help with his scam and regrets her decision. ● ● ●
“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” (A24-Cinereach-You Want I ShouldSunbeam TV & Films-Human WomanChiodo Brothers Productions, 2021, 89 min.) is just charming as hell. It’s sweet and winsome, and a cynic would say it’s more twee than ten Wes Anderson movies in a blender. It’s about this teeny shell named Marcel – voiced by Jenny Slate – who’s kicking it (Did I mention Marcel has shoes on?) in a nice air b’n’b with his grandmother Connie (Isabella Rosellini), also a shell. The two have created a cozy little scaled-down world to share, and Marcel zips around inside a tennis ball, like one of those plastic party balls I saw in “Community”’s Lava World episode. And just when the film seems to veer into cloying territory, Slate as Marcel says something sharp that cuts the syrup.
/AUGUST
Contin u ed on Page 19
3–9 ,
2 0 2 2
W
henever I eat at Luna, it feels like I’m having a picnic without ants. Although it’s located on Aurora Street in Ithaca, the only way you can eat inside the restaurant is by sitting on a hardwood bench at one of a half dozen picnic tables. The popular outdoor street tables have about the same capacity as inside. On their menu, they refer to themselves as Luna offers a large selection of well-cooked comfort food at reasonable prices done in a serving “inspired street food,” which friendly lighthearted way. (Photo: Ash Bailot) to me, equates to comfort food. When you peruse their menu, tacos and a side ($16.99) which turned you’ll discover their major categories include street plates, street tacos, burgers, sandwiches, out to be an appropriately sized luncheon selection. I selected Burnt End Pork Belly mac and cheese, melts and bowls. There’s not Tacos. The pork belly bits were diced fine a single item over $17.99. And there’s more and burnt crisp which got rid of most of good news: the food at Luna is very good. the fat. Sesame seeds, scallions and fried In the street plate category, I’ve had the diced shitake mushrooms completed the Cuban option which includes a conglomfillings. The Korean BBQ glaze was a pereration of items including pulled chicken, fect complement to the flavor profile. For a shredded pork, black beans, yellow rice, side, I chose a corn salad which came in a mango lime salsa and fried plantains. I bowl and included jalapeno peppers, scaldon’t know any place in town where I’ve lions and roasted red peppers. had a better plantain. These were blackFrom the bowls section I ordered the ened on the outside with a crisp finish and perfectly mashed and cooked on the inside. Chicken Shawarma Salad. What a winner this was. Served in a deep, circular, metal I tried another street plate on a subbowl, it was like a surprise grab bag. Strewn sequent visit: Sticky Pineapple Chicken across the top were multiple bits of crispy Bowl. It had crispy chicken, Jasmine rice, fresh pineapple chunks, Thai chili peppers, roasted chicken. Underneath them was sliced cucumber, raw onions, halved grape scallion, and sesame seeds with a sweet tomatoes, smoky tahini and tzatziki. Next I and slightly spicy sauce, all served inside discovered kalamata olives on one side of the a grilled half pineapple. The presentation bowl and three pieces of Naan bread tucked was dramatic. When I finished everything into the other. And finally, lining the bottom inside the pineapple half, I had fun scraping out the remaining innards of the warm of the bowl was a generous portion of fresh field greens. Accompanying all of this was a pineapple with a fork. dish of vinaigrette and lemon oil for dipping From the burger section, I chose a Maple or just pouring over the whole salad. Bourbon Bacon Burger. The burger came With the street food served at Luna, I well done and the bacon was significantly unprefer to have a beer rather than a glass dercooked. I forgot to tell the server I prefer meat rare or medium rare, and she didn’t ask, of wine and in fact, the beer offerings outnumber the wine two to one. There is so the well-done burger is on me. However, the bacon should have definitely been cooked an excellent variety of beers offered on tap and in bottles and cans. more. There were maple bourbon caramelThere could be a problem with the wine ized onions along with some goat cheese and menu for diners who aren’t familiar with lettuce. I didn’t notice any bourbon flavoring in the onions; however I did enjoy the burger. wines because the reds and whites are When you order a street taco, you get to choose how many you want. I chose three Contin u ed on Page 19