Aruna & Her Palate

Edwin's 2018 Indonesian film fits two different genres into one journey. Aruna, an epidemiologist, has to travel to provincial towns to investigate cases of avian flu, and takes along a close friend who is a chef and a food writer. An official field investigation becomes a culinary tour at the same time. At every stop the film shows the region's food with real attention, while a hard line runs behind it about how epidemic data is manipulated and how bureaucracy conceals what is happening on the ground. The movement between those two registers is its most striking feature, with the pleasure of eating sitting beside the coldness of institutional corruption. Dian Sastrowardoyo leads. Who it's for: viewers who like food films and contemporary Indonesian cinema. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a narrative that holds one tone; the film keeps changing genre.