ça fait durs

fig. a: l-r: goose, Picard, Laprise

More thoughts on this later, but if you haven't had a chance to see Guillaume Sylvestre's Durs à cuire, his practically brand-new documentary on Montreal's two reigning culinary dons, Normand Laprise and Martin Picard, the free weeklies tell me that there's only one cinema left in town that's still playing it: Cinéma Beaubien (original French version, no subtitles).

Those of you who haven't had the pleasure yet and are still hemming and hawing (should I see it now while it's still on the silver screen? should I just wait till it comes out on DVD?) might want to know that if you go, you can see our very own Michelle lighting up the screen. Sure, Laprise and Picard, and their two chefs de cuisine, Charles-Antoine Crête and Hugue Dufour, have gotten most of the press, and justly so, but the film features a cast of supporting characters that's a virtual who's who, including Joe Beef's Fred Morin, Xavier Pellicer from Barcelona's Àbac, Nicolas Le Bec from Lyon's Restaurant Nicolas Le Bec, and, yes, Michelle.

All right, it's not much more than a cameo, really--a non-speaking cameo--but, yep, there she is.

Okay, truth be told, it's not even really a cameo, it's just a pan--and a fast one at that. You'd have to a) know what Michelle looks like and b) be paying very close attention. Actually, it'd make for a pretty good game--Where's Michelle?--except that she only shows up once, and only for an instant.

Have fun.

Cinéma Beaubien, 2396 rue Beaubien E., 721-6060

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