How to Cook Your Life

2007, Documentary, 1h 40m

25 Reviews 500+ Ratings

What to know

critics consensus

This charming doc takes its time while focusing on food, but highlights larger lessons that audiences will reflect upon long after leaving the theater. Read critic reviews

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How to Cook Your Life Photos

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Movie Info

Filmmaker Doris Dörrie delves into the life and philospophy of renowned chef, cookbook author and Zen priest Edward Espe Brown. Brown, who holds court at the Scheibbs Buddhist Center in Austria, the San Francisco Zen Center and the Tassajara Mountain Center, melds his love of cooking with the teachings of his Zen mentor, Suzuki Roshi.
  • Rating:
    PG-13 (Brief Strong Language)
  • Genre:
    Documentary
  • Original Language:
    English
  • Director:
    Doris Dörrie
  • Writer:
    Doris Dörrie
  • Release Date (Theaters):
     limited
  • Release Date (Streaming):
  • Box Office (Gross USA):
    $84.1K
  • Runtime:
  • Distributor:
    Roadside Attractions

Cast & Crew

Doris Dörrie
Self
Edward Espe Brown
Self
Doris Dörrie
Director
Doris Dörrie
Writer

Critic Reviews for How to Cook Your Life

All Critics (25) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (18) | Rotten (7)
Full Review… Ty Burr Boston Globe Full Review… Desson Thomson Washington Post Full Review… Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times Full Review… Elizabeth Weitzman New York Daily News Full Review… V.A. Musetto New York Post Full Review… Jeannette Catsoulis New York Times Full Review… Dorothy Woodend The Tyee (British Columbia) Full Review… Dave White Movies.com Full Review… Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Full Review… Sarah Boslaugh Playback:stl Full Review… Chris Hewitt St. Paul Pioneer Press Full Review… Liz Braun Jam! Movies
View All Critic Reviews (25)

Audience Reviews for How to Cook Your Life

  • Feb 04, 2010
    Sure, documentaries are usually slow and uneventful, but they should be informative. Well, Doris Dorrie doesn't have much going on with informing in this picture.<p>There is no clear point as to what this documentary is trying to be. Is it a film about food? Is it about cooking? Is it about religion? Supposedly, a handful of people are attending some sort of zen class with cooking, but after a brief shot of the day's schedule in the beginning, there is no indication of any schedule being followed. The film bounces around from topic to topic and it also momentarily switches to other people for interviews that seem to be on a tangent from what Chef Edward Brown is talking about.</p><p>Chef Brown himself is very bland and monotonous in the way he talks. This makes this 90 minute picture extremely boring from beginning to end. He attempts humor from time to time, as he laughs at his own comments, but most, if not all, are very hard to find laughable.</p><p><i>How to Cook Your Life</i> does have a message that some will connect with; however, this film just does a bad job at conveying it.</p>
    JY S Super Reviewer
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