Ryan McNeil
In case you haven’t been following, my posts in “The Real Thing” series have been snapshot previews of the films I’m most looking forward to seeing at the Hot Docs festival. With the previous three, I was going on brief synopsis and reputation. But for this fourth entry, for DISH: WOMEN, WAITRESSING, & THE ART OF SERVICE there’s a little switch – I’ve actually seen it.
How is it? Well, I could tell you…but then what reason would you have to come back here the day it premieres and read my reaction piece? What I will tell you is this: DISH will make you look at the women who serve your food in a whole different light.
I’ve often said that everybody in the world should have to wait tables for another week. It’s a tough job, often a thankless job, and one that gets taken for granted. Worse yet, it’s often the best waitresses that especially get taken for granted. Their like baseball umpires – on their best nights, you don’t even notice that they’re there.
This is the sort of real life story that draws me to this festival and to documentary film in general. On the surface, I hope it’s successful so that at the very least the audience members it affects leave a slightly bigger tip the next time they get great service.
DISH will screen on Friday April 30th, 9:15pm at The Bloor Cinema, Saturday May 8th, 1:45pm at The Royal, and Sunday May 9th, 6:30pm at The Bloor
Me and my mom are compulsive worriers when it comes to tipping. My dad has this thing about not wanting change so they always around it to the next dollar.
Some waiters we've had are pretty bad (as in they spend the whole time chatting in the back and standing around), but lots of them we've had are incredibly nice and hard workers.
But this is a documentary I may be interested in if it ever finds its way to a DVD shelf in NC 🙂
Just saw it as well Hatter…I quite enjoyed it too. It touches on a few horror stories of clients, etc., but maybe not as much as some people might hope for. It focuses more on the role these women see themselves playing and how they approach their jobs (with those roles been different depending on whether the subjects are in Toronto, Montreal, Paris or Japan). The European view was quite fascinating actually – they approach it as a vocation, not as simply a job.
The Japanese Maid Cafes are another thing entirely…I was initially aghast, then creeped out and then a little bit sad.
Well worth catching at the fest or as a DVD when it comes out (I have to think this will get decent distribution).