Ian Simmons launched Kicking the Seat in 2009, one week after seeing Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia. His wife proposed blogging as a healthier outlet for his anger than red-faced, twenty-minute tirades (Ian is no longer allowed to drive home from the movies).
The Kicking the Seat Podcast followed three years later and, despite its “undiscovered gem” status, Ian thoroughly enjoys hosting film critic discussions, creating themed shows, and interviewing such luminaries as Gaspar Noé, Rachel Brosnahan, Amy Seimetz, and Richard Dreyfuss.
Ian is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. He also has a family, a day job, and conflicted feelings about referring to himself in the third person.
The story follows Fanis Iakovidis (George Corraface), an astrophysics professor living in Athens. The news that his beloved grandfather, Vasilis (Tassos Bandis), is ailing in Istanbul triggers a flood of memories from Fanis's childhood in the 1950s and 60s.
As a boy in Istanbul, Fanis learned the "philosophy of spices" from Vasilis, a spice merchant who taught him that life, like a fine dish, requires the right seasoning. However, political tensions between Greece and Turkey in 1964 led to the forced expulsion of ethnic Greeks, tearing Fanis away from his grandfather and his first love, Saime. Decades later, Fanis returns to his birthplace, realizing that while he has "spiced" the lives of many, he has neglected to add flavor to his own. A Touch of Spice (2003) - Letterboxd Bir Tutam Baharat (2003)
The 2003 film Bir Tutam Baharat (also known as A Touch of Spice or Politiki Kouzina ) is a lush, bittersweet drama that uses the art of cooking as a powerful metaphor for life, heritage, and the pain of political displacement. Directed by Tassos Boulmetis, this largely autobiographical tale became a landmark in Greek cinema, holding the record for the country's highest domestic box office . Synopsis: A Culinary Map of Memory The story follows Fanis Iakovidis (George Corraface), an