How do our choices in comforting beverages reflect our choices in cinema, or even offer up a reflection to who we are?
True cinema is developed by meticulous attention to small details, such as when a character in a film is portrayed drinking a particular drink. This defines a character symbolically. In films like Inglourious Basterds (2009), No Country For Old Men (2007) and even cinema’s most recent adaptation of Frankenstein (2025), villains depicted drinking a glass of milk is cinematic shorthand for their villainous nature. This is much like how 007 drinks a martini, shaken not stirred, in every James Bond dimension. This is a portrayal of his sophistication and his tendency to shake things up in Mi6. In the cinematic sphere, the small choice of a beverage speaks volumes, begging the question: what film are you based on your café beverage of choice?
You’re strolling down Byres Road and suddenly get the craving for a Blank Street iced latte. If you enjoy a good old iced latte with the addition of different syrups such as vanilla, pumpkin spice, mocha or even hazelnut, then The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) is the movie for you. A classic Y2K movie following the friendship of four girls who spend the summer apart for the first time and astonishingly revolve around a pair of jeans that fit each of them despite their differing sizes. These four girls each have their own unique personalities with Carmen (America Ferrera) being the thoughtful friend, Lena (Alexis Bledel) being the shy and reserved of the group, Bridget (Blake Lively) the confident and athletic friend, and finally Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), who is sarcastic and rebellious in nature. Despite their differences, they all have one thing in common: their friendship. The iced latte embellished with various syrups is fun and exciting, like the self-discovery adventures of these four childhood friends in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
A slightly stronger caffeinated beverage for those who like their coffee dark and dry, a dark-roast espresso. If you prefer a no sugar, no nonsense caffeinated beverage, then a strong dark-roast espresso will pair well with the film The English Patient (1996) starring Ralph Fiennes. This sweeping war drama follows Alámsy, an English explorer whose life unfolds like an onion through reminiscence of his desert expeditions and love affair with Katherine (Kristin Scott Thomas) in the North African desert just before the breakout of World War II. Much like that of a strong and dark espresso, this film is both raw and epic, masterfully dressing up poetry with dry desert landscapes and creating an incredible unfolding story.
Picture this: it’s the 70’s and Led Zeppelin’s Good Times Bad Times plays in a classic American diner while you sip a piping hot Americano. If you prefer a simple Americano, the best of which are always served in an old-timey diner, then Almost Famous (2000) is your next watch. The film follows young teenager William (Patrick Fugit) who, in order to write an article for Rolling Stone magazine, tags along on the great American road trip led by a group of eccentric musicians in 1970’s America. With a soundtrack of some of the greatest hits of the 60s and 70s by bands like Fleetwood Mac, The Velvet Underground and Led Zeppelin, this film portrays the classic Woodstock American hippie. Like Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) in Almost Famous, the Americano is cool and authentic, and as she says to young William, “one day you’ll be cool”.
Have you ever had an utter craving for a glass of cold iced tea, and along with the initially sweet taste of the tea, a slightly bitter aftertaste sets in, but somehow this is all part of the charm of an iced tea? Matt Damon’s performance in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) illustrates exactly that. With sophisticated Venetian landscapes, chic 90s summerwear and tracks from various jazz legends like Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, at first everything seems sweet, and dare I say perfect. However, as you take another sip of that iced tea and as Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) uncovers more about Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) throughout the film, the picturesque Italian sweetness can no longer conceal an underlying bitterness. The Talented Mr. Ripley is a striking film with an unravelling plot, pairing well with the initially sweet and soon bitter iced tea.
A true coffee connoisseur appreciates the cinematic moment when a shot of espresso hits a glass of milk, mixing together and creating a distinguished mixture, the Italian originated macchiato. As life holds a mirror up to art, this is akin to when two characters so blatantly different cross paths in a film. The mixing of the espresso within a glass of milk is portrayed in the 1994 film Léon: The Professional, with the juxtaposition of characters Léon (Jean Reno), an Italian hitman and Mathilda (Natalie Portman), a twelve-year-old orphan born and raised in uptown New York. If you particularly like the taste of a strong espresso poured over a glass of steamed milk, then Léon: The Professional embodies your tastes perfectly. It displays two characters poles apart, developing a unique friendship in the middle of 90s Manhattan. Léon’s choice of beverage throughout the film, a glass of milk, juxtaposes the symbolism of his choice of career and Mathilda’s childlike innocence, perhaps an indication that these two characters were always destined to meet. Léon and Mathilda complement each other wonderfully, creating an extraordinary friendship. Similarly, the art of espresso poured over milk creates just that, the brilliance of the macchiato.
It’s dark, raining and slightly eerie outside, and no, it’s not Glasgow during the peak of winter, but rather the setting in Death Becomes Her (1992). What better atmosphere to sip a dark chocolate hot cocoa than in this dark and twisted satirical black comedy? A satirical comment on vanity and modern obsessions with clutching onto one’s youth, this film follows Helen (Goldie Hawn) and Madeline (Meryl Streep), who embody the narcissism and conceit of today’s Hollywood circus as they fight ridiculously to the ‘death’ with each other, redefining the word ‘death’ altogether. While we may relentlessly be growing old, this film, on the contrary, never gets old, and neither does a good old dark chocolate hot cocoa. It’s both comforting and a little dark!
Cinema is born of our stories; we make up films as much as they make us who we are, quite like how our seemingly insignificant café preferences tell a lot about us. Whether you prefer a black coffee to a sweet cappuccino, or a 60s film noir to a 90s rom-com, these choices make us who we are because after all, life does imitate art and vice versa…
Image Credit: Flashbak
