Love, Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter

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Audience Member cool i will watch it again Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/03/25 Full Review dave d Chef Charlie Trotter feels like he could have been inspiration for the TV show The Bear. This is a fascinating feature documentary on a man that's been under-appreciated by the culinary world let alone, the general public. An icon of Chicago cuisine, Trotter passed much too young, but a look back on his legacy reveals some fascinating details. There are a few warts here, but I couldn't help but wonder why his third wife and widow didn't participate in the film. There is some fantastic behind the scenes footage of his restaurant which operated for 25 years. Worth seeing if you like studies of people who don't fit into the modern world! Final Score: 8/10 Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/02/25 Full Review David F This is a magnificent documentary about Charlie Trotter, a famous chef in Chicago who launched a fine dining restaurant in the late 1980s and made it the foundation of a culinary empire that included cookbooks, other restaurants, and a training ground for other up-and-coming chefs. Trotter’s restaurant had a multi-decade run and made him a chef icon but he was not without a dark side and the film explores his enigmatic personality. His food and innovations like putting a table for diners in his kitchen cemented his lasting fame in the world of food but he could also be mercurial, cruel, and a bit of a sell out. This film shows every side of him, resisting any urge to make a definitive statement other than to let those who knew and worked with him each have their say from their own perspectives. This movie is also a great film of Chicago exploring its food culture near the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty first century. The setting and the personality of Trotter have much in common, both striving out of the shadows of more influential or perceived-as-superior cities and chefs to achieve their ambitions through an almost fanatical devotion to success. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 12/14/24 Full Review Yelena M So sad to see how he was treated in the last several years of his life. He is a legend, who deserved more acclaim than was given. I wonder why his wife chose not to participate in this documentary and pay tribute to the man he was. May his legend live on forever. Thank you for making this documentary. But I wish it wasn't described as “rise and fall”. He didn't fall, he was ill and in declining health. It should have been described as “legend gone too soon”. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/12/24 Full Review Scott M Well plated documentary about a trailblazer of American culinary, Charlie Trotter, and proof that pioneers get slaughtered, while settlers prosper. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/04/24 Full Review darren m Do not miss. A gloriously successful masterpiece of a documentary. It does not get better than this. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/08/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Love, Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter

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