Big Night
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Movie Reviews of Big Night
Movie Review: Great acting, great story, great movie!
Summary: 5 Stars
Big Night is an incredible movie with many "layers" of food for thought. There are two recurring themes throughout the movie which I would like to shed light on; one, is food as art, the other is brotherhood and how food is an expression of that.
The movie is about two brothers. Secondo (played by Stanley Tucci) is devoted to the success of their business, and Primo (played by Tony Shalhoub) is concerned about the preservation of food as an expression of his tradition, background and devotion; for Primo, food is art. In the opening of the film we see a group of customers eating at their restaurant. They receive the food they ordered which Primo so delicately prepared but they are not satisfied. The food does not look like the "Americanized" versions they are used to eating. They are used to eating the commercialized processed versions of what is supposed to be the authentic thing. Whereas the commercialized Italian dinners are made without any heart, Primo pours out not only his heart, but who he is.
Secondo, on the other hand, is very different from his older brother. He loves his brother dearly, but his heart doesn't seem to be in his work. He is more worried about saving the restaurant. He desires to climb the ladder of success like his competitor, Pascal. During the movie, a man pays for his food by giving Primo an art piece he painted. Primo asks Secondo, "Don't you love it?" but Secondo uncaringly responds, "Great. Put it with the rest of them." For Primo, this is not simply a payment, but an exchange of art. This is the difference between Primo and Secondo. For Primo, he sees everything with meaning, but for Secondo, he doesn't allow himself to see the meaning in things. For him, value is measured in bills not in the things in themselves. This is not only true in his business but in his personal life as well. He lets money get in the way of his relationship with Phyllis. He tells her that he can't marry her because he isn't financially ready to do so.
Pascal in the film represents the American dream - making great lots of money, but in so doing he destroys the tradition that comes with Italian food. Primo remarks, "The man should be in a prison for the food he serves." Pascal doesn't care what he serves, as long as he's making money. He doesn't even care for the people he knows. He offers to help Secondo but what he actually does is ruins him. He doesn't even bother calling him by his real name. He just calls him "you f**king guy." For Pascal, Primo and Segundo are just an investment opportunity. For Primo, what Pascal does is sacrilege. As he tells his uncle, "Do you know what goes on in that man's restaurant every night? RAPE! RAPE! That is what goes on in that place every night! THE RAPE OF CUISINE!" For Primo, the meaning of food surpasses its value in dollars.
When the big night finally arrives, Primo paints a masterpiece with his food. The people are wowed and left in awe. By the end of the night, remarks are made of how this was the best meal they've ever had and probably will have. Even after Primo finds out that Louis Prima isn't coming, he doesn't let that tear his spirits down, because he has enjoyed his art and the company of his friends.
When Secondo sees the business collapsing before his eyes, he falls into desperation. Primo offers him a job in Rome working for their uncle but Secondo tells him to go without him. In kinder words, he tells him that he doesn't need him anymore and that he has given him nothing. But what Secondo doesn't realize is that Primo has given him something much more valuable than profits. He says, "I've tried, I've tried to teach you, Secondo! But you've learned nothing! You're like a child! Why do you act like this? Why?" What he's been trying to teach him is that they are not simply cooking food, but being who they are. That is why he cannot sacrifice his food for the business like Pascal did. He finally tells Secondo, "If I sacrifice my work, it dies. It's better ... that I die." It is then that Secondo finally realizes, not only what food has meant for Primo, but for himself as well.
At the end of the film we see Secondo cooking in silence for Primo. Secondo puts his arms over his brother's shoulder and Primo reply's by doing the same. These last few minutes in silence of the film is the most beautiful part of the entire movie. It represents the fact they need to feed each other, not just physically, but in every way. One cannot live without the other. It is a bond which is ultimately inseparable.
Movie Review: Great Little Story of Italians, Food, and how they relate.
Summary: 5 Stars
`Big Night' is co-writer / co-director Stanley Tucci's contribution to the select collection of `food films'. The leading members of this very gourmet list of films is the Japanese `Tampopo' and the French `Babette's Feast'. If you look at it cross-eyed, you may even add Peter Greenway's `The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover'. `Tampopo' is hands down the most interesting of these, but `Big Night' can hold its own in this crowd of culinary celluloid.
Like Siskel and Ebert, you will like this movie a lot if you like movies by Fellini and Renoir. I sensed more than a few little echos here and there of Fellini's `La Dolce Vita', although I confess Tucci simply does not have the great touch of the Fredrico Fellini / Marcello Mastroianni team. But that bar is so high, Tucci Company still manage to come in with a remarkable little film.
For fans of some of the players in this film such as Minnie Driver, Isabella Rosselini, Tony Shalhoub, and `C. J. Craig', Allison Janney, you may be disappointed at the rather thin part each of these actors receives, although all but Miss West Wing carry their roles off with great skill. While on the surface the main drama seems to be between Tucci and Shalhoub, the two immigrant Italian brothers who own and run a small high quality restaurant in 1957 New Jersey, the best tension is between Tucci's character and Ian Holm (later to famously appear in the role of Bilbo Baggins in `Lord of the Rings'). Holm plays a competing restaurateur whose very successful establishment is just down the block from the brothers' weakly performing `Restorante'.
The setup for understanding the difficulties the brothers face is what we see on a typically light night when a typical 1950's American woman is served a seafood risotto and simply cannot understand the dish, as she was expecting spaghetti with the rice and sees no seafood on the dish. This sets up the culinary interest to the foodies in the audience who are fully aware of the difference between classic Italian fare and the `Italian-American' cuisine being sold down the street at Holm's restaurant. Of course chef and older brother Shalhoub is totally unsympathetic to these uneducated tastes and balks at simply making a side dish of spaghetti to go along with the rice.
This movie was made before 2001 and Shalhoub shows absolutely no trace of his Emmy award winning Adrian Monk persona. Behind his great Groucho mustache, one can almost not even recognize him, as even the quality of his voice seems changed to fit the part.
The driving force behind the story is the fact that the bank will no longer extend the deadline on the loan for their restaurant, so the brothers need to come up with much more money than they currently take in over the course of a week. Holm offers the suggestion that part of the success of his restaurant lies in the interest he generates with celebrities who come to eat at his place and leave lots of autographed photographs behind. So, Holm suggests that he will attract Louie Prima to come to the brothers' restaurant to eat on a particular `Big Night'
Preparation of the food for this event brings culinary interest back to the forefront when we see Shalhoub and his assistant hand make pasta which is then assembled into that most elaborate dish an `Il Timpano', a great upside down casserole filled with pasta, sauce, sausage, and all sorts of other good things to eat.
A secondary plot is the relation of Tucci with girlfriend Minnie Driver complicated with an affair with Holm's wife, played by Isabella Rosselini. The end of the movie leaves many of these relationships in disarray, most especially the one between the brothers.
It is totally proper that almost all the music is from recordings of performances by Louie Prima and wife Keely Smith. The feeling of being filmed in the mid-1950's is almost perfect except for the to me dreadful coloring which may work on `The Matrix' but which does not work on northern New Jersey. Everything looks red and green. The movie would have been much better served by having been filmed in black and white a la Woody Allen of `Manhatten' or in a lush 1950's Technicolor where the colors are more real than in real life.
This is a great little movie with the one property that makes buying it on DVD worth while. It will yield additional pleasures on a second and third and fourth viewing, as long as you liked it to begin with. I bought it and I was not disappointed.
Movie Review: Wonderful "Little Film" -- So-So DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
Stanley Tucci, as actor, co-writer, and co-director (with Campbell Scott, who also plays a pitch-perfect small part as a car salesman), deserves a great deal of the credit for this small, intimate, delightful film. But the film resonates because it got so many of the little touches right, from the ensemble cast to the soundtrack to the editing to the cinematography. So there is a lot of credit to go around.Tucci plays Secondo, the aptly named younger of two Italian brothers who have emigrated to New Jersey from the Old Country. Secondo is the entrepreneur, the guy who wants the big Cadillac. Primo (Tony Shahloub), the older brother, is the magician of a chef. Primo is so good, in fact, that his culinary masterpieces go over the heads of the good folks of New Jersey. When contemplating a wonderful seafood risotto, a diner complains that she can't see the seafood, and that her desired side of spaghetti doesn't come with meatballs (inspiring the wonderful line, "Sometimes spaghetti wants to be alone").
Primo bemoans the fact that he is serving food to Philistines, but the sad fact is that most of the Philistines are eating across the street at Pascal's restaurant. Pascal, played with great zest by Ian Holm, knows that you have to give the customer what he wants -- even if it is culinary sacrilege. The contrasts between the restaurants, from the colors to the lighting to the clientele, could not be more staggering!
Secondo laments to Pascal of his financial woes, but refuses Pascal's (repeated) offer to come work for him. Pascal, being a big-hearted guy, tells Secondo to pull of a "big night," with no holds barred. Pascal will invite his good friend, Louis Prima, who will come, eat, and love Secondo's restaurant. Then, the people will come.
So the story builds to the big night (a side plot regarding Secondo's tortured love life notwithstanding), which is where the movie really takes off.
Organizing the banquet scene into courses, "Big Night" revels in the wonders that can only be brought about by great cooking. The cast has a difficult task -- how do you emote rapture without going over the top? The ensemble cast, which includes Isabella Rosselini, Minnie Driver, and Allison Janney, nails this task just right. The cooking scenes are also hectic and impressive without going over the top, too.
Following the big night, many truths are revealed, perhaps because it is impossible to deceive after having such a wondrous experience. If this film doesn't move you, or inspire you to get thee hence to an Italian restaurant, you have no heart!
But again, the heart of the movie is its dedication to the small touches. From Primo using his cup to tamp down his espresso grounds to the making of a simple omelet, this movie gets it all just right.
The DVD does not have much to offer as far as extras go. What it does have is one heck of little film.
Movie Review: feast of the heart
Summary: 5 Stars
"Big Night" is more than just a film about food, it's about heart, brotherhood and the American Dream. Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and Secundo (Stanley Tucci) are Italian brothers struggling to make their small restaurant a success. Secondo (called "Seco" for short) is thankful to be in the United States. His English is strong and he sees America as the land of opportunity. His brother Primo is an artist with food - an amazing talent who is so passionate about food, he refers to the lackluster menu of the restaurant across the street as the "rape of cuisine." And he's not kidding when he says it, either.
Seco may have been born in Italy, but he's always been an American in his heart. He understands the culture and knows that you have to give Americans what they want. Primo is insulted by the reprobate palate of their backwards clientele and refuses to compromise.
Many plots intertwine... Seco's romance with Phyllis (Minnie Driver) contrasted with his affair with Gabriella (the stunningly gorgeous Isabella Rosellini), and the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads - the impending foreclosure of their restaurant.
Primo and Secondo have one last shot at success as an impending visit by Jazz performer Louis Prima promises to put their little piece of Italy on the map.
Ian Holm plays their nemesis, Pascal, a competing restaurateur who admires Primo's talents and has no qualms about ruining the lives of his fellow Italian-Americans in the spirit of not-so-friendly competition.
Everything hinges on the big night - where their friends and some of the local "who's who" muckety-mucks experience Primo's genius. One course after another and with sexual inuendos, those who are feasting moan in delight. As the dessert tray approaches, the bloated guests get ready to undo their pants to stuff themselves even more.
In the end, the big night is truly a big event, but just another night. The real story is the love of these two brothers. They drive each other crazy, but they love one another. Nothing ends up in a neat, tidy little bow in the end - just like real life, Primo and Seco have no idea what tomorrow may bring for them, but they will face it together.
As a DVD, this is pretty underwhelming. The menu looks like it was it was drawn by Stevie Wonder and other than a trailer and an option for subtitles, there are no features worth writing home about. I have a 7-year-old DVD player and still, the DVD looks great on my HDTV, even without progressive scan or up-converting.
I would have liked to have seen interviews with the cast and directors... but as a film, it was a delight to watch.
Movie Review: a delicious film (on many levels).....
Summary: 5 Stars
BIG NIGHT is a great film and an equally great story, that really appeals to the senses. For starters, we see great Italian food shots, during the "big night" (for which the film derives its title). I am not much of an Italian food aficianado, but it makes me want to be! Everything from the colorful appetizers, to the main course-what I would describe as a pasta cake, loaded with sausage, cheese and other filling ingredients, just fill your senses and you can just smell the basil, cheese and tomato sauce. Secondly, the writing and what the actors do with that writing (thanks to great direction by Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott, as well as a great cast) is just beautiful.
The plot is modelled on the hopes and dreams of many immigrants, arriving on the shores of 1950s United States, searching for a better life, determined to achieve something bigger and better than what they could ever have accomplished, back home (there is a poignance to this theme, especially at this time, where that dream is more and more fleeting, as we are all being pulled into a state of paranoia and disdain, particularly toward foreigners). Two brothers, Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and Segundo (Stanley Tucci) own and operate a failing Italian restaurant. Though, Primo is an amazing and dedicated chef, Segundo is the more wily and crafty younger brother, determined to cut a deal and make them successful. When they get wind of an opportunity to bring in famous swing singer Louis Prima, to their restaurant, for one very big night, how can they pass up on this opportunity? This could either make or break their reputation, as well as their bank account.
BIG NIGHT is beautifully crafted, and another great actor (who we know better as a well-respected and very talented salsa star) featured here is Marc Anthony, in an understated role as their young, quiet and slightly bumbling waiter, at the restaurant. The women featured in this film are gorgeous, too. Minnie Driver is stunningly beautiful, as Phyllis, Segundo's American girlfriend, and Isabella Rossellini plays the "other woman." I don't want to divulge any more plot details. I will say that this is a film that you really can't compare to other "food movies," though many have anyway. It's really a very intelligent character study about the immigrant experience, with food as a very colorful (and flavorful) backdrop.