Big Night

Q: Describe the relationship between the two brothers and their situation as first-generation Italian immigrants.

Primo and Secondo are not American nor Italian. They exist somewhere in between. Yes, their roots are from Italy, but with the American exposure they have become caught between the two worlds which is the premise of the entire movie. Brotherhood is an unbreakable bond, but because Primo and Secondo went on the American journey together, there is an even closer tie between them. Their downfall is how they perceive their time in America.

Secondo understands the business and faces the bills, debts, and clients right in the face, while Primo is behind the scenes cooking up his food, which he sees more as art. This is shows though Primo always accepting art pieces in exchange for his meals- an equal trade. This infuriates Primo. The business is dying and Americans are not Italians, so they do not understand true Italian masterpieces Primo makes.




Primo and Secondo also have the same dream, but Secondo is willing to sacrifice his Italian heritage by serving risotto with spaghetti in order to have the American dream, and Secondo wants to stick to his pure Italian cooking, feeling it is betraying his kind. This is the struggle of being first generation immigrants. Adapt somehow or getting booted out. Which is what happened to each brother. in the end, Primo walked off with Anne and Secondo lost both of his girls (as he should- scum!)

Secondo may be absolute garbage after cheating on his girlfriend, but it has great symbolism. It shows Secondo's struggle to choose the American lifestyle. He is dating an American, but refuses to settle down with her, because he is still holding on to his Italian roots. By loosing both girl by the end, it shows Secondo is now fully changed into the Italian American. He does not need the girls to show that he is both.



Primo on the other hand, refuses to change himself, but he does accept American culture in another way, though Anne. He finally has the American audience he wants to eat his food. Anne is quiet and eager to learn in which Primo's character arc goes full circle and he does become successful, but not in the restaurant business, but in love.



Even though the brothers part at the end, they both are able to come together in the morning, put the fight behind them and eat. Showing their bond will never break.

Soul Food

As Robin Balthrope writes, "The dinner table, laden with good food and surrounded by loving family and friends, is the scene of good times-- jokes and laughter shared by all, children and adults enjoying memories of past dinner(s) and dreams of the future" (108).



In both movies, Once Upon a time when we were Colored, and Soul Food, Food is more than nourishment. In Soul Food Ahmad talks discusses how black people didn't have much to celebrate back then (early -mid 1900s. The period when Once Upon, takes place) and food was the only thing that brought people together to talk with each other, celebrating family. Big Mamas meals are paying respect to like Poppa, Ma Punk and Cliff who lived during the times of slavery by cooking up the same things they ate and staying together as a family, because that's all they had in Once Upon.




Big Mama's cooking transcends periods. By teaching her daughters how to cook, Big Mama not only shows her daughters love but she is able to explain the black struggle. Balthrope explains, "...Many slaves received the worst scraps of food... black cooks learned to create flavorful meals through the use of various spices and a little imagination. A cooking style literacy developed that did not rely on written instructions since slaves were denied literacy...a tradition was established of passing down cooking secrets orally" (104).  Soul food touches on this subject early on when Bird complains about always cooking with ham hocks and not using proper measuring tools.


Cooking is also not only bringing people together, but when people are together working hard on a favorite meal is a way to show love. This is scene in Once Upon when Ma Punk's son comes home from the North to visit her. She cooks him all of his favorite dishes and it is one of the only scenes with a decently elaborate display of food, unlike Soul Food where every Sunday there is a feast. 
Appreciating what you have to eat and who you are eating it with is at the core of Soul Food. It is a important reminder of Black struggle that still is being fought today.

Eat, Drink, anything but Tortilla Soup

Right off the bat, I full heartedly enjoyed Eat Drink Man Woman more than Tortilla Soup.

Here's why:

1. Food

This is the only element I feel that was well executed in both movies. The shots of the food and the importance of family united around a table were always portrayed well. You always get to see the father preparing food, whether it be for the daughter or for the younger future step-daughter's lunch and the elements of the traditional meals in their respective cultures are both properly represented. For example, dishes that stuck out to me in Eat Drink were when Chu was carving out a design on the sides of the water melon, the dragon made out of colorful veggies at one of the family dinners, and even as simple as when Jia- Jen brings Chu his "mountain tea" towards the end of the movie. I was so interested in the name and the little pot Jia-Jen brought it in, I was yelling at the screen "Why would you want water Chu?! Give me the tea!"
In Tortilla Soup, the banana leaf brush scene is always iconic. I also enjoyed the beginning scene when all of the food gets destroyed at Martin's work. I thought it was really interesting seeing all of the baked apples being remade into the little martini glass desserts. Although, I thought the food was more decadent looking in Eat Drink just because it seemed like there were more plates on the table.
Overall, both movies did a decent job.


2. The Core Narrative/ Cinematic choices

Both movies took place in relatively the same time period, so film style was pretty basic Hollywood style shooting for both films (shot reverse shot, soft, warm lighting, good variety of wide, medium and close shots) BUT, the actors, tone of narrative, and dialogue SCREAMED shitty sit com in Tortilla Soup. All of the sisters and giggly, smiley, and relatively dull in comparison to Eat Drink. The character development and traits are so much more fleshed out in Eat Drink. For example, the oldest sister is supposed to be a religious prude who is charred by her last relationship years ago. WHY would she be enticed by the love letters SO much so that she would go to the coach and publicly make out with him? I watched Tortilla Soup first, and after watching Eat Drink and how Jia-Jen goes the podium during yard time and screams at everyone in anger about the letters makes more sense. It also makes more sense for her to figure out it was a student before confronting Coach Chai. While watching Tortilla Soup, I thought to myself "What student is able to make up believable love poems?" and my question was easily answered in Eat Drink when Jia -Jen hears the love song lyrics in the hallway. Everything is more believable in Eat Drink. From Li Kai being torn up about Jia- Ning's friend to getting knocked up; AND Chu knocking up Jin-Rong! Why would they cut that out from Tortilla Soup!? Choices like that make Tortilla Soup garbage compared to Eat Drink... and Tortilla soup was the re-make! Ridiculous!


3. The Characters

The difference in character that stuck out most to me was mostly the supporting roles. The sisters in both movies have the same basic core values and character arc, different things just happen to them, like Jia- Ning becoming pregnant and Maribel is becoming...  more annoying. The character of the Chai is very differently portrayed in both movies. In Eat Drink, he's a bit goofy but has an air of cool about him as he rides off into the crowd on his bike. He's innocent; that's the soul I get from that character. In Tortilla Soup, he's borderline mentally challenged. If that was his character, he nailed it, but I don't think that was supposed to be the character. Tortilla Soup morphed charmingly goofy to blatantly stupid.  For example, the way he continuously talks about "training" Letty and her untoned upper arms is more aggressively idiotic of a request than Chai's inviting for Jia-Jen to go on a team outing with him. It's less intrusive than commenting on Letty's body and then nagging her to let him "help" train her body. Other moments like Li Kai and Jia- Ning's slow growing relationship and Coach Chai being baptized I feel like are important details that Tortilla Soup should not have cut out. What the heck Tortilla Soup! The movie was produced by Starz not Hallmark!

Overall, I loved seeing Joe from Princess Diaries being a strong Mexican man, but Tortilla Soup is t.r.a.s.h. compared to Eat Drink Man Woman.