Movie Notes: Big Night

September 4th, 2007

= 4 stars

Starring Stanley Tucci, Tony Shalhoub, Minnie Driver
Directed by Stanley Tucci

Big Night — seemingly yet another indie-food film in the vein of Chocolat, Eat Drink Man Woman, Tampopo — has some additional things going for it: some great casting and a core relationship of two Italian immigrant brothers, Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci), owners of a struggling restaurant in 1950s America.

Secondo acts as business manager and realizes the restaurant is about to fail, while Primo is a grumpy, perfectionist chef who prepares meals in the traditional Italian style, refusing cater to the customers. The film’s first scene efficiently establishes these elements as Primo refuses to serve rissoto with a side of spaghetti because those are two starch dishes. Secondo struggles to save the restaurant and not anger his brother. The underlying reality is they need each other to surivive in this new country.

Other actors may make some drool. Pascal (Ian Holm) and Gabriella (Isabella Rosselini) are two older, successful restaurantiers who offer to help the brothers by inviting famous musician Louis Prima for one “big night” dinner that will hopefully attract more diners via word of mouth. The also-solid Minnie Driver plays Secondo’s love interest, Phyllis.

Eventually, we’re treated to a multi-course Italian dinner that is truly amazing to behold. The brothers prepare a “timpano” which is a huge, pasta dish stuffed with pasta, sauce, sausage, and eggs. Some tasteful overhead shots frame pasta, hand-made from scratch starting with eggs in mounds of flour. Big Night had both Ratatouille and No Reservations beat in terms of making me want to gorge myself afterwards.

Another conflict is added to make the stakes of the “Big Night” more climactic — Stanley and Gabriella are in the midst of an affair, and the secret threatens to ruin his relationship with Phyllis.

Big Night has that slow, warm, indie pace that takes a bit of time to get into — but I found payoffs between every course. The special treat is the wordless final scene, communicated with subtle body language, that is one of the most enjoyable things I’ve seen in quite a while. It’s just about the welcoming pleasure of food, and how it’s used to express friendship, care, and love — especially when so much else has let you down.

IMDB: Big Night
Wikipedia: Big Night
Rotten Tomatoes: Big Night 96%