TORTILLA SOUP
US, 2001, 103 minutes, Colour.
Hector Elizondo, Jacqueline Obradors, Tamara Mellow, Nikolai Kinski, Paul Rodriguez, Elizabeth Pena, Raquel Welch.
Directed by Maria Ripoll.
The continued success of television programs on food and cooking as well as the number of books available for creativity in the kitchen means that the general public enjoys looking at cooking. In fact, a friend remarked that it would be interesting to do an article on the films which have focussed on cooking recently.
In the last year there has been What's Cooking (from the director of Bend it like Beckham, which also had some Indian kitchen sequences) and Dinner Rush (about life in a New York restaurant and behind the scenes in its kitchen). One of the other films he mentioned was Eat Drink Man Woman, an engaging Taiwanese film by director Ang Lee who made Sense and Sensibility and Crouching Dragon, Hidden Tiger. It is about a family where the patriarchal father, a top chef, is losing his sense of taste. He is also losing his three daughters who are feeling the need to leave home and experience their independence. It was a humorous film with some serious undertones.
In looking at the information about the new release, Tortilla Soup, we found that, in fact, it is a remake of Eat Drink Man Woman and a very close remake at that. The film-makers have shifted the action to Los Angeles and the Hispanic community and it works well using all the benefits of the original. It does mean that the characters are much more emotional and volatile than the comparatively quiet Taiwanese.
Hector Elizondo is the chef who demands that his daughters never miss his Sunday dinner - banquet is more like it. If you enjoy seeing detailed food selection and preparation as well as the cooking and the delicious meals, then you won't be disappointed. (And don't leave before the final credits where there are photo stills of all the dishes.)
On the serious side, we see the perennial problems that crop up in families. Dad, a widower, does not realise how restrictive and controlling he is. The young daughter wants time off to 'find herself' before going to college and moves in with a boyfriend. The middle sister has a good job offer in Barcelona but would rather be a chef like her father. The prim oldest sister seems to have been influenced away from her Catholicism by a devout Fundamentalist group. She thinks she is being courted by the school baseball coach. There is also a neighbour with a little daughter and a whirlwind visit from her dominating mother (played effectively by Raquel Welch in a rare screen appearance).
So, while the family eat many wonderful meals, they also sort out their problems. The end is positive and full of hope. Perhaps our own cuisine is rather more staid than what we see on screen, but the problems and the solutions are just as real.
1. An entertaining comedy-drama? The Hispanic community of Los Angeles? The blend of United States and Mexico, Brazil and Argentina?
2. The adaptation from the Taiwanese film, Eat Drink Man Woman? The close following of the screenplay, situations, characters? Universal issues?
3. The Los Angeles locations, homes, workplaces, schools, the streets? Colourful and bright? Not a dangerous place, one for interrelationships and love? The musical score?
4. The focus on the family, Martin as patriarch, his having his daughters around him, especially for the Sunday dinner? His preparations, their presence, discussions? The family having to change, the girls growing up?
5. Martin, widower, people's comments about him, his preparing the meals for his daughters? His love for them, control and expectations? His losing his sense of taste and its effect on him? Having to go to the restaurant? His skills as a chef? His collaboration with the staff, his friendship with Gomez? Gomez and the tasting, the collapse, hospital, returning to the restaurant and dying? The funeral and Martin's reaction? His attitude towards each of his daughters, to Carmen and her business life, his not wanting her to be a chef, her relationships? His relationship to Letitia, her religiosity, saying Grace? To Maribel, wanting her to go to college, youthfulness and rebellion? His friendship with Yolanda and Yolanda's daughter, making the lunches for her, going to school, exchanging them? Yolanda finding out and keeping her daughter's secret? The arrival of Hortensia, his interactions with her, her misinterpretation of his attentions? Falling in love with Yolanda, the preparation of the dinner, the announcement? His future and a happy marriage? Yolanda pregnant?
6. Carmen, her broken relationships, her business world connections, the possibility of going to Barcelona? At home, the interaction with each sister, her care for her father? Her interest in cooking, her father's criticisms? Her support of each of the sisters, especially in their relationships? The final decision to go, to the airport, her father's farewell? Her return home? Her working in the restaurant and fulfilling her ambitions as a chef?
7. Letitia, religiosity, her Catholicism, her born-again Christianity, her long Graces and prayers? Prim and proper? Meeting Carmen, the possibility of her changing her hair and her fearful reaction? The cards and the poems - and the cruel irony that she was being teased by the students? Her thinking it was Orlando, watching him, the approach, waiting for the cards? Her finally transforming her appearance, the reaction of the students and the staff? Her going onto the baseball field, kissing Orlando? Discovering the truth, his sensitive handling of the situation? Their falling in love, hurrying to Las Vegas to be married, coming to the meal, announcing it to Martin? His acceptance of it?
8. Maribel and her age, work in the shop, meeting Andy by chance, having the coffee with him? The growing friendship? Her reaction against her father, wanting to find herself, announcing that she was not going to college? Her angry response and moving in with Andy, transforming his apartment, cleaning things up, putting his papers where he couldn't find them? Driving Andy berserk? Their clash, her wanting to move out? Her finally calming down, acknowledging the mess she was making of her life?
9. Hortensia and her fussing about her daughter, wanting to marry Martin? The contrast with Yolanda, her quiet, her daughter, the divorce coming through?
10. The family meal, the couples all gathered together, Martin and his speaking in Spanish and English, which he had previously forbidden? His later rediscovering his sense of taste? The announcement about his marriage? The happy response - and the final meal where everyone was gathered around?
11. The focus on food, selection, preparation, cooking, the visuals of the meals? The final credits and the stills? The focus on food in itself, as a means of communication, of celebration? Family problems and family love in the context of food and meals?
