|
During
the 1950s, two immigrant Italian brothers, Primo and Secondo are
trying to face the difficulties of running a restaurant.
Primo is a master chef who serves culinary delights every night.
The only problem is that frequently there is no one to serve
food to. The two brothers are lucky if anyone even shows up to
eat, since the diners all expect standard Italian-American food
and not gourmet fare. When someone does decide to dine at their
restaurant, Paradise, Secondo is forced to cope with his
brother's artistic temperament. When one woman orders risotto
and is dismayed that it doesn't come with spaghetti, she orders
it on the side; Secondo goes into the kitchen to ask Primo to
prepare a side of spaghetti. Instead of preparing it Primo
becomes enraged that she would dare to eat two different
starches with her meal. The neighbouring Italian restaurant
owned by Secondo's friend Pascal is filled every night, but
the food that is served there is strictly meatballs and
spaghetti. Desperate to keep their restaurant open Secondo
asks Pascal for a loan; instead Pascal promises to get the
famous singer Louis Prima to eat at Secondo's restaurant, in the
hope that the celebrity's dining there will put it on the map.
The brothers invest all they have in the anticipated "big
night."
As
preparations begin for the big night with Louis Prima the food
takes the starring role. The preparation of the
timpani is a
wonderful sight to behold. The pasta is hand-made and rolled and
everything is put into an enormous pot with the care of a
surgeon. Finally when the two brothers decide to serve the
timpani they carefully remove the lid and turn the pot upside
down, like a cake. Then before Primo cuts it he lightly
feels the timpani and cocks his head as if he can hear the
timpani. Watching everyone eat the magnificent feast is no less
exciting than watching it being prepared. After eating the feast
that Primo prepared everyone is exhausted, one woman tearfully
exclaims, "My mother was a terrible cook!" In the final moments
of the film we are also treated to a wonderful scene in which
the two brothers wordlessly eat a simple omelette. Big Night is
truly a food film; without the food there is no movie. There
are too many food scenes to list all of them. It is also worthy
to note that not once will you see spaghetti or meatballs in
Primo's kitchen. |
