“Give people what they want, then later you can give them what you want.”
Food is a primal devotion. Any occasion I have to eat or drink something delicious is an occasion to be seized. The fact of enjoying my appetite is a baseline of personal experience that renews in me every few hours, better than clockwork.
I love to eat.
It may be no surprise, then, that I think Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci’s Big Night (1996) is a wonderful movie about food and eating, and all the preparation required of something so simple as a meal. And that’s the catch: no meal is simple or carefree.
Big Night centers on a mid-1950s, Jersey Shore, Italian restaurant called “Paradise” that’s run by two immigrant brothers, Primo (Tony Shalhoub), the head chef, and Secondo (Tucci), the restaurant manager. Primo is a perfectionist with a genius for food, while Secondo is a realist who recognizes that restaurant-goers have little patience for a great meal in an increasingly fast-moving, impersonal world of mid-century America.
The tension rises when Secondo wishes to commit to his girlfriend Phyllis (Mini Driver), while still keeping up an affair with Gabriella (Isabella Rossellini), the wife of his chief rival, Pascal (Ian Holm), a successful club owner. At the same time, Primo is deeply smitten with Ann (Allison Janney), a florist, although he’s much too shy for any romantic overture.
One day Pascal offers to persuade world-famous musician, Louis Prima, to visit Paradise. The balance of the movie sees the Brothers prepare for Prima’s visit, exhausting their savings on foodstuffs and drink, hustling their waiter Cristiano (Marc Antony), and going all-in with décor for this one meal that they assume will save their dying restaurant.
After the resulting multi-course dinner, Pascal admits to not contacting Prima because he wishes, instead, to employ the Brothers now that he’s driven Paradise out of business. All loose ends then quickly unravel; Secondo’s affair with Gabriella is uncovered by Phyllis; Primo’s affection for Ann comes out; and the Brothers’ imminent bankruptcy is clarified.
But the movie’s magic is in quiet moments focused on preparing thoughtful food. We spend time at the kitchen marble, watching Primo and Secondo make pasta. We visit the fish monger, take delivery of green groceries, and we watch as dish after dish is prepared without reference to a recipe book, the whole of Big Night being devoted to a memorized food culture that captivates the eye and tantalizes the taste buds.
Last of all, Big Night closes with a lengthy single take the morning after the failed dinner. Secondo makes an omelette and divides the dish into three parts, one each for himself, Cristiano, and Primo, the three forming an awkward trio to celebrate their love through food.
–November 30, 2018
