Saw a really amazing family film tonight called Tortilla Soup. Family in the sense of being about a family although the movie is also fine to watch with the young ones. Hector Elizondo is the patriarch and Elizabeth Pena, Jacqueline Obradors (the latest NYPD Blue hottie), and Tamara Mello are his daughters. The plot is pretty basic, Mom is long since passed away and the daughters each have a romantic episode, and Dad has lost his senses of taste and smell. The action revolves around the kitchen–Dad is a master chef and he’s taught his daughters well–so a nice bowl of popcorn hit the spot.
Director Maria Ripoll is the real master here, bringing out terrific performances from all the actors, framing the shots with lots of bright colors, and managing the pacing spot on. This is actually a remake of an acclaimed Chinese film (co-written and directed by Crouching Tiger’s Ang Lee) called Eat Drink Man Woman but it really works unlike so many other remakes.And I can’t leave out mention of Raquel Welch, who looks amazing at 60, showing as a woman looking to take Elizondo as husband number five. On the surface this doesn’t come across as such a good film but trust me, which probably accounts for it’s less than amazing box office, but it is.
Recommended
Earlier, while waiting for the Sweet One’s delicious chicken adobo, we took in a classic Jerry Lewis movie, Cinderfella, which concerned family as well but in an entirely different light. Superficially an update of Cinderalla, complete with fairy godfather (the extremely red-nosed Ed Wynn), this really is just a vehicle for Lewis’s physical comedy. Dame Judith Anderson plays the wicked stepmother (Trek connection: Anderson played High Priestess T’Lar in The Search for Spock), Robert Hutton and Henry Silva are the brothers, and Anna Maria Alberghetti as the lovely Princess Charming, staying with Anderson et fils while visiting America to find a husband. Lewis’ family expect her to hook up with Hutton. Wink wink nudge nudge. But this is a prime example of the work Lewis did after leaving Dean Martin; so many dismiss him these days with a snarky comment about how the French love him but that’s unwarranted–in his prime, the late ’40s through the mid-60s, he did work as well as anyone.
Recommended
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