Big Night is a wonderfully well observed independent American film, from the mid 1990s, about identity; apparent class; honour; perseverance and the struggles in trying to integrate one's self to a foreign culture whilst desperately attempting to balance what you simultaneously are at heart. The film is a wonderful character piece; a film documenting cultures clashing and basic conventions of a particular field of culture, in this case: food, at the very forefront. Where the goal of the central characters is to attain the American Dream to a degree, the film covers the hardships in having to apparently let go one's traditional methods and forge new identities in a foreign territory as the supply and demands take on different forms.
The film documents the troubled times of two immigrant brothers from Italy, both of whom own a restaurant in 1950s New Jersey, and their misadventures in keeping the business afloat as the manifestation of their presence has an affect on those in and around the local area. The brothers are Primo (Shalhoub) and Secondo (Tucci), their food joint is named Paradise and proudly sells the best of local Italian cuisine of the home shores from whence they both come, local dishes as well as special ingredients that produce special dishes known only to their family name. They dress smartly and the interior of the restaurant is magnificent, our first meeting with Primo sees him make sure the individual chopping the garlic gets it spot on so as to slice it to a finely tuned degree, getting the most possible out of the exercise. The film's primary point of interest is the clash in cultures these Europeans find themselves at odds with when held up against the American standards of eating, epitomised early on by a Secondo jibe at the American's eating habits of whom he accuses of preferring hot-dogs, a supposedly cheap and nasty source of replenishment, over the glorious Risotto.
The brothers have very few customers, a local American couple early on sit in an empty restaurant and there is generally a sense of the couple getting mixed up in what they want; what they're ultimately ordering and the changes the female participant of the couple feels ought to be made to the dish she wants, thus highlighting the apparent ignorance the Americans possess as to what is considered by the central characters and the film itself as cuisine of a genuinely high order. Nearby lies Pascal's (Holm) restaurant, a place named after the man himself and as the brothers' business lies dormant in steady decline; Pascal serves all the junk food both parties seem to agree is as such, but said produce is what the Americans keep coming back for and is keeps Pascal's afloat. Primo and Secondo's own feeling is that buckling to the masses is unthinkable, and that serving such inadequate meals ought to be a crime against fine cuisine. We feel Holm's character shares similar sentiments and undergoes a degree of pain in his ultimate decision, but the temptation to be lead into submission to local demands thus eliminating any strain was apparently too great.
Whatever parallels you'd like to draw in relation to this very European and very foreign presence in America, and both the antithetical process and attitudes towards something that can be very fine, goes without apology. The Americans, whom seemingly can only appreciate complete crap in what they choose to venture out and indulge in, only come across as naive and dumbed-down as much the two brothers come across as stubborn and flawed themselves. Secondo maintains a relationship with Phyillis (Driver), but has an affair with the wife of Pascal himself named Gabriella (Rossellini) but the film is more about the relationship between two brothers and two cultures. The text might be read into as being anti-American in its labelling of them as idiots whom persistently seek the lowest form of whatever said cultural item; only rarely does an example break out of said cycle, in doing so the film portraying them as just hopelessly ill at ease with their now new surroundings. This, as the Europeans whom are humorously represented by way of the perfectionist; life-loving; life-affirming; intelligent and well dressed Italians, struggle to comprehend the mindsets of their newly acquainted neighbours and cousins after having been brought up on supremely nourishing, now apparently elitist, items. The restaurant itself sits perched on a precipice between a welcoming beach plus promise of the ocean and a bog-standard urban street full of stores, further highlighting how easy it is as to sway either side of the line in what you get in regards to beauty or more something commonplace; the brothers even have an artist come regularly to their place, the fact the man's an artist sees the film allow each party to share the same apparent 'elitist' space in the brother's restaurant, as the fact either of their roles to produce fine items around supposedly more main stream tastes is highlighted.
The big night from whence the title derives is the event the film builds to, Pascal proposing the visiting of a famous musician he's regularly in contact with to 'Paradise' might provide it with the leg-up in cash intake the place needs. The brothers gamble, producing all the specialised dishes they know for the huge crowd expected to turn up for the musical event; the food still taking second place to the event, remember, as the guarantee of razzmatazz and entertainment gets them in on a primary level just so that they may be able to have the opportunity to come to realise that finer, lesser mainstream things can be just as, if not more, enjoyable when given the chance. The cast do an immaculate job as these emotionally torn, financially struggling individuals with bonds to one another; their girlfriends; customers and rivals with the film displaying some wonderful writing in what is a wonderfully played out film.
The film documents the troubled times of two immigrant brothers from Italy, both of whom own a restaurant in 1950s New Jersey, and their misadventures in keeping the business afloat as the manifestation of their presence has an affect on those in and around the local area. The brothers are Primo (Shalhoub) and Secondo (Tucci), their food joint is named Paradise and proudly sells the best of local Italian cuisine of the home shores from whence they both come, local dishes as well as special ingredients that produce special dishes known only to their family name. They dress smartly and the interior of the restaurant is magnificent, our first meeting with Primo sees him make sure the individual chopping the garlic gets it spot on so as to slice it to a finely tuned degree, getting the most possible out of the exercise. The film's primary point of interest is the clash in cultures these Europeans find themselves at odds with when held up against the American standards of eating, epitomised early on by a Secondo jibe at the American's eating habits of whom he accuses of preferring hot-dogs, a supposedly cheap and nasty source of replenishment, over the glorious Risotto.
The brothers have very few customers, a local American couple early on sit in an empty restaurant and there is generally a sense of the couple getting mixed up in what they want; what they're ultimately ordering and the changes the female participant of the couple feels ought to be made to the dish she wants, thus highlighting the apparent ignorance the Americans possess as to what is considered by the central characters and the film itself as cuisine of a genuinely high order. Nearby lies Pascal's (Holm) restaurant, a place named after the man himself and as the brothers' business lies dormant in steady decline; Pascal serves all the junk food both parties seem to agree is as such, but said produce is what the Americans keep coming back for and is keeps Pascal's afloat. Primo and Secondo's own feeling is that buckling to the masses is unthinkable, and that serving such inadequate meals ought to be a crime against fine cuisine. We feel Holm's character shares similar sentiments and undergoes a degree of pain in his ultimate decision, but the temptation to be lead into submission to local demands thus eliminating any strain was apparently too great.
Whatever parallels you'd like to draw in relation to this very European and very foreign presence in America, and both the antithetical process and attitudes towards something that can be very fine, goes without apology. The Americans, whom seemingly can only appreciate complete crap in what they choose to venture out and indulge in, only come across as naive and dumbed-down as much the two brothers come across as stubborn and flawed themselves. Secondo maintains a relationship with Phyillis (Driver), but has an affair with the wife of Pascal himself named Gabriella (Rossellini) but the film is more about the relationship between two brothers and two cultures. The text might be read into as being anti-American in its labelling of them as idiots whom persistently seek the lowest form of whatever said cultural item; only rarely does an example break out of said cycle, in doing so the film portraying them as just hopelessly ill at ease with their now new surroundings. This, as the Europeans whom are humorously represented by way of the perfectionist; life-loving; life-affirming; intelligent and well dressed Italians, struggle to comprehend the mindsets of their newly acquainted neighbours and cousins after having been brought up on supremely nourishing, now apparently elitist, items. The restaurant itself sits perched on a precipice between a welcoming beach plus promise of the ocean and a bog-standard urban street full of stores, further highlighting how easy it is as to sway either side of the line in what you get in regards to beauty or more something commonplace; the brothers even have an artist come regularly to their place, the fact the man's an artist sees the film allow each party to share the same apparent 'elitist' space in the brother's restaurant, as the fact either of their roles to produce fine items around supposedly more main stream tastes is highlighted.
The big night from whence the title derives is the event the film builds to, Pascal proposing the visiting of a famous musician he's regularly in contact with to 'Paradise' might provide it with the leg-up in cash intake the place needs. The brothers gamble, producing all the specialised dishes they know for the huge crowd expected to turn up for the musical event; the food still taking second place to the event, remember, as the guarantee of razzmatazz and entertainment gets them in on a primary level just so that they may be able to have the opportunity to come to realise that finer, lesser mainstream things can be just as, if not more, enjoyable when given the chance. The cast do an immaculate job as these emotionally torn, financially struggling individuals with bonds to one another; their girlfriends; customers and rivals with the film displaying some wonderful writing in what is a wonderfully played out film.