Big Night

Big Night is one of the best English-language food movies ever made. Everything about it just shines. Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub, as immigrant brothers running an authentic Italian restaurant in 1950's New Jersey, are outstanding.  Minnie Driver, Ian Holm, Isabella Rosselini and Allison Janney lead an amazing supporting cast.

Stanley Tucci plays Secondo, the younger brother, who handles the front of the house of their struggling Italian restaurant, along with helping out in the kitchen. Tony Shalhoub plays Primo, the creative genius and older brother, who refuses to compromise his culinary integrity.

The music is just perfect. The popular songs of the time along with the musical score complement the scenes superbly. The costumes, hair styles and even the cars help establish that we are in a time and place that rarely saw sophisticated dining outside of the city.

Now let's talk about the food. As Primo says, "People should come just for the food."

If you have not yet seen this film, STOP reading now, and buy, rent or borrow it.

We love how there are several scenes throughout the film in which we just see the brothers cooking, with very little or no dialogue. Even during the opening credits, the two brothers are working in the kitchen, getting ready to open for the evening, and it just establishes their relationship immediately.

The Big Night

Central to the plot, of course, is the feast that they prepare for their special guest, Louis Prima.

We see the brothers driving back with a large fish, Primo's visit to the florist, the greengrocer dropping off the vegetables and herbs, Secondo acquiring the liquor, and a scene where they construct the timpano.

Finally, preparations are complete, and guests begin arriving. They relax with wine and drinks, along with focaccia, crostini and other delights.

La Zuppa:

The soup course features a light clear broth with vegetables and pasta.

I Primi

Il Risotto: Three different kinds, pesto, regular, seafood, are served on a single plate, garnished with thyme twigs.

Il Timpano: This amazing dish is layers of rolled penne-like pasta, sausage pieces, hard-boiled eggs, and a tomato-based sauce, all wrapped up in a pasta shell, baked in a large pot.

I Secondi

For the main course, a steady stream of food is brought out to table, led by roast chickens and a whole fish. The sides, or contorni, we could identify are asparagus, tomatoes topped with bread crumbs, roasted garlic, beets, artichokes, potatoes and carrots.

The guests think they are done and are looking pretty stuffed, when the brothers bring out a whole roast suckling pig.

I Dolci

At this point, the guests are in a food coma, and you can see nuts, grapes, oranges, other fruit and empty bottles of bubbly on the table.

The whole feast is choreographed, shot and edited so well.  The dancing, the music, the ecstasy in the eyes of the guests as they savour every bite of the meal are a treat to view. The feast is a tremendous success.

At the end of the movie, there is a five-minute single-shot scene. Secondo cooks eggs, lays out breakfast, and they eat. There's no dialogue, but so much is conveyed, and we achieve closure without wrapping things up neatly in a Hollywood ending.