Reel Food and World Cinema

The brothers have sunk all of their remaining cash into preparing a feast for the titular big night. And despite the masterful food, the night quickly devolves into a disaster. The brothers exchange some rather harsh words. And they wake up the next morning facing uncertainty and self-doubt. This could have all been to set the stage for a dramatic final row between brothers. And yet, the final scene of Big Night could not have been further from that. The brilliant simplicity of the final scene in Big Night lies within its three-part structure. Part one: Secondo prepares an omelet. Part two: Primo enters the scene - bringing with him the question of how the brothers will react to one another after the drama of the previous night? Part three: The brothers eat side by side in a gesture of mutual respect. That’s it - no drama, no big fight, just a quiet, five minute slice-of-life. And yet, because we care about these characters so much, and because there’s so much dramatic tension bu...

On Thursday , I celebrated a makeshift, “quarantine” Passover with my mom and dad. Instead of an elaborately set table for twelve, we ate at the kitchen counter. Instead of spending an hour re-telling the history of the Jew’s enslavement and eventual emancipation in Egypt, we silently agreed to dive straight into our food. And instead of the usual feast, . . . actually that part was the same. My mom spent all day roasting a beautiful brisket. She made a veritable bath of Matzah-ball soup. She baked enough Kugel to serve my entire extended family, and went through about a dozen onions to make the gravy. And despite the stress of these unprecedentedly insane times, I found my doubts and anxieties expelled instantly by the taste of my mom’s cooking. Jewish soul food and African-American soul food have a lot in common. Both are culinary traditions born out of hardship, with many ingredients pulled from scraps - liver and gizzards and bones to make soups and stews. Both heavily rely on f...