Tortilla Soup

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Soup</div> <div> <IMG SRC="1312608c0.jpg" border=0 width="96" height="140" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005TNEQ/reelmoviecriticc"> Tortilla Soup on DVD</A>  </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="501" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 39 WIDTH="495"><bR> <div> <A HREF="http://site25523.dellhost.com/id342.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://site25523.dellhost.com/id342.htm"><U><B>Discounts on Cookbooks</B></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="575"><div> <B>Tortilla Soup ***1/2 (PG-13)</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Reviewed By George O. Singleton</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="545"><div> I have an announcement!</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Martin: Hector Elizondo</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Carmen: Jacqueline Obradors</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Maribel: Tamara Mello</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Yolanda: Constance Marie</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Andy: Nikolai Kinski</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Letitcia: Elizabeth Pena</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Rachel: Karen Dyer</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Orlando: Paul Rodriguez</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Hortensia: Raquel Welch</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Director: Maria Ripoll</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>30 Second Bottom Line</B>: The widowed father of three grown daughters tries to keep his family together with their weekly gatherings for dinner featuring his gourmet cooking and lots of conversation.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B> Martin (Hector Elizondo) is a retired restaurant owner who has three passions in life, of which only two are partially fulfilled. He loves cooking at home as he prepares mouth-watering dishes for his three daughters who have dinner with him once a week. That covers two things that are important to him, but not the third, which is his wife who has been deceased for fifteen years.</div> <bR> <div> Martin's three daughters have very different personalities. Carmen (Jacqueline Obradors) has a MBA and is doing well in the business world. Letitcia (Elizabeth Pena) is a high school chemistry teacher who has been divorced for some time and is about as lonely as her father. Maribel (Tamara Mello) is not too long out of high school and the decision that has been made for her is to go to college. The one thing you can count on at each family dinner is an argument because someone will take strong exception with the actions of another. When Letitcia implies that Carmen sleeps around she replies that just because she's had sex in the last decade does not mean she is a slut. </div> <bR> <div> Each woman has a passion regarding a man and/or a job, which evolves as the story unfolds. Hortensia (Raquel Welch) comes on the scene as the mother of Martin's next door neighbor Yolanda (Constance Marie), who is not as old as his former wife but not as young as his oldest daughter. Love is in the air throughout the movie.</div> <bR> <div> There are really two stories being told, one examines relationships and the other involves the visual sense of the importance of food for one's spirit. Both are sensual. Cutting an onion becomes artifice. We see how to cook fresh fish on an open fire; make homemade ice cream; and even how to grill cactus so that a kid who is finicky about what he eats, loves it. The film lingers lovingly and takes its time, just like a fine meal.</div> <bR> <div> The essence of the film is captured in the making of a toast when glasses are touched. Do you realize that in the process of toasting, that all five senses are used? You <I>touch</I> the glass, <I>smell</I> the drink, <I>see</I> the color, <I>hear</I> the glasses clink and finally you <I>taste</I> the beverage. This should get you to the sixth sense, thinking about your feelings and enjoying this moment in your life.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More About It</B>: The comparison to <I>Eat Drink Man Woman</I> is inevitable and also somewhat unfair if left at that. This film is much bigger than a Latino remake of something that has been done before.  It does focus on food and family issues, as in other fine films such as <I><B>What's Cooking?,</B></I><I><B> </B></I><I><B>Soul Food,</B></I><I><B> </B></I><I><B>Big Night,</B></I><I><B> </B></I>and<I><B> </B></I><I><B>Amati Girls</B></I>. To the extent this is a genre, I'd like to see more films like it. It has a big heart and is beautiful in a multi-dimensional manner. The food is spiritual to the soul and to the eyes. </div> <bR> <div> People make the world go around and trying to get that right fit is an ongoing process. <I><B>Tortilla Soup</B></I> is not perfect and that's part of what makes it so wonderful-life is not perfect. People often make mistakes, but in the end, more come around to do the right thing than those who do not. That alone speaks to the very nature of the concept of hope and not giving up on others as well as oneself.</div> <bR> <div> What we see on-screen is a Mexican American family trying to make it in America. The film finds a way to make some subtle and intelligent political statements about ethnicity and self-image. Martin's business partner is a Cuban, and he is the man whom Carmen can talk to like she wishes she could with her father. Maribel's boyfriend Andy is a white Brazilian who seems to be ready and willing to make it clear that he has European lineage. A classic line by Martin is that he thought that the only whites in South America were Nazi war criminals.</div> <bR> <div> There are some great scenes in this film. At some point each of the daughters and Martin has "an announcement to make." When Letitcia makes hers, you want to cheer with joy and strong emotion. Later when Martin makes his, it's both serious and hilarious at the same time. Raquel Welch has an "extended cameo" that is wonderful. </div> <bR> <div> This is one of those films that you can nit-pick, just like <I><B>The Road Home</B></I>, but it's real, it's funny, it makes you laugh and it makes you cry. You care about everyone in the film-this is a wonderful movie. <I><B>The Princess Dairies</B></I> is a feel good movie for kids and this has a similar effect for adults. </div> <bR> <div> <I>Tortilla Soup</I> is much more than a film about a widowed, lonely, crabby Mexican-American father with three daughters who try their best to get along. The family dynamics we see here are universal; any country, any race. </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> PG-13 (sexual content)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> George O. Singleton © 2001</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com"><U><U>George@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Mini Filmography </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 39 ><NOBR><div> Hector Elizondo: <I><B>The Princess Diaries</B></I></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Jacqueline Obradors: <B>Atlantis: The Lost Empire</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Tamara Mello: She's All That</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Constance Marie: See Spot Run</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> Nikolai Kinski: West Coast</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Elizabeth Pena: Rush Hour</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Raquel Welch: <I><B>Legally Blonde</B></I></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Karen Dyer: Urban Menace</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Maria Ripoll: Twice Upon a Yesterday</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="286" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>