Why is it that food, any food, can look so much better on the big screen? And why is it that films where one of the major supporting roles lives in a pot or a pan can't quite get a hold of reality? Take two recent films: Lasse Hallestrom's "Chocolat" and Maria Ripoll's "Tortilla Soup". While these two films vary greatly in subject matter, they have one thing in common: those scrumptious performances by delectable dishes. Each one used them to make the whole more lively, as metaphors or just to excite the audience's taste buds. "Chocolat" was a fantasy of sorts so it was allowed to get away with it. "Tortilla Soup" is a spicy yet often-stale film that at times seems more like a cooking show than a family comedy.
Carmen (Jacqueline Obradors), Leticia (Elizabeth Pena) and Maribel (Tamara Mello) are three sisters living with their father Martin Naranjo (Hector Elizondo). Tradition is stunting the sisters growth, keeping them all in while what they really want to do is move out and become their own. Hector, however, is having his own problems. He is an excellent chef, praised by his friends to be one of the best in the world, yet his taste is failing him. Now add to this everything his daughters are dealing with, and you have quite the interesting situation. Or that is what the filmmakers would like to believe.
Sitting on "Tortilla Soup"'s shoulders are an angel and a devil. The angel is telling the film to go ahead and be whatever it needs to be. The angel starts off the film, giving us a cast of characters that will engage us and make us wonder just where the film is going to go. The angel also gives us some well-earned, honest laughs. Almost every little confession at the dinner table brings about a bittersweet chuckle.
Hector Elizondo is a perfect fatherly figure for the three girls who are only just starting to branch off into the world. It is he who keeps the film rolling, who keeps it tight keeps it on course as long as he can. However, the devil on the other shoulder is tricky.
This devil is clinging to formula. He does not want to see his precious little film escape from his clutches, so he makes sure that it will stay in la-la-land and never really get off of the ground. Do I need to say he makes sure that everything magically works out in the end so no one ever need worry? He gives us long, sumptuous scenes of Elizondo doing what he does best (cooking), but these are given high priority over development and entertainment. Just when you start to think the film might be heading somewhere, it's time to throw something else on the oven. These sequences do not channel the character's inner monologues, they dismiss them.
Another one of this devil's unfortunate creations is Hortensia, played by Raquel Welch. She is thrown in as a completely failed attempt to throw some extra belly laughs in our direction. Her over-the-top brashness doesn't fit with the tone of the film; she sticks out like a sore thumb. Hortensia is a swollen, hammed up archetype that pulls the viewer out of the film whenever she appears.
All in all, "Tortilla Soup" is a fair romantic/family content that can never overcome its own self-importance. It entertains for a while, then bids the world adieu as it spins off into a fantasy land that the filmmakers think everybody loves. It's hot headed screenplay got to me. Watch "Tortilla Soup" for some lighthearted entertainment, but watch out if you can't stand being cheated for a happy ending.
