I got a Netflix account when I found out that I can watch free movies through my Xbox 360 with their new "Instant Watch" service.. omfg.. I have caught up on an insane amount of Anime... okay ehem.. let's get to this post.. LOL Okay.. First thing is first.. I went by the recommendations of people on the Netflix site and round this totally adorable movie called "Tortilla Soup". I watched it around 3 am and was soooooooooo hungry for the food shown.. (you have no idea how much I kept going "oh so that's how they do that..") that I emailed my friend Carol going "you have to watch this movie.. I went on to describe it and she goes.. "uhm.. that's a remake of the movie Eat, Drink, Man, Woman that I blogged about!!!".. LOL wow.. sorry.. had a moment. So.. still being a Netflix account I rented the movie (since it was not available through instant watch the way Tortilla Soup was) and it arrived on Friday. Just saw it this morning (also 3 am..) and was dumbstruck as to how different the feel of each movie was!
Both stories have to do with a Widower who is a semi-retired Chef raising 3 grown daughters. Each has their own lives that finally start to branch out into their own leaving their father to deal with the loss. In each film the father continues a tradition of elaborate Sunday meals that would make any restaurant experience seem bland.. Father feels out of touch with his daughter's lives and tries to change his own situation by doing something else. Friend's mother comes back into her life and she goes to try to seduce the widower to unexpected results. Obviously knowing that this was the original movie that Tortilla soup was based on.. and because I saw Tortilla Soup first.. I expected it to be a complete rip of the original. When it first started there were similar things shown. One daughter was an executive with an open relationship with her boyfriend whom she didn't want to commit to, one was a born again Christian who was an old maid and the last was a young college age student who got involved with her friend's ex boyfriend. That's BOTH movies in a nutshell. That's where the similarities end.
I can't believe how different in feel they were. Obviously growing up rowdy Latin I was cackling and crying and laughing in Tortilla Soup because I was going "yep.. that's my Aunt".. "omg.. that's close to my Uncle..".. and "Damn that's my cousin.." and "oh that might be my sister.".. With Eat, Drink, Man, Woman.. I felt so out of place because it wasn't my culture but wow.. what an eye-opener! Granted Tortilla Soup was profoundly Mexican (and I'm Puerto Rican), I still found myself drooling more in Tortilla Soup rather than Eat, Drink, Man, Woman.. because I didn't know what anything tasted like.. in Tortilla Soup I was going "OMFG I WANT THAT".. and half the time in Eat, Drink, Man, Woman I was going "wtf... " Especially the frogs.. omg.. the frogs..A few of the major differences was how the exact same story was different in each CULTURE.. Chinese.. no one talks to each other and if they do it's like one word answers.. Latin culture.. Dad is domineering and there's an all out drag out shouting match with various household items flying in the air.. NO one keeps opinions to themselves in Latin Culture.. in the Chinese movie.. only the Divorced woman's Mom was the yapper.. I found it interesting that in the Chinese movie the youngest daughter got pregnant.. in the Latin Culture there would have been a homicide by Dad.. trust me on this.. LOL It would have been Eat, Drink, Man.. wtf did you do to my little girl.. BANG.. movie over.. last shot is of either Dad in Jail or his funeral because he shot himself and his family after that.. ehem.. sorry.. see what I mean about different cultures? In Tortilla Soup there was CONSTANT chatter and talking and chatter and talking.. and eating.. and chatter and talking.. Eat Drink Man Woman I didn't have any trouble keeping up with the subtitles because there wasn't much dialogue!
The ending was also decidedly different. The middle girl rejects the job to Barcelona becomes a chef and everyone is all happy and living close to each other like one big happy rowdy family in Tortilla Soup.. In Eat Drink Man Woman.. they all seem to be completely away from each other and it's almost "felt" like a sad ending. The middle girl did go to Amsterdam, came back and bought her father's home and went on with her life basically alone.
The food.. oy the food.. I drooled every 10 seconds in Tortilla Soup.. having had a lot of the dishes or dreamed about having them but didn't have gold bullion lying around.. while in Eat Drink Man Woman I had no clue what anything tasted like.. half the ingredients I was freaking out with and the other half I was bewildered.. I'm sure Carol was having foodgasms in Eat Drink Man Woman while I was having my foodgasms with Tortilla Soup!
All in all both movies were wonderful! I wouldn't consider them chick flicks but they were really cute cultural movies that had a fantastic display of food! If you want my recommendation.. rent them both! Culturally you will enjoy the differences! I plan to own both movies at some point.
