Big Night (1996): Art vs Commerce, Heaven vs Hell

Kino and Vino is dedicated to cult movies and unearthing some under the radar cinema essentials of the 20th century. This weeks pick is the 1996 Indie tragicomedy Big Night, staring Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub, Ian Holm, Minnie Driver, and Isabella Rossellini
BIG NIGHT RECIPES:
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...
SOURCES:
“How Stanley’s Tucci’s Big Night helped kick off an American dining revolution,” Matt Gross, (via TheGuardian), 2016, www.theguardian.com/lifeandst...
Scott Myers, “Great Scene: Big Night,” (via Medium), 2009, gointothestory.blcklst.com/gr...
Victoria J Iacchetta, “Now Wonder Pizza is already as American as Apple Pie! The Integration of an Ethnic Dish into 1950’s America,” (via Buffalo.edu), 2015, arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/con...
history/documents/Iacchetta-Thesis.pdf
Heaven and Hell in Big Night, (via FoodInItaly), 2013, archive.is/20130414195600/htt...
Roger Ebert, “Big Night” (via RogerEbert), 1996), www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bi...
Frank Bruni, “Hollywood Ending, With Meatballs”, (via TheNewYorkTimes), 2012, www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/di...
Judith Weinraub, “A ‘Big Night’ for Food Fans,” (via TheWashingtonPost), 1996, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...
Tracie McMillan, “How Italian Cuisine Became as American As Apple Pie,” (via NaturalGeographic), 2016, www.nationalgeographic.com/cu...
Susan Royal, “Stanley Tucci Breaks Out” (via InsideFilmOnline), www.insidefilm.com/tucci.html
“The Way It Was: Italian America in the 1950’s” Tony Traficante, (via ItalianSonsAndDaughters), 2020, www.orderisda.org/culture/old...
MUSIC:
Waltz for Little Italy - Bireli Snow
Mode of Transport - Brendon Moeller
The Vaal - Brendon Moeller
Lonely Charades - Andres Cantu
The Smoke Room - Alexandra Woodward
One Late Night - JustNormal
Sometimes I'm Happy - SoVea

[@elizabeths4371]

It was Roger Ebert's raving movie review that got me hooked on BIG NIGHT and I so glad he did! I TOTALLY enjoyed hearing your review and the subtle nuances within the storyline which had escaped my notice until you pointed them out- Many Thanks!

[@chasvonplatten1298]

Absolutely one of the best films ever made in my book.

[@VideoGameSophistry]

This is great man, keep going

[@kifacorea]

Nice review

[@trinidad17]

I enjoyed the review, such a great movie, and it has a sense of familiarity and intimacy with the characters, between the characters themselves and between the writer and the characters being described, as if the writer actually knows them. And despite the some over the top moments they seem very much real, I personally do know people like that. it's like they build a world, and we were granted to take a peek into a slice of that, where many threads and aspects of their relationships are there but not fully disclosed. Just one problem with the video though, your voice needs to be louder than the background music and other sounds, makes it hard to pay the deserved attention to what you're saying.

[@musicmusic411]

This was stunning