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By
MELINA GEORGIS
With "What's Cooking?"
director Gurinda Chadha -- who recently helmed the
British comedy "Bend It Like Beckham" and earlier,
in 1995, "Bhaji on the Beach" -- pulls back from
films based on her own Indian heritage to instead
explore the lives of four Angelino families from
four different cultural and ethnic groups, as they
celebrate that all American holiday, Thanksgiving.
One family is African American, another Latino,
another Jewish, and yet another Vietnamese. All
are part of the American stew but differ in how
they interact with each other and how they
celebrate -- and, of course, as the film title
indicates, in how they cook. The four families
live close to each other, and sometimes run into
each other, but have no other connection.
As a Kenya-born Indian woman brought up in the UK,
Chadha (who also co-wrote the script) brings an
outsider's sensibility to these American -- but
non-WASP -- families. What emerges is a document
about what unites these Americans as much as what
divides them. Their problems are indeed common to
all families: having to put up with relatives,
worrying about children growing up, becoming
sexually active, trouble with school, making the
wrong decisions. Joan Chen, Julianna Margulies,
Mercedes Ruehl, Kyra Sedgwick and Alfre Woodard
lead the cast, and it's hardly sexist to state
that women will enjoy the film far more than men.
Chadha's skillful direction and pacing
notwithstanding, the film does veer into melidrama
often and some characters are little more than
stereotypes. It is thus reminiscent of other films
about family discord over holidays.
Released as part of Lions Gate's Signature Series,
the DVD includes a technical and thematic
commentary track by Chadha, cast and crew
interviews, and most delectably, recipes of the
dishes featured in the film. Chadha's personal
comments about the US and LA and her struggles
over a decade of trying to bring the film to life
are particularly illuminating. |
