Stars: Hector Elizondo, Elizabeth Pena, Jacqueline Obradors, Tamara Mello, Constance Marie, Paul Rodriguez, Raquel Welch, Joel Joan, Nikolai Kinski

Director: Maria Ripoll

Summary: The story of a chef named Martin and his three daughters, Letitia, Maribel and Carmen. Martin is losing his sense of taste and desperately hopes that one of his children will inherit his love for cooking...

In TORTILLA SOUP, a film inspired by director Ang Lee's EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN, a Mexican-American master chef living in LA with his three daughters prepares a magnificent dinner each Sunday night to bring his family together. Sunday dinner is a time to make major announcements, to share ideas, and to air the basic frustrations of daily life. It's also a time to critique Dad's cooking because, although he still succeeds in presenting beautiful, mouth-watering dishes, he has lost his sense of taste and his food does not have the same wonderful flavor that it did once. Outside of Sunday dinner, the members of the family live their own lives. Martin, the father (Hector Elizondo), works in a restaurant and entertains the eccentric mother (Raquel Welch) of his close friend and neighbor (Constance Marie). His youngest daughter, Maribel (Tamara Mello) debates whether to go to college and finds a new love interest in Brazilian stud Andy (Nikolai Kinski). The eldest daughter, Carmen (Jacqueline Obradors), is a headstrong, forthright business executive. Stuck in the middle is Letitcia (Elizabeth Pena), a prim school teacher who wants nothing more than to find true love. A light, sweet, playful take on family life in L.A., TORTILLA SOUP is one tasty tamale.

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Food, life and love share a common lineage going back to antiquity, and Tortilla Soupremakes the connection with pathos and humour. The scenario of three daughters trying to make the break with their domineering father might sound heavy-going, but Hector Elizondo is wonderfully understated as Martin--the patriarchal father who conveys his love through the opulent Mexican lunches he prepares for his daughters each Sunday. The daughters are full of character and are a well-contrasted trio: Leticia (Elizabeth Peña), school-teacher and devout Christian whose life is transformed by the love letters she starts receiving; Carmen (Jacqueline Obradors), business graduate and rising executive whose real goal is to convince her father of her culinary prowess; and Maribel (Tamara Mello), keen to put college on hold and see the world with her new boyfriend. The interaction between them has a theatrical immediacy, and there are excellent contributions from Nikolai Kinsky as Brazilian free-spirit Andy, Paul Rodriquez as gauche baseball coach Orlando and Raquel Welch as the cringingly over-the-top Hortensia. Director María Ripoli gets some persuasive ensemble acting--making the most of a witty and touching script—-along with Mexican cuisine prepared under the supervision of specialist chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. As a movie about growing-up and taking control, Tortilla Soupis as irresistible as the food you'll see on screen--and equally worth savouring. --Richard Whitehouse

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Trailer - 1. Original Theatrical Trailer, Interactive Menus, Scene Access
Year:	2001
Release Date:	June 23, 2003
Runtime:	100 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	23761 D V D
Keywords:	General, Soup, Drama, Tortilla
Genre:	Drama