2 min read · Sep 4, 2017
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The power of visual storytelling in the final scene from this indie film.
I can’t find a screenplay to accompany this clip, but the scene is definitely worth including in our Great Scene series. From a wonderful indie movie Big Night (1996), it is the very last scene. On the surface it’s notable because the scene is 5:09 in length — and has virtually no dialogue. The camera is stationary, the only movement provided by the three characters in the scene. And yet it is mesmerizing — and deeply touching. Here is the IMDB summary:
Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci) are two brothers who have emigrated from Italy to open an Italian restaurant in America. Primo is the irascible and gifted chef, brilliant in his culinary genius, but determined not to squander his talent on making the routine dishes that customers expect. Secondo is the smooth front-man, trying to keep the restaurant financially afloat, despite few patrons other than a poor artist who pays with his paintings. The owner of the nearby Pascal’s restaurant, enormously successful (despite its mediocre fare), offers a solution — he will call his friend, a big-time jazz musician, to play a special benefit at their restaurant. Primo begins to prepare his masterpiece, a feast of a lifetime, for the brothers’ big night…
In the preceding sequence, the brothers have sunk all their remaining cash resources into the masterpiece — but although the food turns out to be a stupendous success, the ‘big night’ turns out to be a huge disappointment. Many harsh words were spoken. The brothers wake up the next morning facing a most uncertain future.
The scene’s three-movement structure:
Beginning: Secondo prepares an omelet.
Middle: Primo enters which creates the dramatic question in the scene — how will the brothers react to each other after last night’s disaster. So much to say — but how to say it?
Ending: The brothers eat side-by-side and acknowledge acceptance for each other through the gestures of their hands.
Great drama in simplicity… and a good example of visual storytelling.
The scene demonstrates that a movie doesn’t need pyrotechnics and bombast in order to entertain. As long as we care about the characters and what is going on in the story, even a five-minute slice-of-life can make for a compelling scene.
Tucci co-directed the movie along with Campbell Scott, and also co-wrote the screenplay (with Joseph Tropiano). If you haven’t seen Big Night, it’s definitely worth screening.
