"The [film] becomes an overwrought metaphor for group dynamics and cultural assimilation. And as the film loses its grip on its multiple stories, the title begins to suggest an overheated stew bubbling out of its pot. By the end of the film, the intersecting dramas and histrionic performances have spilled all over the floor, so to speak."He also notes the film's tendencies for indulging in sitcom situations, gags which at best can give a few seconds of giggling but eventually feel like the contrivances that they really are.
The food-as-metaphor has been used over and over again. Ang Lee's Eat-Drink-Man-Woman, Laura Esquivel's Como agua para chocolate, The Joy Luck Club, Woman on Top. Is it a coincidence that those movies are from the third world cinemas, with lots of room for alternate realities and magic realism. Each of those movies had its own strength and weaknesses. The thing with American Adobo is that the vignettes of their lives are strewn together, and the only thing tying them together is their adobo dinners and the fact that they're all Pinoys living in America. It's a done deal. I'm not saying it's a bad movie, but merely too self-indulgent. Speaking of which, my two cents on the movie got a comment that's even lengthier than the review itself.
No comments:
Post a Comment