What’s Cooking? is a delightfully energetic and colourful comedy about the American ritual of the Thanksgiving dinner. The film is made by an acutely observant outsider – the British woman director, Gurinder Chadha and it beautifully captures the lively interpersonal politics surrounding the Thanksgiving celebrations of four very different families: black American, Hispanic American, Vietnamese and Jewish. Food and tradition are relished with great warmth and good humour in every scene of this wonderful portrait of Los Angeles’ cultural diversity.
WHATS COOKING?
Gurinder Chadha made her first feature in 1994 – the equally delightful Bhaji on the Beach. Her cast for What’s Cooking? includes Joan Chen, Mercedes Ruehl, Alfre Woodard and Lainie Kazan. The Los Angeles Times described it as “the most savory film since Like Water for Chocolate and Babette’s Feast, its wit bubbling with seeming spontaneity from what is actually a rock-solid foundation.”
CAST
Julianna Margulies …. Carla
Kyra Sedgwick …. Rachel
Denis Haysbert …. Ronald Williams
Alfre Woodard …. Audrey Williams
Maury Chaykin …. Herb Seelig
Lanie Kazan …. Ruth Seelig
Mercedes Ruehl …. Elizabeth ‘Lizzy’ Avila
Victor Rivers …. Javier Avila
Douglas Spain …. Anthony ‘Tony’ Avila
Maria Carmen …. Sofia Avila
Isidra Vega …. Gina Avila
Elena Lopez …. Grandma Avila
A Martinez …. Daniel ‘Danny’
Caz …. Gordo, the Avila’s dog
Joan Chen …. Trinh Nguyen
François Chau …. Duc Nguyen
Will Yun Lee …. Jimmy Nguyen
CREW
Gurinder Chadha …. Director
Jeffrey Taylor …. Producer
David Forrest …. Executive Producer
Abe Glazer …. Executive Producer
Steve Kratitz …. Executive Producer
Beau Rogers …. Executive Producer
Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges …. Writers
Craig Pruess …. Original Music
Jong Lin …. Cinematographer
Janice Hampton …. Film Editor
Cathy Henderson, Dori Zuckerman …. Casting
Stuart Blatt …. Production designers
Melissa Hibbard …. Art Direction
Eduardo Castro …. Costume Design