‘Tortilla Soup’ a tasty concoction

Max Jacobson

Friday, Aug. 24, 2001 | 9:41 a.m.

The Latino community may not yet realize it, but the new film "Tortilla Soup" -- a retelling of Ang Lee's Chinese cinematic fable "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman" -- has the potential to change the way we all think about food, families and culture. It's the closest and most intimate crossover film about a Mexican-American family to date, and possibly the most appealing.

Lee (who directed "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") was granted a writing credit here and became a mainstream Hollywood director largely through efforts such as "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman." Similar to Lee's Chinese version, this is the story of a master chef with three daughters and his efforts to keep the family together.

The context, as it was in the Chinese version of this story, is the Sunday-evening dinner table. That's where most of the action here takes place, and the fact that the dishes have morphed into carnitas and cactus salad -- as opposed to Chinese specialties -- won't make anyone in the audience less hungry.

The basic story is this: Master chef Martin Naranjo (the immensely likeable Hector Elizondo) has lost his sense of smell and taste -- disaster for anyone in his profession. So he's come to rely on the approval of an assistant chef and the palates of his three lovely and very different daughters, who gather every Sunday evening for a sumptuous Mexican banquet.

The problem is that the daughters are growing up and the family tradition seems to be fading away. Until, that is, Hortensia (a still magnetic-looking Raquel Welch) and her daughter Yolanda (Constance Marie) enter the scene, and Hortensia makes a play for the chef's affections.

Meanwhile the girls find love interests of their own. The eldest and most repressed, Leticia (Elizabeth Pena), is a schoolteacher afraid to leave the nest, a woman on the verge of becoming an old maid. But she falls for a fellow teacher, a baseball coach played by stand-up comedian Paul Rodriguez, and a few surprises ensue.

The middle daughter, Carmen (Jacqueline Obradors), is an over-achiever. She is constantly doing high-level negotiations on a cell phone, and when she has to choose between a career move to Barcelona, or staying around to help her father and family, the decision is not an easy one.

Finally there is youngest daughter, Maribel (Tamara Mello), who can't wait to get wings of her own and fly away. She falls for a charming Brazilian student and moves in with him, which comes as a big shock to Dad. Any resemblance to "King Lear" is purely intentional, except that this is the comedy version, with catering.

The film turns on a soap-opera style series of plots and subplots, but the writing is fresh, and there are always new dishes appearing on camera to tempt your palate and imagination.

Elizondo, who is a Puerto Rican-American and not Mexican at all, carries the film admirably, speaking a combination of English and Spanish. With his shiny pate and deadpan-comedy style, he is the heart and soul of the film, a leonine Everyman who faces the ravages of the aging process, children leaving the nest, pronouncements from the cardiologist and the loss of friends.

But through it all, he never loses his wistful sense of humor or his rational calm. This should be a breakthrough movie for the veteran character actor best known for his portrayal of a sympathetic hotel manager in "Pretty Woman."

This film should do more than elevate the star. It might just elevate an entire culture. The colorful, provocative menus were created by Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, star chefs of "Too Hot Tamales," featured on the Food Network. (The women also own Border Grill at Mandalay Bay, and you'll wish you had a reservation to eat there after viewing this movie.)