Blog #10: The Big Scene in "Big Night"

In the Italian-American film, Big Night, the movie tells the story of two Italian brothers who own and operate their own restaurant where Americanized versions of Italian foods are cooked and served to their customers. However, the business, as well as the personal relationship between the two brothers, are thrown into limbo after a large argument begins, and the restaurant is in danger of being closed forever.

In the last scene of Big Night, one of the two brothers, Secondo, begins to cook an omelette in the kitchen of the restaurant for himself and the third main character of the film, Cristiano, one of the restaurant's waiters. Shortly after Secondo and Cristiano begin eating, the second brother, Primo, enters the kitchen and is given a plate as well. This is scene is very powerful because it shows how strong the familial connection between Primo and Secondo is. After all they have been through (i.e. the restaurant's failing business, the personal quarreling between the two brothers), at the end of the day, Primo and Secondo are still family and will always love each other. The close familial connection between these two brothers is obvious when they put their arms around each other; even though they are hesitant to do this at first, Primo and Secondo putting their arms around each other in this final scene is subtle but powerful, again showing that despite all of the personal and business struggles the two brothers have been through, they still love each other and, at the end of the day, are still family and will always support each other.

In addition to this, this scene is cinematically one of the simplest scenes in this film. In most of the film during the cooking scenes, the use of montage and constant editing shows the different ingredients put into each food, however, in this last scene, the entire scene is shot in one long take and is not cut or edited together. Apart from a brief pan shot towards the end to focus on the two brothers, the camera does not move and is shooting the scene from the same angle throughout. If this scene included constant editing and movement of the camera, the poignancy and serious tone of the scene may have been diminished; in filmmaking, it is important for the director to have the scene shot in an appropriate way. Sometimes, simplicity is best, and in the last scene of Big Night, this simple approach to filming helps to increase the serious tone of the scene and emphasize the strong familial bond between Primo and Secondo.



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