24 Frames per Second: Film Screening of "Big Night"

Italian brothers Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci) fight to save their New Jersey restaurant, and fight with each other about how to do it. Hearing that jazz great Louis Prima is coming to their town, they set about creating an authentic, multiple course Italian meal to impress him. Prima never shows, but the food orgy, which becomes the restaurant's last supper, carries on without him, and to near pornographic effect. This is the film that introduced audiences to Timpano, a layered pastry, meat, and pasta dish that takes two days to prepare. Less elaborate but just as rich is the final scene, which in one shot (and without dialogue) shows the brothers mending fences over a simple breakfast of eggs and bread.

Directed by Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci
Runtime: 107 minutes