LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE Movie Review
Como Agua para Chocolate
In the early part of the century, an old widow (Regina Torne) raises three daughters, the youngest of whom, Tita (Lumi Cavazos), knows her way around the kitchen. She knows her way around Pedro (Marco Leonardi) as well, and the two are anxious to marry. Family obligations are in the way, however; it seems that Tita's older sister Rosaura (Yareli Arizmendi) must marry first, and Tita must stay home and care for her manipulative and tyrannical mother. Rosaura does marry, but Tita is shocked when she discovers that it is Pedro who has become her husband. Not to worry, he tells Tita, they won't be parted so easily. Tita believes him, and begins to prepare a little food to celebrate. Soon, her skills in the kitchen will become the unexpected secret ingredient to change lives, light fires of desire, and open a world of magical, sensory delight to all who taste her cuisine. Before there was Viagra, there was food. Like Water for Chocolate is a celebration of that eternal joy, and it's presented as a magical, fabulist fable—a fairy tale of arousal. Enjoyable enough entertainment (though far from the masterwork some have claimed), Like Water for Chocolate's bountiful food scenes developed strong word-of-mouth; the resulting repeat business made it one of the most successful foreign-language releases in American history. The film was adapted by Laura Esquivel from her novel, and was directed by her husband, Alfonso Arau. (You may remember him as the toothy bandit in Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, pleading with William Holden to “Please cut the fuse!”) The American release prints run 105 minutes, about half an hour shorter than the original.
NEXT STOP … The Story of Boys and Girls, Babette's Feast, Big Night
1993 (R) 105m/C MX Lumi Cavazos, Marco Leonardi, Regina Torne, Mario Ivan Martinez, Ada Carrasco, Yareli Arizmendi, Caludette Maille, Pilar Aranda; D: Alfonso Arau; W: Laura Esquivel; C: Steven Bernstein; M: Leo Brower. Nominations: British Academy Awards '93: Best Foreign Film; Independent Spirit Awards '94: Best Foreign Film. VHS, LV TOU