A tale of how four families celebrate America’s favorite feast, “What’s Cooking?” will be shown at Tryon Fine Arts Center on Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:15.)

To get us in the mood for the holidays, this second film in TFAC’s series about food and feasting, is a comedy about four Los Angeles families, one Vietnamese, one Jewish, one African-American, and one Mexican-American, and their own particular ways of celebrating Thanksgiving.

Released in 2000, “What’s Cooking?” was the brainchild of first-time director, Gurinda Chadha and co-written by Chadha and Paul Mayenda Berges. The hostesses of the family feasts are played by Joan Chen, Lainie Kazan, Alfre Woodard and Mercedes Ruehl and they are joined at their tables by numerous other notable actors, including the lovably hilarious Estelle Harris (best known for her role as George’s mother on Seinfeld.)

Critic Roger Ebert said of this richly colorful film: “There are so many characters, so vividly drawn, with such humor and life, that a synopsis is impossible. What’s strange is the spell the movie weaves. By its end, there is actually a sort of tingle of pleasure in seeing how this Thanksgiving ends, and how its stories are resolved. In recent years most Thanksgiving movies have been about families at war. Here are four families that have, in one way or another, started peace talks.”

This film series is sponsored by the Tryon International Equestrian Center and the doors will open at 6:15 to allow movie-goers to enjoy a sampling from Legends Grille at Tryon Resort.

 

– Submitted by Michelle Fleming