(Canada, 81 min.)
Dir. Nathan Estabrooks, Writ. Christina Cuffari, Nathan
Estabrooks
Starring:
Melanie Scrofano, Christina Cuffari, Jocelyne Zucco, Paula MacPherson
MangiaCake: (mengah-kek) Italian translation: 'Cake eater.'A derogatory term used by Italo-Canadians to describe non-Italians.Synonyms: tête-carée, wasp, white bread, bland, boring
A big fat Greek wedding causes quite a ruckus, but a little
loud Italian family fires up a storm. Mangiacake
barely has more than four principal cast members aside from minor
characters, background players, and supporting actors who appear towards the
end, but it probably ranks higher on the decibel scale than a film with a
full-fledged Greek chorus does. Sisters Tess (Melanie Scrofano) and Marie
(Christina Cuffari) are pretty darn hysterical. They’re catty sisters well in
the throes of sibling rivalry even in their twenties. They slap, shriek, and
scream at will, much to the grief of their mom, Lilianna (Paula MacPherson),
and Nonna (Jocelyne Zucco). No sooner than one can say vaffanculo, though, the sisters undergo a change of heart that
takes the cake.
Well, their change of heart mostly takes a mangiacake. A mangiacake, however, isn’t
a fluffy sweet dessert. It’s a bland white person, kinda like the Wonder Bread
flip-side of a Guido from Jersey Shore, in the vocab of Italian-Canadians like
Tessa and Marie. The sisters tease about mangiacakes and men when they reunite
in the family home after Tess gets a concussion and Marie struggles with her
acting. Marie clearly has a new beau, since she’s texting 24/7 instead of
enjoying the Chinese take-out on which her mother slaved away while dialing the
phone. Marie doesn’t talk to the guy, though, except in texts and naughty
pictures, and even Nonna agrees that he’s probably a mangiacake. What kind of
loser doesn’t even pick up the phone when his girl’s in distress?
Tensions flair with more spice than Nonna probably whips up
in a pan of Frank Sinatra sausages, and Lilianna decides to let the girls grow
up on their own. Scrofana and Cuffari have natural chemistry as the sisters, as
they make Tess and Marie a loud, shrill affair of head-to-head bitchiness.
These grown women are just little girls at heart and the actresses find a
playful chemistry as they mix stuff slapstick comedy with down-to-earth charm,
and make a fine cannoli of sorts and leave Nonna to clean up the crumbs.
Cuffari is especially good as Marie, as she brings the right
amount of spunk and vulnerability. Marie knows that she’s the real mangiacake
of the story since she can’t add any flavour or purpose to her life despite the
variety of roles she plays to appear the opposite. Mangiacake has a lot of fun with the character of the hack actress
when Marie takes the biggest faceplant of the film and bombs an audition when
her very sanity is on the line. Marie makes a total boob out of herself with a
slippery chicken breast, but as she scrounges for dignity on the slimy,
now-salmonella-covered studio floor, she finds the one legitimate grain of
authenticity in her acting chops after it’s too late. Auditions and interviews
can’t go worse than this one does, but Cuffari humorously plays up the physical
comedy of the disaster while injecting an element of sympathy into the moment.
MacPherson makes a strong impression too as the exasperated
Lilianna, offering a deadpan counterpart the daughters, and the film feels her
absence (appropriately so) in the latter act of the film. Zucco is also lots of
fun in the smaller part of Nonna. Zucco, whom audiences will remember as the
agent/hustler of the franglais disco-flick
Funkytown, brings ample humour to the
part by barely uttering a word. As she nibbles on biscotti, putters in the
yard, and rolls her eyes beneath an assortment of fun wigs and nightcaps, Nonna
adds a modicum of sanity as she watches a generation that’s lost its self-control
and its respect for elders. The actress carries Nonna with hunched, humorous
frailty and the subtle comedy of her performance nicely offsets the broader
strokes in this multigenerational farce.
This Ottawa film marks one of the better local efforts on
the feature film front of late with its professional production in spite of its
modest origins. Local audiences will especially like the use of familiar
sights, most notably Little Italy and a grand scene in St. Brigid’s church, but
the off-the-wall authenticity of the film invites a wider reach.
Director Nathan Estabrooks makes a fun feature debut with Mangiacake. The film, co-written by
Estabrooks and Cuffari, smartly contains much of the comedy within the walls of
Nonna’s house and finally jumps outside and out into Ottawa just when there
finally seems to be no air left to breathe in the modest little home. The
volume might be a bit too high for some viewers, but others will enjoy this kin
of Nia Vardalos by way of David O. Russell. Mangiacake
builds on larger-than-life performances that draw upon cultural idiosyncrasies
(yes, Italians really are that loud and yes, they centre virtually everything
on either food, faith, or family) without veering the jokes too far into
stereotypes. The film is fun, brash, and genuine, and it mixes a range of
family values and cultural flavours to get the recipe right.
Rating: ★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Mangiacake screens in Ottawa at Cineplex Lansdowne on June 4 at 7:30 pm and in Toronto at The Carlton
beginning June 19.
It hits VOD beginning
June 1.
