Abe

source: Abe

Just as more citizens are becoming reacquainted with preparing homemade meals, Breaking Glass Pictures brings to DVD (June 2, 2020) an entertaining Indie film about a young aspiring chef - Abe (Noah Schnapp - "Stranger Things") . Directed and written by accomplished young LA based Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Grostein Andragde, the film tracks Abe's growth as a chef, while he struggles at home to understand his historic religious beliefs held tightly by his half-Israeli and half-Palestinian head strong family members. If the religious aspect of the storyline seems to heavy for quirky drama-comedy, don't worry, it's just a subtext to the journey Abe goes through on his way to becoming a chef and bringing his family together. Director Grostein Andragde knows his way around a youth oriented film, enabling the audience to experience young Abe's world from his perspective. Unfortunately, he often keeps the camera on situations or scenes too long, leaving the viewer to wonder if he couldn't find away out of the setting. Noah Schnapp is the key to this production, and he holds your attention throughout with those puppy dog eyes and youthful ambition. The competing family members make for a great tug-of-war, and each ensemble members keeps your attention. Using the old adage "a way to a person (man's) heart is through their stomachs," Abe hones his craft for a big family meal that will "mix" up the various ethnic foods to create one big happy final family dining experience. If only it was that easy! If you still rent DVD's, make sure to look for this one.

Better prepare your empty bellies for this pretty appetizing film! Abe, directed by Fernando Grostein Andrade, tackles a pretty distinctive story of Abe, a 12 year old boy who aspires to be noble cook someday. At a pretty young age, he never fails to amaze his family with his incredible cooking skills, which also convinced his parents to let him have the opportunity to join a summer cooking camp. Abe went to the camp, finding out that it was for beginners, and not for him who is skillful enough. Meanwhile, through an online article, Abe was amazed with food fusion of Bahia cuisine to the American one, letting him to go to a street food bazaar where he met Chico, whom he convince to teach him more about cooking. Later on, his parents found out all of these things, and set him grounded and incapable of reaching out Chico. Meanwhile, Abe's parents came from two different religions, his mother, Jewish and his father, Islam. The differences in beliefs and perspectives always create a never-ending argumentations whenever their family is having a get-together. All of these things resulted into Abe being stressed out of his own family. Letting him to runaway to Chico, and making his family realize how their debates and arguments affect their child's emotions. Okay! Here are my insights: I loved the film simply because it is so distinct or unique from the usual comedy or drama films that I have watched before. How, you know, you get to mix religion or beliefs with foods and such. I don't know, but there is something mystical about the characters especially with Noah Schnapp, and eventually, you will just find yourself falling in love with all of the characters and the story itself. Also, the script of this film was well-written, making you question your belief sometimes or ask yourself about what the actors just said, and then you will just agree because what they said is amazing and something that would really shake you up. Overall, the casts, the script, the plot and directing, indeed make this underrated film just like an overrated one. Incredible! Really a must-watch!

I enjoyed this movie. It deals with the drama of life. There's no sugar coating it. When religion comes into play it can be hard on everyone, and very confusing for the kid. For me, personally, this has also been true in my life, so I feel I connect with it. I think the movie did a wonderful job at portraying this. The actors did their job; they were believable and great at their work.