Abe
“You’re confusing ‘fusion’ with ‘confusion,’ ” says someone to Abe, an aspiring tween chef. This is in the beginning of Brazilian director Fernando Grostein Andrade’s first narrative feature, a well-meaning but bland coming-of-age dramedy called “Abe.” The half Israeli, half Palestinian Brooklynite gets caught between the two sides of his family at dinnertime and is often left with the impossible task of diffusing their culture clash. But then food becomes the salvation of this unlikely culinary prodigy sometimes called Abraham, other times Ibrahim depending on whom you ask as he eventually figures out how to harmoniously combine his ancestors’ traditional flavors from different cuisines and bring people together.
These ingredients could have made for an appetizing recipe; a younger-skewing “Chocolat” or “Chef,” with teachable moments about identity and intersectional individuality. However, it seems that Andrade who loosely draws upon his own diverse background and multicultural upbringing for the story (with Palestinian American screenwriters Lameece Issaq and Jacob Kader) does little beyond hitting every predictable beat.
So “Abe,” unlike the dishes whipped up by the film’s endearing cook with verve and gusto, only ends up being as inventive as a mason jar drink or reclaimed wood table, resulting in a harmless kiddie flick that adults and today’s savvy tykes may just have limited use for. The most parents can hope to get out of sitting their young ones down in front of “Abe” is if it piques their kids’ inner foodie curiosities. While Andrade’s broad flick doesn’t push any political envelopes, its charms should be just enough to inspire tweens and young adults to take on fresh kitchen projects or two nowadays during all this quarantine boredom.
And here we are gifted an amiable hero in Noah Schnapp (“Stranger Things”), who brings plenty of verve and genuine innocence to the role. When Schnapp’s courageous Abe isn’t busy mediating arguments between relatives including some stubborn but loving grandparents he’s updating his video blog with his latest cooking exploits, fending off mean online comments when his pictures aren’t drool-inducing and even designing his own birthday cake while his agnostic parents Rebecca (Dagmara Dominczyk) and Amir (Arian Moayed) remain too preoccupied to care.
Hoping to advance his craft over the upcoming summer months, Abe talks his mom and dad into enrolling him at a culinary camp for aspiring young chefs like himself. But he quickly realizes that those classes won’t teach him anything he can’t already do in his sleep. That’s where Seu Jorge’s charismatic street chef Chico comes in impressed with Abe’s talent and passion beyond years, the busy master reluctantly agrees to let him be an apprentice. The only issue is that Abe never discloses where exactly he is with his parents, who still think their son is at a beginner workshop across town. Of course, the truth eventually comes out, but not before Abe has figured out enough about fusion food.
Blasco Giurato, who worked on “Cinema Paradiso,” filmed it with such intensity that one cannot help but wish Chico and Abe had spent their time doing anything other than showcasing mouth watering meals. The script aspires to brighten up New York City life with all its shades against the backdrop of picturesque brownstones, but does this by giving characters a bunch of starchy attributes that have long become cliches; so, it shrinks down all possible emotions in the story to those which are most evident. It might have been a feast for the ages called “Abe,” instead nobody remembers what happened afterwards.
Watch Abe For Free On Solarmovies.