Feast of the Seven Fishes (2019) ft. Alonso Duralde

[00:00:01] Hi, I'm Bran and I love West Virginia Christmas movies I'm Alonso and put on and this is the deck the Hallmark podcast Deck the Hallmark it's his podcast Bramble Jam and Frantos this podcast We hope you like this jolly podcast Bramble Jam Well hello everybody

[00:00:25] Welcome back it's Monday Dan said I've had enough I've had enough We changed the whole format of Mondays around So that he would say He would be here He would be here He would be here He would be here He would be here Here we are

[00:00:48] What are you going to do? Now we obviously We're not you clicked on this episode And you're like this isn't the white reindeer Hopefully you got the memo that Called an audible Alonso you texted me And you said basically And I'm paraphrasing here

[00:01:06] Uh oh I think it's a good one Yeah might be too hot for TV It's a great it's a terrific movie And folks should check it out if you are ready for a Hard R Christmas movie Involving you know like Strippers and drugs and things

[00:01:20] Uh no no no shade on the film at all But you know maybe not Maybe not what they We do here on Deck the Hallmark The classic Christmas tropes Of drugs and stiflers Oh that old saw By the way for those watching on Filo

[00:01:36] Who are wondering what's going on here I'm in beautiful national Tennessee Staying in a boutique hotel that is so boutique That this room Does not have a desk And this room does not have a chair So like John and Yoko

[00:01:50] I'm having to do this press conference in bed It's overrated it's overrated The desks and the chairs Sure how do you do that? You have a bed you look great Alonso I think for now we'll need to do all All podcasts Reclining

[00:02:06] I'm excited to talk about this movie today A movie that Takes place in Pennsylvania right? Yes The Rust Belt let's say Was filmed in West Virginia Which was hard to miss It's very West Virginia But I'm excited about this one And I had never seen it

[00:02:28] You had seen it apparently And after seeing it And this is spoiler alert I was upset that this wasn't on our initial list I'm glad that some things moved around To make this a possibility But was this a Just a small theatrical release? Small theatrical went to

[00:02:46] On demand pretty quickly I think But You know I think Got some pretty kind reviews When it first opened And has always been pretty Accessible through streaming Through even a lot of free services And stuff so you know I think it's a movie

[00:03:04] That is getting a growing cult following I hope and it's too bad that Dan decided that you know he was over all of this Because I think he'd enjoy this one too Yeah I would like to hear His thoughts on this movie

[00:03:16] Maybe I'll make him watch it before next week's movie And he can give us a brief A little catch up Let's get into it and originally Premiered in West Virginia On November 1st 2018 Maybe say the title of the film Oh sorry, The Feast of the Seven Fishes

[00:03:32] It's what we're talking about today Gosh did I go a whole three minutes Four minutes without mentioning the movie Feast of the Seven Fishes originally aired in West Virginia On November 1st 2018 And then it took a while to go

[00:03:44] To the rest of the world or the United States at least November 15th 2019 And it went a little something like This The movie kicks off with a projector showing us Some old Christmas videos And you know I'm an easy boy I'm sold right away Cut to people buying

[00:04:04] Home movie, it's not video time I'm sorry, I'm showing my age here Cut to people buying Fish A kid's painting His name is Tony and his family owns a grocery store And he's expected to take over that grocery store One day But his true love is art

[00:04:22] And he just got into art school And you'd think he'd be more excited about that But he's afraid to tell his dad That he's always been the expectation that he will take over the family business We then meet Beth Beth is home for the holidays

[00:04:34] She's an Ivy Liga And was expecting her boyfriend To join her for the holidays At home, but he chose skiing with The Bros over Christmas With his girlfriend She's mad at this And mom is like You know, that's guys for ya

[00:04:52] And she's like, but does it have to be Guys for me? She's like, you just want me to marry Rich? So she heads out She meets up with a friend And they end up going to a party And on the way they pick up Tony Tony is

[00:05:08] Like wow, who are you And she's like hi They're having a great night together Getting to know each other And he educates her on the Feast of the Seven Fishes And educates I think all of us on the Feast of the Seven Fishes With a great visual

[00:05:24] To go along with it The night comes to an abrupt end When He finds out that his ex-girlfriend Katie Is dancing at a club So, you know, not quite the stripping Of the other movie But when that popped up I was like What are we doing? It's Christmas

[00:05:44] And so he still feels responsible For her And so he goes down there trying to stop her Katie is still very much in love with Tony And is just basically doing anything to get His attention To get him back into her life

[00:05:58] And he's like it's not gonna work He does get punched though, so that's tough Expecting Beth to want the night to be over After that whole incident He's like y'all can just drop me off But she's like we should keep talking We should keep hanging

[00:06:12] They end up taking a walk And end up at Tony's grandparent shed Where all good nights end And he's using that shed as an art studio And he shows her some of his art And she is very impressed by that She's like you gotta go for your dream

[00:06:26] You gotta go to art school And she's just baffled at the fact that He is basically forced to run the store Regardless of what he wants They end up falling asleep in the recliners It's all above boards They are found In the studio the next morning

[00:06:42] By Tony's great grandmother Who is outraged By Tony bringing home a non-Italian girl Tony's uncle Frankie Gives her a ride home and encourages her to Come to the feast of the seven fishes dinner And she's like What, who is it?

[00:06:58] You said her and I just wanted to make sure Oh right, sorry, yes, Beth We're talking about Beth Great grandmother's already going to be there So Beth is like are you sure that I should come And he's like yeah it's gonna be awesome

[00:07:12] And so she does show up early And she helps with the cooking When he shows up the dinner is a big hit Beth is having a great time When the opportunity comes And Tony For Tony's great grandma To go to midnight mass

[00:07:28] She asks Beth to give her a ride And they have a bit of a conversation About Why she's reluctant about Beth Beth is basically like whether Anyone comes from money or not They would be lucky to be with Tony And she's like I agree with that

[00:07:44] Like and Tony and Beth talk outside about how But she's loved being a part of this big feast And they're about to kiss When her boyfriend ends up showing up After hearing how he talks to her Tony punches him in the face Yeah

[00:07:58] She gets to the car with them The ex-boyfriend or the boyfriend I guess current boyfriend And mom is there too, mom was all a part of this Tony is now really sad When Beth gets back home Her boyfriend kind of apologizes

[00:08:12] Kind of and says it's time to start Planning our future The sun rises, it's Christmas morning There's a knock at the door and it's Katie She gives him back His jacket and tells him that He's finally ready to move on Inside he tells his grandpa

[00:08:28] That he wants to go to art school And his grandpa basically says the whole reason Why we came here and started this store Was that hopefully we wouldn't always just be stagnant We would continue to move and grow And so I think you should tell your father

[00:08:40] What he might want to do, he might surprise you He goes outside to take out the trash Beth is there She starts to say that she's sorry But they just end up kissing Big ones and now my friends was Feast of the seven Fishes We did it

[00:09:00] We're gonna take a quick break, we're gonna come back We're gonna break this movie down Here on Deck the Hallmark We're back The Hallmark gets Monday Monday, fun day Still technically July Although it does feel like Christmas in July Is done because it's past It's waning

[00:09:28] I think Hallmark's gone back to normal This week and that's really the Telling sign of where we're at But not us Not us, we're still at it Let's start with the hot take Where we share how we felt about this movie We do not hold back

[00:09:44] You've seen it now, what are your thoughts on this movie? I love this movie, I think it's really charming I think it hits a lot of Notes of Immigrant families Because I'm somebody who's in one My parents were both immigrants of this country

[00:10:00] And the way that you bring Traditions with you And the way that In your house this completely makes sense But then you have to explain it to other people You know, I thought that was great The way that the Uncle's banter The way that the great grandmother

[00:10:18] Is always dropping little judgment bombs Just a lot of little things along the way That I found very Familiar and recognizable In a good way And certainly around the chaos of the holidays And I think the leads are really charming Like scholar Gisondo

[00:10:34] I think he's a really terrific young actor He was in Booksmart, he was in Licorice Pizza And you have to buy This couple Immediately being Into each other, you know, pretty quickly And I think that's written and acted really well So you do

[00:10:50] I like the supporting characters like Katie And this guy Juke Who is sort of the Kind of local font of wisdom You know, they wind up Having more layers than you might have gotten In another movie You know, the period detail is spot on

[00:11:06] People think the 1980s were all You know, neon Teal and pink and like No, it was real brown And this movie really gets that right So yeah, I'm a fan I like it I love this movie And I'm trying not to have Regency bias But

[00:11:28] I don't remember a new Christmas Movie to me That I've connected with more Right out of the gate than this one I adored this movie I thought it was great I agree, I felt like The two leads immediately You're like, oh yeah, they're very much

[00:11:46] Into each other, so a lot of that is just A way that they're looking at each other And the little bit of awkwardness That happens when you first meet somebody But you're really into them And you're trying not to mess up That comes across really well

[00:12:00] The aesthetic of the movie is fantastic When we said that we were going to do this But the group someone said is this The episode of the bear And honestly, and you replied back Way less stressful And you're not wrong It is way less stressful

[00:12:16] Basically it is that episode Way less stressful and with a romance thrown in Because it is like the big family Just like chaos of it But you know, Jamie Lee Curtis Isn't in the kitchen There's no kitchen timer I think that In the popular culture, the idea of

[00:12:34] The Feast of Seven Fishes is now associated With that episode and it's like But no, you can actually do it Without wanting to drive a car through The living room Every character played Such an important piece In moving this movie forward No spare characters They all have something

[00:12:54] Even if it was just for one scene Or two, like the uncle driving Beth And that just that conversation Every character played An important part of this movie Joe Pantoliano He's so good This movie crushed, I absolutely love this movie And I can't wait to watch it

[00:13:14] This holiday season with my wife Because I didn't get to watch it this time around I think she's really going to dig it Let's get to all the feels We're talking about what this movie gave us Those feels, Alonzo Yeah, like again

[00:13:28] In 1983 I recognized a lot of stuff The needle drops were on point I thought like for a movie That's probably made with not the biggest budget In the world, like their music supervisor Worked some real magic because they got A lot of hits of the era in there

[00:13:42] Not to mention just the music In general, like the score of it Like the movie starts and you got that Like springsteen driving Rock vibe Yeah It was no vocals, that was just the score of the movie Sure, yeah I think the

[00:14:00] You and I are always impressed by real snow And this is definitely Like a winter In the harshest sense But also winter in the Best kind of Christmas sense Even though it is the famous Joke about the concrete colored skies Of that part of the country

[00:14:18] But yeah, it really It gives you This blue collar You know, milieu where people like Work in the mines or run a fish market Or whatever That didn't feel like it was You know, cleaned up or scrubbed up But at the same time didn't feel like poverty porn

[00:14:36] It just felt like this is where these people live They're They're hanging up their Christmas stuff They're making it work and it all felt Just very kind of lived in and honest Like the people making this movie Knew what they were doing And knew this place really well

[00:14:52] Because I think they really capture that And I laughed so hard when This is a throwaway line Really in the movie, but it's so Italian But it's also so Spanish He comes over to His grandfather's house to drop something off And the grandmother's like

[00:15:08] Are you hungry? And he goes, no, I'm good And she goes, I'll make you a plate Like you will always be fed No matter how not hungry you are They are going to give you food You're getting a plate You're getting a rosters pet peeves apparently

[00:15:22] He doesn't like reinforced food I'll make a plate Obviously the movie starts off With The film Just like this early 80s Of these Home videos and then it cuts back To it during the actual feast And you see I don't remember who it was walking around with

[00:15:44] An old camera and it's showing you What it was like, it really just puts Basically at the table What it does really well The grandmother's holding the camera And then the movie itself changes Aspect ratio and the color quality Changes and it's like you're seeing it on

[00:16:00] Like kind of Kodachrome 8mm It's a nice touch I love that and then I love the conversation With grandpa at the end One You should pursue your dreams It's why we did this But also your dad might surprise Like give him a little bit of credit

[00:16:18] And I think we've all had that As kids like Assuming That you know what your dad is going to say about something You know absolutely You never know And again I think it really does tie into the The whole immigrant narrative is always Like

[00:16:36] We didn't come here so you could do the same job I have We came here so you could go to college And you could go be a thing, you know Whatever it is that you want to do I totally bought that And yeah I think

[00:16:48] We all have that moment Where our parents surprise us by What they're open to and we just figure out No way, no way Let's take a quick break and come back with the Wait what And the home mark here on Deck the home mark We're back

[00:17:14] Hello everybody we're talking about fees to the 7 fishes We've raved about the movie And now it's time for the wait what Do you have any Alonzo? Not really like at one point I wrote down a family tree montage Would help but by the end of the movie

[00:17:28] I knew who everybody was You know you do eventually pick up On it through context clues Or dialogue or whatever so yeah no I think this movie is you know There's no like Big weeps of logic People Behave in human Recognizably human way

[00:17:48] So yeah I don't know there is a way What for this one To the family tree part The hardest thing I had To grapple with was that Grandpa is a grandpa That guy's freaking awesome And I Like I just You see Tony's dad

[00:18:08] And if I see Tony's dad And that grandpa side by side I'm like the brothers Yeah exactly that's the thing And then it's like oh no that's the great grandmother And then you know Joey Pants is the great uncle And not an uncle but I

[00:18:24] Put it together finally Yeah and that's really that was it for me Just that grandpa was a grandpa Aside from that Nothing which is crazy I know well you know I think Where we're you know The movies we're gonna be talking about

[00:18:40] For the next few weeks here like I think are maybe better written Than the usual made for cable Slash streaming Christmas movie Just gonna say I know I know wrap your head around that one Do you have any what the Home art something that you're wondering about

[00:18:56] That you would like some answers to I mean it's always the kind of default But I kinda wanna see where this goes You know I think there's such a great couple And I hope it works out for them But like I wanna see

[00:19:08] What happens as far as him pursuing Art cause that's always a real challenge I wanna see how it works out For Beth like Sort of rebelling against her parents Who have spent their entire lives like Grooming her to marry a rich guy

[00:19:22] Because you know like the reason that Like Beth is from the town but the reason that Tony never matters cause she got sent off To private school you know And so like she's Of that place the way that he is You know maybe a little bit better

[00:19:36] Off but obviously the parents were like Grooming her to be like You know some rich guy's wife And so I wanna see how that plays out With the family if they ever accept Tony You know what a Christmas dinner With like her mom and the grandfather

[00:19:50] Looks like because you know That mother is a piece of work You know but yeah So it just sort of made me Wanna see like where are all these characters In 2024 you know I Would love to know and that's A good thing that I care that I believe

[00:20:06] In these people enough that I wanna know You know like how things go for them Right um I didn't really Talk about Duke and the synopsis But he's a great character Yeah a great character One of my favorite Moments in the movie is when He kind of looks

[00:20:24] Back at the bar chair after a couple Of things that happened and then Chairs uh curse It's really funny Um but I you know He is this fountain Of knowledge and wisdom And he kind of helps Katie out of this Rutt that she's in

[00:20:44] And at the end of the movie she invites Him in to spend Christmas Whether so they're not spending Christmas alone And I don't know if this is a purely Platonic thing or if there might Might be something that comes in But I would watch a Duke Katie movie

[00:20:58] Oh for sure yeah no I See what they have together are great I think he's absolutely into her I saw that as As the stepping off point to something else But who knows you know do you want to be a rebound guy

[00:21:10] You know there's a lot going on there But yeah I agree with you those are Those are great characters and I would totally watch A whole other thing about them There you go we did it everybody congratulations Wooo it's uh it's

[00:21:22] Crazy when the movie is actually good like What does there say What do you do um Next week We're heading not very far into The past to 2021's 8 bit Christmas Excited to talk about that I think that there are going to be some weight What's in that movie

[00:21:42] But I think it's also going to be a lot of fun And Dan should be back Dan should be back With any luck I don't think Dan has seen 8 bit Christmas If my memory is so good so I'm excited to

[00:21:52] Watch that with him so stay tuned next week For that and the good news everybody For everyone out there That was concerned about whether or not Ryan was finally going to talk about Snow 2, brain freeze The answer is yes it's happening later this week So stay tuned

[00:22:08] Have you seen the snow movies a lot I think I might have started one once And then didn't get into it too much But I'm open to it You know I think ABC Family was sneaking in The occasional winner there when we weren't really paying attention

[00:22:22] They were maybe not those But they were Alright we'll be back next week with another one until then Maybe we're the first to wish you a Merry Christmas Deck the Hallmark is a Brable Jam podcast Is produced by Aaron Shea For more information on Deck the Hallmark

[00:22:36] You can go to deckthehallmark.com For more information on the Deck the Hallmark family You can go to brablejamplus.com Deck the Hallmark is presented by Filo TV For a free trial of Filo Go to filo.tv.dth You're about to hear some ads

[00:22:56] That help keep the lights on here in the old studio Thanks For listening or don't listen It's really up to you at this point Is that the end of the show I mean you're listening to me hi But here they come I promise they're coming

[00:23:10] Yep here they are Happy day