Good films about the Thanksgiving season are rather hard to come by. And with many of us not being able to attend typical large family gatherings this Thanksgiving, I want to recommend a fascinating little film I recently discovered that shows the joyous Thanksgiving spirit in a uniquely American way.  Director Gurinder Chadha’s “What’s Cooking?” tells four interconnecting stories of the American melting pot experience in Los Angeles’ Fairfax District, seen through the eyes of a Vietnamese family, a Latino family, an African American family, and a Jewish family.

This wonderful, women-centered film stars Alfre Woodard, Joan Chen, Mercedes Ruehl, Kyra Sedgewick and Lanie Kazan. This original tale of cultural diversity was co-scripted by Chadha (a British director of Indian heritage born in Kenya) and her husband, Paul Mayeda Berges. Extended sequences realistically use Spanish and Vietnamese, which are subtitled.

Beginning a couple of days before the Thanksgiving holiday, we meet the family of Trinh (Chen) and Duc Nguyen, owners of a family-run neighborhood video store. Across town, Anthony and Sophia Avila are shopping at a grocery store when they run into Javier Avila (Victor Rivers), Tony’s estranged father. He invites his dad to his Thanksgiving dinner, knowing that his mom, Elizabeth (Ruehl), might not appreciate his company because of his past infidelities.

Then, the older, more middle-aged Audrey (Woodard) and Ron Williams (Dennis Haysbert) pick up Ron’s mother at the airport and are anxiously awaiting their son’s possible visit from college. And finally, there is Ruth (Kazan) and Herb Seelig, who is somewhat ambivalently planning the arrival of their adult daughter Rachel (Sedgewick) and her partner/lover Carla (Julianne Margulies).

Instead of simply emphasizing the diverse differences and petty conflicts between and among family members, the film celebrates individual generational differences and each of the family’s values. Much of the first part of the film concerns the women preparing the holiday meal: sharing special turkey making secrets, chopping veggies, baking favorite pies, making sure there are plenty of mashed, sweet potatoes, and macaroni and cheese. Each household has its own special turkey spices and complements the main course with ethnic sides like tamales, egg rolls or special bread stuffing. Meanwhile, the men and sons mostly sit watching holiday parades and football games on television.

The second part of the film mostly focuses on the family meal with other aunts, uncles and relatives joining the individual families’ festivities. Each family also has a major conflict that arises, which threatens to spoil the joyous events.

Jenny Nguyen discovers a pistol under her brother’s bed and assumes he’s likely involved in local gangs. Javier arrives a bit late, which upsets Elizabeth because she’s secretly invited a teacher colleague named Daniel, who’s now the special man in her life. Audrey is frustrated with her mother in law, who’s endlessly offering advice. She’s also hiding other frustrations with her husband and her college son Michael who has decided to drop out of school to pursue political activism. The old-fashioned Seeligs are shocked when Rachel announces she’s pregnant from a male donor and she’ll raise her baby with Carla in San Francisco.

While some of these events appear rather melodramatic, the actors deliver mostly unpretentious, natural and inspired performances. Woodard, Ruehl, Sedgewick and Margulies each provide outstanding emotional realism to their characters.  Later in the film, a rather surprising event shakes the peace of the Nguyen household, and it is revealed that all four families are actually neighbors living within a block of each other. Happily, the events of the day ended with a positive sense of closure, celebrating family unity.  Chadha’s “What’s Cooking?” is an enjoyable film for a holiday that will seem very different for many families this year.