It was food and a flick for ten of us on Thursday, August 21, at the home of Nisha Thatte-Potter. The film, “Bel Canto,” is set in an unnamed South American country, so we had a South American-themed potluck. We had all read the book and—as is often the case—felt the movie didn’t do justice to it. Whereas the author, Ann Patchett, spends time developing the individual characters and the gradually deepening relationships among them, the movie gives us only a superficial picture of this central element of the book. The film also simply dispenses with a number of significant plot elements. Nonetheless, we enjoyed it—and we loved the book. Thanks for hosting us, Nisha.