The Wedding Banquet (1993)

4/5

Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet is a bittersweet comedy drama about cultural traditions, hidden sexuality, and familial relationships--how these three things can easily and confusingly intertwine. The plot follows a gay Asian American who agrees to a marriage of convenience to satisfy his nagging parents, but it gets wonderfully out of control when they arrive and demand an extravagant wedding banquet to celebrate. It is a rare treat for a movie to have a story as rich as this one while simultaneously attacking the viewer from all emotional and thematic fronts, never letting up until the fantastically touching closing frame. It is the kind of movie that makes you glad to be human, in all our frailty and folly, because we are in the end capable of goodness and decency. It is both moving and hilarious, but more importantly the movie has a determined sense of purpose. It has universal messages and is never afraid to venture into territory that might appear beyond its scope.

I liked the movie, it seems, in every aspect except the technical one. The filmmaking felt quite amateurish at times, with bizarre blocking and blunt editing every so often invading my enjoyment of the story. (A remarkable thing considering the editing in his next film, Eat Drink Man Woman, was probably the best part.) As in his following film, the first 20 or so minutes were weakened by stilted acting and mechanical dialogue. These disappear after the introductory scenes, but their presence at all is curious indeed. Despite these technical imperfections, the viewer becomes quickly entranced by Ang Lee's exceptional storytelling ability. This film should not be missed.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0107156/

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)

4/5

Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman is a touching comedy drama set in Taiwan about an aging chef and his three daughters. The film follows their romantic lives, their familial ties, and their expression of love for each other in the form of gastronomy. Wonderfully paced and exquisitely shot, the film shows us the ins and outs, ups and downs, and broad strokes and subtle nuances of each of these individuals' lives. We are drawn in by the accuracy of the characters; while sometimes bizarre and unexpected, their actions and motivations are believable. Take, for example, the character of Mrs. Liang. She was without a doubt the most hilarious person in this movie. Every time she spoke, I was holding my belly laughing. Yet she was also so human and I was able to empathize with her and understand her, though I disagreed with her.

The editing is by far the best part about this movie. The first twenty minutes were absolutely incredible. The first five or ten were spent on food preparation--if I hadn't just eaten before watching the movie, I probably would have been salivating. After that it introduces us to the father and each of the three daughters in precisely choreographed cuts. Every piece of the puzzle fit together so effortlessly. Even on a more macroscopic level, the editing finds a thematic purpose. Every so often Lee would intercut the movie with traffic patterns, ending on a close up of a lone woman trying to direct the entire hectic mess. I liked what it said about us trying to control our own lives, and how futile that can seem at times. The entire movie sets up common expectations that are thrown back at us upside-down at the end. You think you know how these people's lives will turn out? You don't. Do you know how your own will turn out?

The movie also failed on some fronts. I thought a lot of the acting, especially in the beginning, seemed stilted and false. The fact that this acting introduced us to the characters hurt the movie much more than if it had been placed somewhere in the middle, after we already knew how genuine and true-to-life the characters were. The fault lies in part with awkward, mechanical dialogue. Also, the movie felt extremely dated. Even though it was made in the 90's, it felt like an 80's movie in fashion and hair style. These points are easily forgivable and can at least provide a healthy laugh. I highly recommend this film.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0111797/