The Wedding Banquet
by Ang Lee
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: May Chin, Mitchell Lichtenstein, Sihung Lung, Winston Chao, Ya-lei KueiDirector: Ang Lee
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Producer: Ang Lee
Writer: Ang Lee
Producer: Dolly Hall
Producer: Feng-Chyt Jiang
Producer: James Schamus
Writer: James Schamus
Writer: Neil Peng
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 106 minutes
Published: 2004-06-01
DVD Release Date: 2004-06-15
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of The Wedding Banquet
Movie Review: A Banquet of Life We Should All Attend
Summary: 5 Stars
Since XI YAN [THE WEDDING BANQUET] is not in my dvd library, I rejoiced at having the chance to watch it again. As some reviews have expressed, I saw this when it was new and it really packed a punch back then. When I see it now, it packs a bigger punch than ever. And that is Ang Lee for you...he wrote, produced and directed this 1993 offering--his finest early work and winner of Best Foreign Film Oscar.
Wai Tung Gao (a gorgeous and hilarious Winston Chan) is successful, rich, cute, and...taken. His boyfriend Simon (a sexy and equally talented Mitchell Lichtenstein) and he live a closely bound, deeply loving life together. Simon is a physical therapist and I cannot say I ever figured out what Wai does--but he owns a building with an eccentric squatter tenant, Wei-Wei (sumptuous and amazing Mary Chin). Everyone is more or less happy...Wei-Wei has given up trying to seduce Wai, and he allows her to live in the building in exchange for her expressionist paintings.
All's well, until Ma and Pa Gao (the fantastic Ah-Leh Gua and incredible master Sihung Lung) finally get a lucky strike in their matchmaking efforts back in Taiwan. After faking his 'ideal girl' for years, Wai is forced to meet a gal who finally measures up...she visits him in Manhattan and while he worries about his life, she tells him she doesn't know what to do about her white boyfriend.
Seems everyone is up China Creek in this film, and Wai's folks are about to pay a visit that will change them all. Or at least provide a paddle.
There is only one film in history I can find to compare to this: 1989's LONGTIME COMPANION, which no doubt inspired Lee. With this film, Ang Lee set a true tone for all gay films to follow. No one seemed to have been able to match this side-splitting yet moving gay-Chinese-culture-clash-hide-it-from-the-parents story!
Everything is illustrated in a scene with Wai and Simon, struggling not to be seen, running up the stairs, simultaneously undressing each other and necking--it is so touching and so damned funny, I laugh out loud and shed a tear each time. (I'm not even sure why I cry at that scene.) As indicated, there is no nudity in this film other than what I call natural brief nudity (it's Mary Chin we see, not Winston Chao or Mitchell Lichtenstein).
Ah-Leh Gua as Mrs. Gao is very talented, and handles her huge task better than any actress I've seen. The immortal master Sihung Lung turns in a subtle, sweet yet strong performance as old Mr. Gao. I just love Sihung Lung--I grew up watching him play villains and heroes, and he doesn't disappoint in any of his three Ang Lee films (PUSHING HANDS, EAT, DRINK, MAN, WOMAN and this film).
At an hour and forty minutes, this film packs a lifetime into your heart. I guarantee you will learn lessons in tolerance and understanding which you never thought possible.
Everyone performs to perfection, the shooting/editing is masterful, and the silent moments are rich, deep, meditative. Lee adds some food into the story, as always, as if it were a character in itself. Only a handful of silent moments has a Keatonesque humor--I've always said fans don't understand Buster Keaton. Lee will help you understand it all.
If you never watch any gay-themed film but one, THIS is the one with no question. If you, like me, are an aficionado of both gay-themed and Chinese film, GET THIS. If you love Ang Lee, and missed this, his first truly "great" film, GET IT.
On a final note: I never could fathom the R-rating this film received other than to chalk it up to homophobia. Today, it would easily get itself a PG-13.
How can I say anymore?
Summary of The Wedding Banquet
This 1993 international hit by Ang Lee is a funny and poignant story of a gay, Taiwanese-American man who goes to some lengths to fool his visiting family that he's actually straight. The results are far more complicated and entertaining than anyone could have guessed. The film seems all the more rich now since Lee has become a major Hollywood director: that same sensitivity and mild bemusement he brought to such stories of manners as "Sense and Sensibility" and "The Ice Storm" in recent years are in full bloom in this earlier work. "--Tom Keogh"Similar DVD Movies
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