The Wedding Banquet š
Happy Monday! Did you have a wonderful weekend? I hope you did. No new newsletter on Thursday because, you know, Christmas. So just check out some movies here or here.
šæ Todayās movie: The Wedding Banquetās perfectly imperfect family
Todayās movie is iconic director Ang Leeās second film The Wedding Banquet (1994), which would earn him the first of many Oscar nominations. Hereās what itās about:
Wai-Tung (Winston Chao), a bisexual Taiwanese immigrant, and his American boyfriend Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein) are living in domestic bliss in New York City. In an effort to get his conservative parents off his back, Simon suggests Wai-Tung get married to Wei-Wei (May Chin)āin turn she gets a green card. Things get complicated when Wai-Tungās parents (Gua Ah-leh and Sihung Lung) show up on their doorstep for the āwedding.ā [Trailer]
Why you should watch it: Letās talk about facts: Simon is the perfect boyfriend. Smart. Check. Emotionally available. Check. Can cook. Check. Great biceps. Double check. Why do I bring this up? The Wedding Banquet thrives largely because of Ang Leeās ability to make any character likable. Not that that is a prerequisite to a movie being good, but being empathetic to every characterās motivation is essential to understanding the very complicated emotions involvedāand the unwieldy plot.
The movie begins as a delightful and hilarious comedy of misunderstandings that benefits from Ang Leeās talent for understated yet impactful character interactions. As the movie shifts to drama and then melodrama in its second half, those same interactions become even more profound. In the end, as all the characters move towards an uncertain future, you realize one thing: you are going to miss hanging out with them. And thatās what makes it great.
Hug your loved ones a little bit tighter this weekāwhether physically or virtually. I wish you a happy and healthy holiday.
See you next week ā
Karl