The Wedding Banquet

The Wedding Banquet was a great movie, which brought purpose and reality to the spectators viewing experience. Although, “The Wedding Banquet” may be a bit extreme for a real life situation, it involves family, comedy, sexuality and love, all of which are necessities for the complete fulfilling life.

Directed by acclaimed director Ang Lee, “The Wedding Banquet” was released in 1993 and received numerous awards most notably “ Best Foreign Film” in the Golden Globes as well as in the Oscars. Ang Lee also directed “Brokeback Mountain” another gay themed film that received Oscar nods.

The film stars Winston Chao as Wei-Tung Gao, Mitchell Litchenstein as Simon and May Chin as Wei-Wei. “The Wedding Banquet” has dialogue in Mandarin as well as English, which compliments the versatility of the Chinese actors.

Wai and Simon are two lovers trying to make ends meet in the pricey, competitive city of New York. Back at home Wai’s parents are adamant about finding him a spouse to wed and have children with.  They are unaware of his homosexuality. Wai’s parents send him request forms to fill out so they can be as accurate as possible when choosing a spouse. When all attempts fail, Wai and Simon decide to involve a tenant (Wei-Wei) in the scheme who wants to marry an American citizen so she can receive her green card; she is also attracted to Wai. Made unaware to his parents, Wai and Simon set up a scheme to introduce Wei-Wei as his love interest. To Wai’s shock his parents decide to make the trip to New York from China to arrange the Wedding.

When Mr. and Mrs. Gao (Wai’s parents) get to the home, Simon introduces himself as the landlord and good friend of Wai. They decide to wed at city hall, which actually was preferred by Wai and Simon. After the wedding Wai thought his parents would go back to China and he could continue on with his life, as he knew it. But at a dinner that night, Wai meets a friend of his fathers who is so grateful for what his father has done for him that he decides to repay him by throwing his son (Wai) a wedding banquet; much to Wai’s disapproval. At the wedding banquet, Wai accidentally impregnates Wei-Wei. When Simon finds this out he is very upset. His father is ailing but desperately wants a grandson. Simon and Wai’s relationship is on the ropes until Wei breaks the news to his mom about his sexuality. Eventually Simon and Wai reconcile and acknowledge the baby and Wei-Wei as a part of their family. The only concern left was telling Wai’s father. No need he already knew, his gracefulness and wisdom along with the knowledge of his sons heart allowed him to see that he wasn’t truly happy with Wei-Wei, from there it was just putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

“The Wedding Banquet” was a great movie. There wasn’t really a specific look or score that had a real effect on the movie. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as colorful as most Chinese themes films, which could be because it took place in NY or because it’s just not Ang Lee’s style. I really enjoyed the movie and I definitely understand why it is condemned a foreign classic. 

Ju Dou

Ju Dou is a film that is visually a masterpiece but at times was tough to watch because of its moral values. Directed by Zhang Yimou and Yang Fengliang, Ju Dou was released in 1990 and received nominations at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Awards (Best Foreign Film). Ju Dou is a romantic tragedy. The film was first released on DVD in 1999 but re-released in 2006 as part of Zhang Yimou's collectors edition DVD. Zhang Yimou is most notably known in America for his martial arts film call Hero starring Jet Li. 

Ju Dou (Gong Li) is a young woman who was bought by an older woman beater named Yang Jinshan (Li Wei). His adoptive nephew Yang Tianqing is works for him at his very successful silk dying plant. On several occasions Tianqing hears yelling and screaming at night coming from his uncle and newly purchased aunts bedroom. At first, he's reluctant to get involved out of fear and respect for his uncle. As the screaming continues Tianqing finally tries to investigate, he picks up an axe and makes his way to his uncles bedroom only to be convinced by his uncle that there isn't much going on. The next day Ju Dou is alone with Tianqing and tells him everything that has been going on. She admits that she is suicidal and is constantly beaten by her husband. At this moment something strange happens, Ju Dou make love right on the dye machine. They never looked back.

A short while later Ju Dou realized that she was pregnant. She told the village and her husband that he (Jinshan) was the father but she was telling a lie, Tianqing had fathered the baby.

The day Tianqing found out he so happy. Surprisingly, he wasn't really worried about his uncle finding out the truth. Soon after the birth of the baby Jinshan was paralyzed. When he eventually found out he did everything in his power to kill his wife, nephew and their son. When the boy grew old he carried Jinshan's name and legacy, he didn't refer to Tianqing as his father but as his brother. Years later, the affair between Ju Dou and Tianqing continued. Their son hated Tianqing and became very violent as he got older. After Jinshan's death, their son went wild. He eventually ended up killing Tianqing later in the movie. 

The cinematography in this movie was great, although is was slow at times it made up for its pace with great dialogue. All the actors were great, especially their son, something stood out about him. The torture scenes in the beginning of the movie were kind of hard to watch. Other than that okay movie. Would recommend it. 

 

Lan Yu

Lan Yu is a Chinese film released in 2001 by acclaimed director Stanly Kwan. Lan Yu received rave reviews when it premiered at many notable film festivals (most notably Sundance and Cannes).  Lan Yu was the first film of main land China to show a full nude male on screen. The film was a gay-themed romance about a wealthy businessman that has a fling with a college student who seemingly wants more. The film stars Liu Ye as the young boy and Hu Jun as the businessman.

The films main character Lan Yu seems to be a lost young man taken under the wing of Chen. In the first scene of the movie Lan Yu is shown naked on Chen’s bed as Chen begins to seduce him and furthermore. This scene was a bit surprising because for some reason I didn’t expect that. Throughout the movie Chen and Lan Yu’s affair continues. In one occasion Chen actually brings Lan Yu to meets his parents, telling them that he is a brother of Chen’s friend.  Chen also showers Lan Yu with expensive gifts all in point to make Lan feel wanted. In one scene, Chen is actually caught in the act cheating with another young man, just like the average couple Lan runs downstairs with Chen chasing him shouting words of apologetic feelings. Adding to the drama, Chen is extremely depressed with his company in trouble and his new engagement with a woman he met. Chen leaves Lan Yu more than once to pursue the traditional values of marriage and family, but finds that he can't fulfill his societal duties.

 Ultimately, he has to learn to be true to himself, much as Lan Yu has always been. The acting in this movie is what makes it worth watching. We’ve all seen movies about two lovers, one falling in love with someone else but eventually redeveloping feelings for the person before. The writing is also descent. Visually there’s nothing special about this film. The cinematography, editing and score were ok. But I think what gave this movie its spunk was the strong performances given by Hu Jun and Liu Ye as Chen and Lan respectively.

I personally don’t think this movie will be one of my favorites this semester just because it was nothing to take away from this film. I honestly felt the same way watching the closing credits as I did popping it in my DVD player. I wouldn’t watch it again but I will recommend it to friend (only if they were into foreign dramas). 

Shanghai Triad

If you are looking for a movie with great dialogue, great acting with outstanding cinematography and look, than "Shanghai Triad" is for you. “Shanghai Triad” reveals 7 days in the life surrounding Jinbao, Shuiseng and Boss. A week that reveals betrayal as well as loyalty, truth as well as lies and ones vibrant life; which turns to a pale death. "Shanghai Triad" was released in 1995 to stellar reviews and international acclaim, including awards at the Cannes Film Festival and a Cinematography nomination at the Academy Awards. The film was directed by Zhang Yimou; who also directed "Raise the Red Lantern". The film stars Gong Li as Miss Jinbao, an uptight city girl with a bad reputation and an attitude to match. Wang Xiaoxiao as Tang Shuisheng, Jinbao's new servant and Li Xuejian as Uncle Liu. All of which delivered strong performances in this gripping crime drama. Shuisheng Tang is a 13 years old boy that was hand-picked by his uncle, Lui, to come to the city of Shanghai to serve Miss the wife of the highest boss in the city. To the Tang family it is more of an honor to serve in the city as a servant than to live in countryside as peasants. Uncle Lui feels that serving in the city as a servant makes the Tang family relevant and honors the family’s ancestors. When Shuisheng is met off the boat, Uncle Lui immediately greets him and shows him the ropes on what a servant does when in the presence of royalty but more importantly what not to do. Immediately, Jinbao (Miss) waste no time enforcing her will on Shuisheng. She immediately made him feel uncomfortable and lower. One night Shuisheng over heard an argument that Miss was having upstairs while Boss was out of town. It became obvious at that moment Miss was doing things that Shuisheng knew could get ugly if got out, she was having an affair with Boss’s right hand man. The next day Boss’s enemy attacks, killing Uncle Lui. Boss credits Uncle Lui for his loyalty to him throughout the years. Immediately, Boss and his entourage goes out in hiding to a countryside where Miss and Shuisheng begin to develop a better understanding of one another. As Miss is enjoying the country life and becoming more civilized, Boss has plans of his own. It’s all a set up to weed out Miss and his right hand man Song for they’re mischievous acts against Boss. Ironically, Shuishang breaks in on a card game to tell everyone that he overheard some men saying they wanted to kill Jinbao (Miss). This is when everyone is made aware that it is all-a part of the game Boss has constructed. Miss and Song are eventually killed for the acts of betrayal.

This film was a pleasure to look at. Not often do you see a film that has a deep warm golden tone in one scene and in the immediate next scene it’s portrays night with a deep cool blue tone. The contrast in the two scenes could past for two totally different movies. I appreciated great cinematography and deep writing. This film had my attention from the beginning and I would definitely recommend it to fellow avid filmgoers.