THE WEDDING BANQUET
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1993 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Marriage-of-convenience comedy of a gay, well-to-do, Chinese-American businessman marrying a citizenship-seeking artist in order to please his parents. The is an enjoyable Taiwanese comedy (filmed and set in Manhattan) but what we see of Chinese culture is more of interest than the well-trodden material about gays and straights. Rating +1 (-4 to +4)
Miss Wei-Wei and Mr. Wai-Tung Gao are in love and are getting married. Wei-Wei (May Chin) is in love with Wai-Tung (Winston Chao) and Wai-Tung is in love with Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein), his long-time roommate and lover. So why is Wai-Tung marrying Wei-Wei? His parents do not know that he is gay and would not be able to handle knowing it. They have tried for years to get him paired with a nice Chinese girl, and Wai-Tung has not had the heart to tell them his sexual orientation. Wai-Tung is a well-off landlord and his tenant Wei-Wei, an out-of-work artist and an illegal alien, has been attracted to him and also would like American citizenship. So Simon has suggested this charade of a marriage and the two Chinese have reluctantly decided it was a good idea.
The most disappointing aspect of this film, written and directed by Ang Lee, is that while it is pleasant enough, the basic story is overly familiar. It is very much a LA CAGE AUX FOLLES set in the Chinese-American community. (And even CAGE itself was derivative of Frank Capra films such as LADY FOR A DAY.) So THE WEDDING BANQUET is an engaging view into a community too rarely depicted in film, but the story itself could occur in just about any culture and has little in the plot that is not telegraphed. I think I learned more about Chinese-American marriage customs and life in general in their community than I learned about gays from THE WEDDING BANQUET. Where this film shows us what we have not seen, it is in Gao's parents' cultural fascination with Chinese calligraphy; it is in some odd wedding tradition about a piece of what looks like fried chicken on a string. Then there is the wild party after the banquet that seems so out of character with the usually staid outward appearances of the Chinese. Take these out of the film and it becomes a television-level situation comedy with a few very pat lessons. In fact, it is even a bit uneven as a comedy. The showpiece scene seems to be the marriage ceremony with the two principles having almost no command of English. That seems a bit contrived since at other times they seem to have considerably more command of English.
Generally, performances are very good. Sihung Lung as the father has little to do but look stiff and dignified in the early parts of film, yet still finds opportunity to make his the most memorable character of the movie. Perhaps because he is enigmatic for so much of the story. Lichtenstein is winning, if a little overly bright-eyed. The score, by Mader, is a bit of a disappointment as it is neither particularly melodic music, nor does it use Chinese themes. But it is always interesting to see foreign films set and filmed in the United States just to get some idea how other people view the United States. This Taiwanese film really effectively uses its Manhattan locations.
This is an enjoyable film, though perhaps not as good as word-of-mouth would have it. I would say it is just average for theatrical films I have seen this year, giving it a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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