EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1994 Ben Hoffman
You say you got hungry at BABETTE'S FEAST? Your mouth watered at LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE? Then you are in for another feast treat with this Taiwan film by the same director who gave you the hilarious THE WEDDING BANQUET.
Mr. Chu (Sihung Lung), Taiwan's greatest chef, will make your mouth water as you see him prepare the food in a large restaurant with dozens of helpers scurrying all around. Listen to the pots sizzle as he drops in his scrumptious delicacies and makes his wondrous dishes. Get ready to watch a master chef prepare great Chinese food and be prepared to get hungry immediately.
Ah, but Mr. Chu, a widower, despite his being a food wizard, finds he is having trouble at home managing his three pretty daughters, Jia-Chien, a self-sufficient airline executive; Jia-Jen, a high school teacher who may never find the right man; and Jia-Ning, the youngest of the three and a confirmed romantic. As if he needed more problems, Mr. Chu is losing his taste buds; a deaf Beethoven.
Sunday family dinner is a ritual to keep the family together but a small torture for the daughters who would rather be elsewhere.
One of the funniest and endearing scenes in the film is that involving the lunch brought by Mr. Chu to a friend's daughter at school. You will "eat it up."
Then there is the widow, Ms. Liang (Ah-Leh Gua) who has returned from America and who has her eye out for Mr. Chu while she checks out her newly divorced daughter, Jin-Rong (Sylvia Chang).
Throw all that into the pot and let Director Ang Lee stir things up and you come up with the most delicious foreign film of the year. For good measure there is a delightful surprise.
Finally, about the title. EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN. That is what people need to survive: food and sex. Need we say more?
In Cantonese with English subtitles
4 Bytes (BIG ONES) 4 Bytes = Absolutely must see. 3 Bytes = Too good to be missed. 2 Bytes = So so. 1 Byte = Save your money.
Ben Hoffman
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