EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1994 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: The lives of a master chef and his
three daughters are told with occasional interruptions
to see how Chinese banquet foods are prepared. The film
tells the story of four interconnected lives in one
family in a film that is both a little long and still a
bit rushed. Rating high +1 (-4 to +4)
Ang Lee is the Taiwanese filmmaker best known to American audiences for last year's charming but occasionally cliched THE WEDDING BANQUET. This year the fans of that film can enjoy his new film EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN.
Eating and drinking. Men and women. The title refers to two of the basic human urges. One is to consume food and drink; the other is to mate. These fundamental urges are central to Ang Lee's story of a great chef and his three adult daughters. Each of the four has a life of her or his own and each of the lives intersect at the dinner table over almost pornographically seductive Chinese banquet dishes. Not since BABETTE'S FEAST has food looked this sensually inviting in a film. (And, yes, I have considered LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE, TAMPOPO, THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, and WHO'S KILLING THE GREAT CHEFS OF EUROPE. Did I miss any?)
Eldest of the daughters is Jen (played by Kuei-Mei Yang), a sexually repressed chemistry professor who is just coming out of being shell-shocked from a college romance. The second daughter is Chien (Chien-Lien Wu) a successful executive for the Taiwanese national airline. Deep down she regrets that she never became a proficient cook and housewife since her father would not let her do the cooking. Third of the daughters is Ning (Yu-Wen Wang) who rebelliously works in a Wendy's Hamburger Restaurant to spite her father's culinary tastes.
Then there is Chef Chu himself (Si-hung Lung). Knowing that he will soon lose his daughters and dreading an empty nest, he is losing his taste for life and has already literally lost his taste for food. In his attempts to connect he has adopted the family next door: a friend of Jen's and her mother and daughter. But nothing in this film is very far from food. Chu's relationship with the little girl next door is through his cooking. When the family gets together and communicates it is over one of Chu's carefully prepared meals. It is over meals that announcements are made to the family. Much of the screen time is spent showing exactly how Chu prepares his feasts. These interruptions would be irritating distractions from the storyline but they have their own interest value.
EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN is a long film at 123 minutes and at times the film moves slowly developing the relationships that form the four different stories. Lee is ambitious trying to tell so much plot, but even at more than two hours some of the stories end up a bit sketchy and rushed. In particular, Ning's story is slighted with a rushed telling.
But like THE WEDDING BANQUET, this film will probably be popular in the United States for different reasons than it will be popular in Lee's native Taiwan. Remove the Chinese culture from each and you have a story that is watchable but already a little familiar in this country. Neither plot is probably as common in Taiwan. But United States audiences may find that the view of the dynamics of a Taiwanese family is compensation. This story is not so well written or structured as last year's JOY LUCK CLUB. But it still is an enjoyable comedy-drama, perhaps a bit on the light side. I rate the film a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. Plan to go out for Chinese food after you see the film.
Mark R. Leeper
mark.leeper@att.com
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