This Movie is Rated R – For Language
Since my husband and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary this week, I thought all of my posts for the week should have a wedding theme. I picked this movie to be first, due to the fact that ceremony is closest to what we had (the actual ceremony part, not the banquet). Although, instead of city hall, we got married in a cute little chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada, with a few friends in attendance. No, we didn’t get married by Elvis. Although, the guy that performed the ceremony is a celebrity of sorts. He played the pastor during the wedding scene in the movie “Honeymoon in Vegas”.
“The Wedding Banquet” is a wonderful movie directed and co-written by Ang Lee. The film has a mix of English and Mandarin languages. The story is sweet, funny and at times heartbreaking. I love Ang’s directing style, he has a way of making stories feel very personal and like you are a part of it.
Wai Tung (Winston Chao) is a successful New York businessman; one might even call him a workaholic. He and his live-in partner, Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein) have been together for five years. Simon is a physical therapist. They have a terrific relationship and a happy life together.
The only problem they have is that Wai’s parents don’t know he is gay. Since his parents live in Taiwan, it hasn’t been too big of a deal. Other than the fact that they keep enrolling him in singles clubs, trying to find him a wife. He plays along with it, even going so far as to go on a date with one of the prospective wives.
Then Wai finds out that his father has recently suffered a mild stroke. His father’s plan is to hang on long enough to get one last wish, which is to hold his grandchild. This news causes Wai to feel extremely guilty. Not only is he keeping this huge secret from his parents, but also the fact that he won’t be getting married or having kids.
Simon comes up with a plan. One of Wai’s tenants, Wei Wei (May Chin) is an artist that is currently down on her luck financially, plus she is in danger of being deported. Simon figures that Wei Wei can marry Wai (since he is a US citizen) and live with them until she can get her green card. Wai can then tell his parents he is getting married and they will get off his back.
After giving it some thought Wai, Simon and Wei Wei all decide to go ahead with the plan. So they move Wei Wei in with them and Simon starts teaching her all about Wai so that she will be able to answer any question immigration officials might ask her. Things are all going smoothly until Wai’s parents decide that they should come to the US for the wedding.
So they concoct a story about Simon being Wai’s roommate/landlord and that he and Wei Wei will look for their own place after the wedding. Then they frantically “de-gay” the place, set up two separate bedrooms for the guys and put up traditional Chinese decorations. To further complicate things, Wai’s parents will be staying with them during their visit. So they will all have to continually be on their best behavior in order to keep up the hoax.
Much to his parent’s displeasure, Wai and Wei Wei get married via a quick ceremony at city hall. Afterwards, Simon takes them all out to a celebratory dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. Which coincidentally is run by, Old Chen, a man that used to work for Wai’s father. When he finds out about their wedding he is mortified that they didn’t have a ceremony befitting his father’s status. He insists on having a huge, traditional wedding banquet at his restaurant. He will make all the arrangements; all they have to do is show up.
In order to make his parents happy they go along with it. However, this makes everything seem so much more real. It creates an awkward situation between Wai, Simon and Wei Wei since they need to do all the traditional banquet things, such as kissing when people tap their chopsticks on their glasses (we’re not just talking a peck on the cheek). Not to mention drinking far too many toasts to all the guests that have been kind enough to be there (leading them to being quite drunk and doing things they might not normally do). They have also been given a room in the hotel upstairs for their wedding night (let’s just say there are some interesting wedding night traditions too).
Some of my favorite quotes:
Simon – “Look at yourself, your parents send you a form in the mail and you practically pee your pants. You know, you are an adult. As a matter of fact, you’re practically middle-aged.”
Wei Wei – “Let’s see, today’s Friday, you are wearing blue Jockey shorts.”
Wai – “Did you understand any of that?”
Simon – “Unfortunately, I think so.”
Wai – “This was your big idea.”
Mrs. Gao – “What do you think?”
Mr. Gao – “She’ll make lots of babies.”
Simon – “How was my performance on the first day?”
Wai – “About a B+. I don’t know, we should have moved you out.”
Simon – “I’ll survive.”
Wai – “Not if Wei Wei keeps cooking.”
Old Chen – “If you don’t let him have this, then you’re an ungrateful son.”
Simon – “I knew it was you.”
Wai – “Come on, I’m in the bathroom. Just like our college days.”
Wai – “Give me a break. You know I can’t drink. I get drunk from beer commercials.”
Mr. Gao – “I watch. I hear. I learn.”
Interesting trivia:
Mitchell is the son of famous pop artist Roy Lichtenstein.
This movie is Winston’s first acting job, before that he was a flight attendant.
Sihung Lung, the actor that played Wai’s father, has been in three other movies directed by Ang Lee (Pushing Hands – Eat, Drink, Man, Woman – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).
Ang Lee makes a cameo appearance during the banquet. He even gets to say a line “You’re witnessing the results of 5,000 years of sexual repression”.
The first half of the movie is based on the life of one of Ang’s friends.
Ang and his wife actually did get married at city hall.
Jan
Following is additional information about the show that contains spoilers. If you don’t want to be spoiled don’t read any further.
The wedding banquet part of the movie was just stunning. It was beautifully filmed and the colors were so rich and vibrant. Plus it was fun to watch all the traditional elements from their culture.
What is with all the secrecy? Wai finally tells his mother he is gay, but she doesn’t want him to tell his father. Then Simon finds out that Wai’s father figured it out on his own, but he wants it to remain a secret between the two of them. Yikes, talk about making things complicated.
