Eat a Bowl of Tea Movie Review

After the 1987 bomb Slamdance, director Wayne Wang returns to the low-key, personal style of filmmaking that won critical praise for his earlier movies, Chan Is Missing and Dim Sum. Eat a Bowl of Tea focuses on the family pressures that nearly destroy the marriage of a young Chinese couple, circa 1949. I first thought that the husband was suffering from a problem that was far more easily correctable than impotence, but it's so rare for any film to focus serious attention on the sexual difficulties within marriage, that Wang's sensitive entry deserves high marks for making the effort. Eat a Bowl of Tea is beautifully atmospheric, with lush period detail and sympathetic performances by Cora Miao and Russell Wong as the confused partners.

1989 (PG-13) 102m/C Cora Miao, Russell Wong, Lau Siu Ming, Eric Tsiang Chi Wai, Victor Wong, Jessica Harper, Lee Sau Kee; D: Wayne Wang; W: Judith Rascoe; C: Amir M. Mokri; M: Mark Adler. VHS, LV, Closed Caption