The Wedding Banquet Movie Review

The Wedding Banquet is a charade for the benefit of Wai-Tung's parents. He's really gay and living happily with Simon. When tenant Wei-wei (May Chin) suggests marriage to Wai-Tung (Winston Chao) so she can get a green card, he says sure and so does Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein). And then Wai-Tung's parents (Sihung Lung and Ah-Leh Gua as Mr. and Mrs. Gao) insist on attending the wedding. Ang Lee (Pushing Hands, Eat Drink Man Woman) works miracles with a tiny budget; The Wedding Banquet is a warm, funny flick, made two years before Lee's Oscar nomination as Best Director for Sense and Sensibility. AKA: Xiyan; Hsi Yen.

1993 (R) 111m/C TW Winston Chao, May Chin, Mitchell Lichtenstein, Sihung Lung, Ah-Leh Gua, Michael Gaston, Jeffrey Howard; D: Ang Lee; W: Ang Lee, Neil Peng, James Schamus; C: Jong Lin. Nominations: Academy Awards ‘93: Best Foreign Film; Golden Globe Awards ‘94: Best Foreign Film; Independent Spirit Awards ‘94: Best Actor (Lichtenstein), Best Actress (Chin), Best Director (Lee), Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (Gua). VHS, LV, Closed Caption