The Wedding Banquet
| The Wedding Banquet | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Traditional | 喜宴 |
| Mandarin | Xǐyàn |
| Directed by | Ang Lee |
| Produced by | Ang Lee Ted Hope James Schamus |
| Written by | Ang Lee Neil Peng James Schamus |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Mader |
| Cinematography | Jong Lin |
| Edited by | Tim Squyres |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | The Samuel Goldwyn Company |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
106 minutes |
| Country | Taiwan United States |
| Language |
Mandarin Chinese English |
| Budget | $1 million |
| Box office | $23.6 million |
The Wedding Banquet (Chinese: 喜宴; pinyin: Xǐyàn; Wade–Giles: Hsi yen) is a 1993 film about a gay Taiwanese immigrant man who marries a mainland Chinese woman to placate his parents and get her a green card. His plan backfires when his parents arrive in the United States to plan his wedding banquet and he has to hide the truth of his partner.
The film was directed by Ang Lee and stars Winston Chao, May Chin, Gua Ah-leh, Sihung Lung, and Mitchell Lichtenstein. The Wedding Banquet is the first of three movies that Ang Lee made featuring gay characters; the second is Brokeback Mountain and the third is . The film is a co-production between Taiwan and the United States.
Together with Pushing Hands and Eat Drink Man Woman, all made in Taiwan, all showing the Confucian family at risk, and all starring the Taiwanese actor Sihung Lung, it forms what has been called Lee's "Father Knows Best" trilogy.
Wai-Tung Gao and Simon are a happy gay couple living in Manhattan. Wai-Tung is in his late 20s, so his tradition-minded parents are eager to see him get married and have a child in order to continue the family line. When Wai-Tung's parents hire a dating service, he and Simon stall for time by inventing impossible demands. They demand an opera singer and add that she must be 5'9", have two PhDs, and speak five languages. The service actually locates a 5'8" Chinese woman who sings Western opera, speaks five languages and has a single PhD. She is very gracious when Wai-Tung explains his dilemma, as she, too, is hiding a relationship (with a Caucasian man). At Simon's insistence, Wai-Tung decides to marry one of his tenants, Wei-Wei, a penniless artist from mainland China in need of a green card. Besides helping Wei-Wei, Simon and Wai-Tung hope that this will placate Wai-Tung's parents. Before Wai-Tung's parents arrive, Simon tells Wei-Wei everything she needs to know about Wai-Tung's habits, body, and lifestyle, and the three take down all homosexual content from their house and replace it with traditional Chinese scrolls.
...
Wikipedia