Friday, September 04, 2015

Happily Ever After



The tension for most romantic comedies revolves around boy meeting girl.  We know they are perfect together.  Will they figure it out before the end of the movie?  The Wedding Banquet is different.  Simon and Wai-Tung have already met, and they know they are right for each other.  Wai-Tung, in fact, says about their relationship, “We have such a good life together, straight people would envy us.”

However, Wai-Tung’s parents, back in Taiwan, don’t know about this perfect relationship, and Wai-Tung wants it that way.  But the parents want a grandchild, and they keep trying to find a wife for Wai-Tung.

When Simon suggests that Wai-Tung fake a marriage, Wai-Tung eventually does.  And then his parents arrive.  The wedding is one of the most uncomfortable scenes I’ve ever seen in a movie.  Plus, there are a few contrived plot twists. But there is a happy ending, and it is satisfying and moving. I’d say more, but there are enough spoilers as it is.

This is one of and Sensab director Ang Lee’s very early films, made in 1993. (I watched it on a VCR.)  He also directed Senseility, Brokeback Mountain, The Life of Pi, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

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