Click to play videoSee if you can lay your hands on a DVD of Eat Drink Man Woman, it's one of three films that Ang Lee made about the friction within traditional Chinese families caused by the influence of Western culture on the younger generation.
Eat Drink Man Woman is an ensemble piece, it's the story of Chu, the best chef in Taipei, and his three daughters. Now he's a great chef, but a lousy communicator — he has no clue what's happening with his daughters.
His only real interaction with them is through the elaborate meal he prepares for them every Sunday, but at each dinner, the family members become more and more distanced from one another.
The eldest daughter, a school teacher by profession, is nursing a broken heart until she becomes interested in the volleyball coach at her school. The middle daughter, a successful director in an airline company is having casual sex with an ex-boyfriend, and has developed a close relationship with a married colleague at work. The youngest daughter, who works at a fast-food joint to pay her college fees, is in a relationship with her best friend's boyfriend. Each of the girls is convinced she will be the first to leave home and establish an independent life.
You see, Eat Drink Man Woman is really a comedy about these ladies who become involved with their respective men outside the house, and then come home and make these bold announcements at their father's dinner table. Chu, of course, reacts with horror. Later it's revealed that Chu has a secret of his own, which I'm going to let you find out for yourself.
It's an entertaining film about the changing dynamics of family life, very simple to follow and very easy to appreciate, but it's also one of the best films you'll see about food. In fact, you'll be sold from the very opening scene of the film in which Chu is shown preparing his famous Sunday dinner.
These scenes look straight out of those glossy cookbooks, and believe me you'll find yourself craving for a delicious Chinese meal after you're done watching this film.
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