The Wedding Banquet - Movie

Years ago, when I was in college, the campus LGBT club showed this movie. Unfortunately, I was sick and didn't get to see it. My partners told me the basic plot line: gay chinese man marries a woman to please his parents, dad tells gay partner to take care of his son, showing that he understands the underlying relationship . For some reason, during my recent illness, I remembered this movie and how I had missed it. Suddenly, my life would not be complete without watching it!

I was actually impressed with the movie. The summary I had heard was really a shadow 0f the story, an inherent danger in short summaries, and prepared me for a lighthearted movie, if not a comedy. The plot and character developments were complex and sincere, and definitely not a comedy. I was pleased that even with five main characters, each one seemed very much like a real person with individual concerns, character traits and growth.

[Spoiler ahead]


The topic is a tough one, simple answers really don't suffice; and this movie faced up to that. No one was happy with the fraudulent marriage: the bride wound up pregnant, the groom wound up tangled in a web of lies, the partner wound up ready to leave. When the father has a mild stroke, the groom tells his mother the truth, but they both swear not to let the father know. Meanwhile, the father gives a bride gift (red envelope of money) to the partner, but swears him to secrecy about the fact that Pop knows.