Taglines: A little deception at the reception.
The Wedding Banquet movie storyline. 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.
Mr. and Mrs. Gao announce they will visit from Taiwan, bringing gifts and US$30,000 to hold an extravagant wedding for their son. Wai-Tung dares not tell his parents the truth, because his father, a retired officer in the Chinese Nationalist Army, has just recovered from a stroke. As a part of the lie, Wai-Tung introduces Simon as his landlord.
A day after Wai-Tung’s parents arrive, he announces that Wei-Wei and he are planning to get their marriage certificate at city hall. However, the heartbreak his mother experiences at the courthouse wedding prepares the story for a shift to drama. The only way to atone for the disgraceful wedding is a magnificent wedding banquet, offered by Mr. Gao’s former driver in the army who now owns a restaurant and reception hall. After the banquet, Wei-Wei has sex with a drunken Wai-Tung, and becomes pregnant. Simon is extremely upset when he finds out, and his relationship with Wai-Tung begins to deteriorate.
The Wedding Banquet 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 Taking Woodstock. The film is a co-production between Taiwan and the United States.
The Wedding Banquet (1993)
Directed by: Ang Lee
Starring: Gua Ah-leh, Sihung Lung, May Chin, Winston Chao, Mitchell Lichtenstein, Dion Birney, Jeanne Kuo Chang, Paul Chen, Chung-Wei Chou, Yun Chung, Michael Gaston
Screenplay by: Ang Lee, Neil Peng, James Schamus
Production Design by: Steve Rosenzweig
Cinematography by: Jong Lin
Film Editing by: Tim Squyres
Costume Design by: Michael Clancy
Set Decoration by: Amy Beth Silver
Art Direction by: Rachael Weinzimer
Music by: Mader
MPAA Rating: R for language.
Distributed by: The Samuel Goldwyn Company
Release Date: August 4, 1993
Hits: 104
