Cinematek : Eat Drink Man Woman

Cinematek : Eat Drink Man Woman

03/05 @ 16h30

Ang Lee’s generous, touching Eat Drink Man Woman focuses on master chef Chu and his three daughters (all of them living at home) as they confront seismic changes in their lives. The film is the third instalment in Ang Lee’s family trilogy, known unofficially (and ironically) as the Father Knows Best series, largely because venerable actor Sihung Lung (whom Lee lured out of retirement) played a father in each film. Constructed around a series of all-in family dinners, where each of the characters eventually (very reluctantly) drops a bombshell announcement, Eat Drink hinges on the tension between modernity and tradition, family and personal freedom, and, especially, the necessity of confiding and sharing. With the profound empathy that typifies his best work, Lee drops us into the drama without much explanation and carefully disrupts our assumptions about the characters ― and the narratives they construct about themselves. By the end, no one is exactly who we thought they were at the beginning. It’s driven by a formidable cast, including Yang Kuei-Mei as Jia-Jen, the eldest daughter and a devout Christian; Wu Chien-Lien as airline executive Jia-Chien (who has the most problematic relationship with her father); Yu-Wen Wang as the youngest daughter Jia-Ning; and legendary actor director Sylvia Chan as Jia-Jen’s best friend Jin-Rong. Warning: plan for a late meal. Lee’s masterful montages of Chu and Jia-Chien cooking are as mouthwatering and hunger-inducing as the noodles in Jûzô Itami’s Tampopo.

Cinematek
Toronto International Film Festival

For Dreamers, Coffee shots, Orezza, eau de Saint-Georges !