The Wedding Banquet

       "The Wedding Banquet" is a movie directed by Taiwanese Ang Le, but filmed in New York City.  The movie is about the cultural struggles of being a gay male, partly in the United States, but more importantly from Taiwan.  The main character Wai-Tung is in a serious relationship with his American partner Simon.  Wai-Tung's parents are still in Taiwan and have no idea that he is living with a man.  His parents, especially his mom, try to find him a female spouse so that he can continue their family name.  He continues to reassure them that he is fine and that they have nothing to worry about.  He occasionally goes on dates with the women his mother sets him up with.  For obvious reasons there is never a second date.  This movie has scenes of comedy, drama, and romance.  Wai-Tung's parents come to the US to visit him because he told them that he is getting married to a woman who is actually his tenant.  His husband came up with the plan and they were able to laugh about it for a while until Wai-Tung and his tenant, Wai-Wai, were actually married.  His parents and his family's extreme pride began to take an emotional toll on Wai-Tung.  Despite Wai-Wai's and Simon's confidence, things begin to get serious as his father's
heart got worse and his parents stayed longer.  When his father's heart condition gets more and more serious Wai-Tung fears that if he tell his dad the truth about his sexuality, it may literally kill him.  To put the icing on the cake Wai-Wai got pregnant night after their wedding because they were both drunk.  While in the hospital about his father's heart condition Wai-Tung breaks down and tells his mother that he is gay.  She does not fully understand or accept it, but he is finally set free of that burden.  He promises never to tell his father.  While Simon goes for a walk with his father his father tells him that he knows that they are gay, but he says that Simon must never tell Wai-Tung's mother.  Everyone knows that Simon and Wai-Tung are gay, but not everyone knows that everyone knows.  The parents leave to go back to Taiwan and everyone is happy.  Wai-Wai and Wai-Tung's parents have a child, and Simon and Wai-Tung can finally feel great about being in love.
       A major theme in this movie is being tru to yourself.  Wai-Tung struggles with his true self because he believes his parents will not accept him for who he really is.  He explains that the only reason that he took girls to dances when he was younger was because it was what everyone else was doing. After
explaining to his mother who he really is, despite her slight lack of understanding, it bring peace to Wai-Tung.  Even when his parents find out what he thought was the worst case scenario, everyone is happy and now his life can continue better than ever.  This was made possible because he admitted to his mother who e really is.   
       I enjoyed watching this movie.  I thought that is was really interesting how you thought that everything had hit rock bottom due to Wai-Wai's pregnancy, but really it only made things better.  Wai-Wai got the family she never had and Wai-Tung's parents go the grandchild they always wanted.  I didn't think it was possible for things to end happily.  Everything ended up being fine, event hough at first it seemed impossible.  That is my favorite aspect of the movie.

Blue

Blue

       "Blue," is a French movie directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski that is part of a trilogy. The other two movies are entitled Red and White.  The three colors together represent the colors of the French flag.  The movie begins with a car crash and a mother losing the ones she loved.  Her husband, a musical composer, and her daughter.  Julie's family was everything to her and she didn't know how to cope with the death of the most important people in her life.  While recovering at a Hospital she feebly attempts to kill herself, but is interrupted by a nurse and realizes how foolish a decision it was.  Just a short while after the tragedy she has to discuss what will happen to her belongings and husband's symphonic masterpiece that was never finished.  She has her house emptied out except for one blue hanging ornament. Julie throws away the masterpiece attempting to erase the painful memories along with it.  She finds herself constantly reminded of her husband through memories of his music.
 Symphonies fade in a out as she daydreams attempting to live her life without any interruption.  She wants to let out her emotions but is afraid to and doesn't.  During one particular scene she leaves her house after sleeping with her husband's colleague and grinds her fingers against a stone wall.  She didn't yell or cry, she grinned her knuckles against a wall until they bled, this demonstrated her frustration with her emotions.  She eventually finds out that her husband had an affair and an illegitimate child with another woman.  One would think that she would loose control.  The complete opposite happens and she is no longer burdened with her husband because she learns that her husband loved his mistress.  Julie feels less emotionally tied to her husband because she knows he wasn't completely emotionally tied to her.    Julie buys her own apartment and becomes more emotionally stable as she begins to finish  her husband's last piece of work.  She works with her husband's colleague and is no longer as haunted by his music as she once was.

       The major theme in this movie is coping with loss.  The entire movie is about her trying to find out what do do about the loss of her family.  Julie has a one night stand with her husbands coworker and that didn't seem to help very much.  She bought her own appartnemt that was completely empty.  The color blue that is emphacized throught the movie is exactly how she felt.

       I enjoyed this movie, I never ended up wondering or wishing it was going to end.  The emotions that Julie felt through the movie were magnified by the music and the shots chosen to exploit them.  You could easily tell how he felt without her having to verbalize it or exaggerate.  I enjoyed the movie because I realized I'm used to over produced Hollywood movies with special effect and other things that are there to just to get people to ooh and ah.  Music and good lead acting made this movie very entertaining for me.  I never felt bored or uninterested while watching the movie.