“Wai-Tung Gao: I don’t know, we should have moved you out.
Simon: I’ll survive.
Wai-Tung Gao: Not if Wei Wei keeps cooking.”

‘The Wedding Banquet’, directed by Ang Lee in 1993, is a Taiwanese/American romantic comedy charting the lives of two gay men in New York, Wai-Tung Gao and Simon. Wai-Tung’s parents live in Taiwan and are socially conservative, so when they visit, the couple have to pretend to be housemates rather than lovers. Extending this deception, and to avoid an arranged marriage, Wai-Tung decides to marry a Chinese artist so she can get a Green Card and he can appease his parents. The artist falls pregnant however and eventually the truth is revealed to the parents, a shock that drives a wedge between both the family members and between Simon and Wai-Tung. It’s a film that starts as a light comedy of manners but then, over its course, drifts into something darker and more profound. The nature of the relationship between the two men is told in a matter-of-fact way. The homosexuality is not presented as a source of comedy, but rather the wider world’s reactions to the relationship is a source of ridicule. Lee manages to treat all his characters with balance and respect however, so the conservative parents, particularly the father, reaches the end of the movie as perhaps the most heroic figures in the narrative.

Would I recommend it? Yes – it’s a progressive and charming comedy with a steely social heart and a strong message about open-minded tolerance.