Eat a Bowl of Tea

A rarity in that we have an American made Chinese film that isn't based on Triad violence.

A breath of fresh air it is.

Young man and woman romance each other in America. Said couple is Chinese. They wish to stick to the traditions but adapt to their new homeland.

A romantic film that you can bring the wife or girlfriend to. And anyone into China or Asia will like it too. The culture gets a good going over here. In a positive way mind you.

And there is a lot of truth to it all too. Yes, elder Chinese men came to the U.S. alone and sometimes never saw their wives for 20-30 years. These marriages lasted. Impressive.

Romance with steamed dumplings here. Nicely done Wayne.

Older cultures coming to a new land. Chinese americans coming to america. At first, due to the immigration laws, it could only be the male workers. Then, when wives were allowed to come to the U. S., they brought their customs and points of view. Pride, respect, outlook on family. When Ben Loy (Russell Wong) gets married, but hasn't come up with offspring, his wife Mai Oi ( Cora Miao) thinks she has a solution... at least to some of her problems. Will this help, or will it only cause more problems? This is all about family pride, revenge, resolving issues within the community, and not involving outsiders. It's quite good. Directed by Wayne Wang, who also happens to be married to Maio, the female lead. Wang would also do the Joy Luck Club a couple years after this.

We selected this film on the merits of the many famous HK actors involved, so I didn't notice its labeling as a 'comedy' until we got it home. True, it has comedic moments, but so does the Bourne Identity.

The review here also lists the film as Mandarin with English subtitles; it is in Cantonese, with some characters speaking a regional dialect.

The story centers around that period in US history just after WWII where, for the first time, Chinese immigrants were allowed to apply for full citizenship and allowed to bring wives from China; the story follows a young ex-serviceman whose father sends him home to bring back one of the first of these wives. In a few days he's thrust from the club-hopping carefree vet to take his full traditional role as First-Son with all it's trappings and responsibilities, all this on top of he and his wife being one of the first of their kind, a true Chinese-American family.

Put yourself there, you'll agree, this is a lot to heap on a pair of 20-somethings, it wears them down, things fall apart.

It is, in a sense, the same old story, as they say, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl, love always wins, love never loses, put your money on love sort of story, well shot, well put together. It's about an important time in our history while also an important time in all our lives, nothing to shower with awards, but a good story well told and well worth the rental.

American Chinese males (the wives were left behind because that's the way the yanks wanted it), have it tough before, during and just after the silly second world war. This story picks up just after that war when our hero is sent to China to marry a local girl and bring her back to America where it all goes wrong. Charming and well photographed.

in the times that every time you see new york now; woody Allen, Pollokaville, there are always scenes of the trade towers that are no longer with us, but although this film is situated in New Yoik, there are no scenes of the outside world. Why is this. and why do the Chinese suffer such great difficulties in New York. A film by wayne wang based on a book which was thought to be forgotten until the chinese literature came into a period of renaissance in the 1970s, Wayne wang named after the actor John Wayne, ironically this wasn't even his real name, it was something like marilyn, so either or, Wayne Wang was always going to be called after an American icon, much to his parents desire. The film juxtaposes culture; chinese onto the new setting; New York. it does this with a relationship at the centre and the chinese culture surrounding this relationship. For the chinese in this film; mostly men, as they have moved to New york to send back money to china, a woman is seen as a much needed asset, an asset that enables the continuing of their culture and their family in their new found land. the woman, has this pressure put upon her and so does the man, ben loi, the man impotent, and the woman cuckolds him to make the rest of the family happy, This film is a great insight into the Chinese and the idea of an alien in a foreign country, both with ben loi going back to china to marry and his wife to be coming over to America, Was it sting wha sang WOOOaaah I'm an alien, I'm a little alien, i'm an englishman in New York.

I recommend also Do the Right thing by Spike Lee