I love how you went from talking about the movie, to yelling and ranting about society and cultural norms and me actually learning something, back to loving the movie 😆Best one yet!
Reviewing banger after banger! You’re on a roll with Fengkuei, Good Morning, Asako, and now this. All great films from some of the best Asian filmmakers, new and old. I love wedding to death, but my favourite from this era of Ang Lee’s career has to be Eat Drink Man Woman. Pushing Hands is great too. Shiung Lung is so great in all three. He’s so good at capturing the hardened traditional Chinese patriarch with a tender side just waiting to be exposed. Great review and Insight as always!
Thanks 🙏 I really appreciate it, and I agree I think that “Eat Drink Man Women” is when Ang Lee really cracked the code of filmmaking and moved from being a good director to being a great one. Watching all three in the trilogy is pretty cool because you can see this evolution. Thanks for supporting the channel and watching all of the videos :)
Very well-thought out review and analysis, as always. I was very interested by what you said about the father’s actions at the end. I had seen them as a good thing at first, but now I see your point that they’re only really “good” in comparison. It’s depressing that he’d rather keep up appearances than have anything meaningfully change. To be honest, I see that response to gay issues more often nowadays, and it’s always depressing to see people default to that. “Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” I can understand your frustration about the Letterboxd reviews, although to be honest, I can also understand why the scene would bother viewers. I myself had a “wait, what?” reaction when I saw it. For me the issue isn’t that it depicts a rape, or that it frames it as a good thing (it doesn’t), but more that the film…doesn’t really frame it as a rape at all? It seems more like an “accident” in the writing and tone they chose. It’s hard to imagine them treating it the same way if the genders were swapped. (If anything, the angry reviews at least show that fewer people are buying the weird double standard about male rape victims, and I think that’s a good thing.) I still unambiguously enjoy the film. The plot element doesn’t disagree with the theme of gay love being marginalized and denied, and it was unique to see a film like this get made at all in the 90s. I think it’s worthwhile and still relevant today, sadly.
Thanks for this comment, yeah it’s true there is something very unsettling about that scene and the fact that the rest of the movie is lighthearted might give people pause I understand that too
I buy the entire premise that the parents insisted on manipulating the adult children to the very end. I would love to hear you analyze "The Crying Game," another film in which high-stakes deceptions go terribly wrong.
I wish you would dissect"My Beautiful Laundrette," about a bold, risk-taking gay son who will set himself up and design his life no matter what it takes.
i don’t think the father is as malicious as you put it in the envelope scene. i interpret it as he thinks this allows everyone to save face. the restaurant owner plans the last minute wedding banquet to save face for the father and simon has wei wei pass off his cooking as hers to save face because she can’t cook so it’s not a foreign concept culturally or in the movie. the father is fragile but also observant so he knows the family tries to keep secrets out of concern for him. that also means he can’t always be honest to everyone, like revealing the burden he had of continuing the family line after the son says he’s getting married. knowing there will be a grandchild lifts him from that burden but revealing the truth risks ruining the relationships. it saves face for the mom because she’s not ready to accept the son’s homosexuality, saves face for wei wei so that she’s not a single mom.
I looked for your analysis of another Gong Li classic, "The Story of Qiu Ju". If you've not seen it, I strongly recommend that you do. I also suggest that you watch it with no expectations, so please avoid any plot summaries or reviews. Hope you enjoy :)!
As a gay person who love films, I have to say that to force these content down peoples throat is never a good thing. If you are telling an authentic story about the LGBTQ community, people will love it because it has truth in it. Example would be "Call Me by Your Name" and "Brokeback Mountain". Forcing gay characters that are under developed in huge movie franchises is not the way to go. And honestly, straight people needs to stop trying so hard to speak for us. Same goes with race, but that is another story.
Certainly I understand your perspective, and everything depends on what the content is but don’t you think in general having more gay characters in straight media is a step forward? Of course it’s tricky to do right without being pandering but the alternative of straight media pretending gayness doesn’t exist is a little silly imo. I think it’s possible to a achieve a middle ground where it doesn’t feel forced. Thanks for the comment and watching the video!
@@MintVolcano It is never a good thing to put something in a film as a checklist just to cash grab or meet the requirement for award season. Also race/sex bending characters from a story that belong to a particular culture is an insult to our community. We have our own stories to tell, why put us in places we don't see ourselves in? It's not about seeing ourselves everywhere, it's about being able to relate to the story. Gay people are very accepting when it comes to different types of contents, we don't need representation for the sake of representation. We know we exist and we aren't going anywhere, and if anyone has an issue, well, that's their suffering.
Support the ACLU's drag defense fund action.aclu.org/give/support-drag-defense-fund
I love how you went from talking about the movie, to yelling and ranting about society and cultural norms and me actually learning something, back to loving the movie 😆Best one yet!
Thanks homie! :)
Reviewing banger after banger! You’re on a roll with Fengkuei, Good Morning, Asako, and now this. All great films from some of the best Asian filmmakers, new and old. I love wedding to death, but my favourite from this era of Ang Lee’s career has to be Eat Drink Man Woman. Pushing Hands is great too. Shiung Lung is so great in all three. He’s so good at capturing the hardened traditional Chinese patriarch with a tender side just waiting to be exposed. Great review and Insight as always!
Thanks 🙏 I really appreciate it, and I agree I think that “Eat Drink Man Women” is when Ang Lee really cracked the code of filmmaking and moved from being a good director to being a great one. Watching all three in the trilogy is pretty cool because you can see this evolution. Thanks for supporting the channel and watching all of the videos :)
I love this analysis so much!!! It is much more different than other critics, especially those from China and Taiwan. Great job!
Glad you enjoyed the video!
Very well-thought out review and analysis, as always. I was very interested by what you said about the father’s actions at the end. I had seen them as a good thing at first, but now I see your point that they’re only really “good” in comparison. It’s depressing that he’d rather keep up appearances than have anything meaningfully change. To be honest, I see that response to gay issues more often nowadays, and it’s always depressing to see people default to that. “Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
I can understand your frustration about the Letterboxd reviews, although to be honest, I can also understand why the scene would bother viewers. I myself had a “wait, what?” reaction when I saw it. For me the issue isn’t that it depicts a rape, or that it frames it as a good thing (it doesn’t), but more that the film…doesn’t really frame it as a rape at all? It seems more like an “accident” in the writing and tone they chose. It’s hard to imagine them treating it the same way if the genders were swapped. (If anything, the angry reviews at least show that fewer people are buying the weird double standard about male rape victims, and I think that’s a good thing.)
I still unambiguously enjoy the film. The plot element doesn’t disagree with the theme of gay love being marginalized and denied, and it was unique to see a film like this get made at all in the 90s. I think it’s worthwhile and still relevant today, sadly.
Thanks for this comment, yeah it’s true there is something very unsettling about that scene and the fact that the rest of the movie is lighthearted might give people pause I understand that too
Thanks for such an insightful review!
Thanks for watching the channel!
I buy the entire premise that the parents insisted on manipulating the adult children to the very end. I would love to hear you analyze "The Crying Game," another film in which high-stakes deceptions go terribly wrong.
I wish you would dissect"My Beautiful Laundrette," about a bold, risk-taking gay son who will set himself up and design his life no matter what it takes.
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll check it out for sure!
i don’t think the father is as malicious as you put it in the envelope scene. i interpret it as he thinks this allows everyone to save face. the restaurant owner plans the last minute wedding banquet to save face for the father and simon has wei wei pass off his cooking as hers to save face because she can’t cook so it’s not a foreign concept culturally or in the movie.
the father is fragile but also observant so he knows the family tries to keep secrets out of concern for him. that also means he can’t always be honest to everyone, like revealing the burden he had of continuing the family line after the son says he’s getting married. knowing there will be a grandchild lifts him from that burden but revealing the truth risks ruining the relationships. it saves face for the mom because she’s not ready to accept the son’s homosexuality, saves face for wei wei so that she’s not a single mom.
Can you do review about love exposure
I'll check it out for sure!
@@MintVolcano thanks for ur review, i'm amaze
😍 one of my favorites!
I looked for your analysis of another Gong Li classic, "The Story of Qiu Ju". If you've not seen it, I strongly recommend that you do.
I also suggest that you watch it with no expectations, so please avoid any plot summaries or reviews. Hope you enjoy :)!
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
As a gay person who love films, I have to say that to force these content down peoples throat is never a good thing. If you are telling an authentic story about the LGBTQ community, people will love it because it has truth in it. Example would be "Call Me by Your Name" and "Brokeback Mountain". Forcing gay characters that are under developed in huge movie franchises is not the way to go.
And honestly, straight people needs to stop trying so hard to speak for us. Same goes with race, but that is another story.
Certainly I understand your perspective, and everything depends on what the content is but don’t you think in general having more gay characters in straight media is a step forward? Of course it’s tricky to do right without being pandering but the alternative of straight media pretending gayness doesn’t exist is a little silly imo. I think it’s possible to a achieve a middle ground where it doesn’t feel forced. Thanks for the comment and watching the video!
@@MintVolcano It is never a good thing to put something in a film as a checklist just to cash grab or meet the requirement for award season. Also race/sex bending characters from a story that belong to a particular culture is an insult to our community. We have our own stories to tell, why put us in places we don't see ourselves in? It's not about seeing ourselves everywhere, it's about being able to relate to the story. Gay people are very accepting when it comes to different types of contents, we don't need representation for the sake of representation. We know we exist and we aren't going anywhere, and if anyone has an issue, well, that's their suffering.