Hacker Cinema
Eat Drink Man Woman
飲食男女
1994 · Film · 123 min
Directed by Ang Lee
Retired and widowed Chinese master chef Chu lives in modern day Taipei, with his three attractive daughters, all of whom are unattached. Soon, each daughter encounters a new man in their lives. When these new relationships blossom, stereotypes are broken and the living situation within the family changes.
3 positive3 neutralfrom 6 commenters
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8 comments on Hacker News
I think it makes sense that historically American film focused on narrative based dramas and slow burn horror. Think of classic Hollywood hits such as Citizen Kane and Psycho. This is even apparent in the recent success of Obsession, which really follows strongly in the trend of Hitchcock, magical realism, human drama, psychological horror.
Compare this with historically successful Honk Kong films: Kung Fu Hustle, Police Story, Ip Man. I mean there are examples of Hong Kong films that are slow burn human dramas, like Chungking Express and Eat Drink Man Woman, and successful American action films like Diehard, but I think its clear that Hollywood film didn't start out with action movies, and Hong Kong film didn't start out with slow burn dramas, but adopted these genres afterwards; you could even claim that successful Hong Kong films like the Bruce Lee films of the 70s fueled the American appetite for action in the 80s, which was the most prominent era for that genre in the US.
As a corollary to this, it becomes clear that the Korean and Japanese film making industries are not as culturally distinct from Hollywood as Honk Kong film making is. For Korean film, the reason is obvious: Koreatown in Los Angeles is right next to Hollywood, in some respects is a part of Hollywood, and there are deep ties now between the Korean and American film making industries for that reason, and Korean-Americans have an overly high degree of representation in American media, and Korean productions often come to America to shoot (think of the end of Squid Games: it's almost certainly the case that they shot in LA because a producer has a cousin or something that works in Hollywood).
this is one of the plot lines in the 1994 Taiwanese film "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat_Drink_Man_Woman , though the father/chef character lost his sense of smell due to another reason.
I got so hungry watching Eat, Drink, Man, Woman. Fuckin' Ang Lee. Couldn't get enough Jane Austin so made his own.
If I'm ever under doctor's orders to eat more calories, that'll be at the top of the list of movies I watch for inspiration.
I don't know whether the concept applies in Japan, but right now everyone is walking like it's Monday morning. ;-)
Thanks! I rather enjoyed that, for a couple of minutes. I'll return to have another look when things are hopping.
Haven't read the OP, yet. So, I don't know how much of a voyeur this makes me. I do enjoy having unfiltered looks are places around the world; gets me out of my own little corner of perspective and thought, a bit.
--
P.S. In the process of reading the OP, now.
One of the best integrations of "flow of traffic" -- almost as a Leitmotif -- into film, that I recall, is in Ang Lee's earlier film (before "Crouching Tiger" and all that), "Eat Drink Man Woman". Set in then contemporary, early 90's Taipai. The flow of life -- which was also a central theme of the movie.
(And the soundtrack complemented and clarified those scenes, perfectly.)
China does not make films that American consumers would want to consume. The best Chinese movies last year were mermaid and monster hunt...I saw both (bored on an air china flight), they were both absolutely awful.
There was a time in the late 90s when the golden Beijing Institute of Film class (the first one after the cultural revolution) was producing wonderful art house films that DID get viewership abroad. Sadly, this ended with increasing control of the gov over the film industry, and even the Taiwanese and Honk Kong films that we once enjoyed have disappeared to an industry that is now largely catering to the mainland market.
The future of the chinese film industry is more Warcraft and less "eat, drink man woman" (a Taiwan film) or "farewell my concubine" (I think the latter one was banned in the mainland), there is nothing there for us.
It takes an inhuman amount of confidence or blind faith to convince yourself that you are good enough to make it in the film industry. To hold that belief for 6 years, while seemingly spinning your tires and growing your family is just something else. Ang Lee is something else too, though. After seeing Eat Drink Man Woman one evening, he instantly became one of my favorite directors.
As a former film school graduate myself, I must admit I took the other route and settled for a safe, but rather mindless career in marketing. At 31 I think I still have some fight in me, but alas not everyone is Ang Lee.
Think about the best military movies you've seen. Do they "dumb down" the technology? In my experience, no.
It's accurately portrayed. At the same time, it's not the center of the story. That is still the human component.
They spent a lot of time/effort in "Saving Private Ryan" getting the sound of the M1 clip ejection right. But nobody ever comments on or explains this in the movie.
Veterans watching the movie said they "got that right".
(I'm not saying that "Saving Private Ryan" doesn't bend reality in some ways for the sake of the story. But they didn't... have Rambo take out a platoon with his bowie knife.)
("Band of Brothers" is another good choice -- the mini-series precursor to "Saving Private Ryan".
Then there are, for example, some of the older, somewhat spartan but impactfully understated British films, whose titles I can't think of right now. It was actually films like these that I was thinking more of, when I started writing this, before those contemporary items came to mind.)
If done properly, such portrayals can convey a quiet, authoritative air that is actually more convincing than some of the "explained"... "exaggeration" and/or simplification that exists in many movies including some big budget production.
Aiding this might be spending some time actually explaining these things, in some depth, to the actors, so that they can portray them with some understanding, rather than simply parroting the script.
Of course, you might have to convince/sell a potential purchaser/producer on this idea, to help the technical content go down.
P.S. I should probably shut up, now.
But, I think there is something to an accurate portrayal that is the richer for not being too self-conscious (on screen).
P.P.S. A few random films, with different topics, where this might apply, that I'm happening to think of upon this unplanned attempt to come up with some relevant examples.
"China Syndrome" (although I'm a bit hesitant, having only seen this with commercials and while somewhat distracted)
"Traffic" -- the older, European mini-series version, from the 1980s
Watch "Eat Drink Man Woman" and see how much of a feel for 90's (upper classs-ish) Taipei you walk away with. (Although, admittedly, as I understand it Ang Lee brings a certain outside or cross-cultural perspective to it from his having spent significant time abroad.)
There are probably many better examples, but that's what my tired mind can dredge up, at the moment. And I think this represents a variety of things where authenticity enhances rather than confuses or degrades.
P.P.P.S. See P.S., above. ;-)
It's a bit dated, but Ang Lee's "Eat Drink Man Woman" is set in early '90's Taipei. I've never been, but the film seems to match somewhat my ex-roomate's experiences there.
It's also a quite enjoyable film.