Movie Number 21 of 2025
The Movie: The Wedding Banquet
The Cinema: Hoyts Victoria Gardens
Runtime: One hour 43 minutes
Stars: 4
Part of making the most out of being in Melbourne means seeing as many films as I can before going back to Darwin, in particular, films which are a little less mainstream.
The Wedding Banquet is one of those films - and there's a lot to be admired. It's got an 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with both audiences and critics.
I'm not one for reviews or critics, yet I found this film utterly charming.
Taking this film away from the norms, we find ourselves taking in the story of two gay couples, who are at a bit of a crossroads.
Lee (Lily Gladstone) and her partner Angela (Kellie Marie Tran) are trying for a baby without success. They are despondent because they can't afford another round of IVF.
At the same time Chris (Bowen Tang) and his partner Min (Han Gi-Chan) are having some relationship battles of their own. Chris is somewhat neurotic. Min is thinking about proposing to Chris,but is a little bit scared of the optics, especially as is visa is nearly up.
Adding to the pressures, Min's grandmother (Yuon Yuh-jung) doesn't know her grandson is gay and wants him to come back to Korea to take over the family business. Angela's mother, on the other hand, is an annoying gay right's advocate who shits her daughter to tears.
The group come to the solution to keep Min in the country and help the girls pay for their IVF - a marriage of convenience. This simple plan gets more involved when Min's grandmother wants him to have a traditional Korean wedding. And much hilarity ensues.
Written and directed by Andrew Ahn, this movie is a film about families, off the back of Ang Lee's 1993 classic. This is a film drives home that it's the families you make, rather than the ones you're born with, that keep you going. It also shines a light on the Asian diaspora in Seattle - a very open and accepting city, which was great to see.
I found this movie utterly charming. The characters were real - flawed and funny. The situations, at times, seems a bit absurd.
It's definitely worth a look.
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