EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN (1994)

Wuxia drama. Gay cowboy drama. Superhero film. English classic adaptation. Modern historical. Civil War historical. Magic-realist fable. And now I discover Ang Lee can rock the genre of the cultural comedy-drama too. Is there anything this man cannot, or should not, do? EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN, Ang Lee’s third film, is a treat for the eyes, taste buds and heart, a wonderful generational family drama that depicts the changing values and social systems of modern-day China.

The film is about a semi-retired master chef Chu and his three daughters Jia-Jen, Jia-Chien and Jia-Ning, and their loves and lives. It is a brilliant triumph of screenwriting, composing several story arcs which intersect and twist and wind through each other, to a gloriously satisfying conclusion. Chu has been depressed since the death of his wife twelve years before the start of the film, and is slowly losing his keen sense of taste. Jia-Jen is still heartbroken over her high-school boyfriend and leads a sedate life as a devout Christian and chemistry teacher. Jia-Chien is a strong, independent professional who has little fascination for relationships but a healthy appetite for sex. And Jia-Ning is the youngest of the family, still a student and going through all the romantic turmoil that twenty year-olds do. These characters are etched so brilliantly that we are bound to empathize with all of them, helped of course by the excellent acting from all the leads, as well as the supporting characters like Chu’s best friend Chef Wen, and their neighbours the Liangs.

The film is also a lip-smacking ode to the incredibly complex art of fine Chinese cuisine. The Sunday dinner at Chu’s house is the scene for many of the film’s major plot points. The film is fascinated by food and the process behind its creation, leading to some enchanting sequences where we see Chu and later Jia-Chien showing off their culinary skills. Any person, whose mouth doesn’t water, hasn’t had a great meal in his life.

The buried emotional and sexual tensions between the characters are subtly articulated in the film. There is no room for melodrama here. These are real people, living their real lives, and the surprises that life offers them are as unexpected to us as to them. There is not a single character cliché on display here. Not every person who is unmarried at the beginning of the film must end up with the right person by the end of it, nor does anyone with a messy life end up later with an ordered one. The screenplay allows the characters to mature organically throughout the film. This is the sort of foreign-language film, where you wish you knew the language, because it is obvious much more than just the dialogues are being said. You want to catch the priceless little nuances, be able to read between the lines. This is a film rich in emotion and character, and there is not a single dull moment.

Ang Lee’s visual panache has never been showy, and here too, his presence is muted. He is a true master of economy. Don’t waste five seconds, when three will suffice. A notable achievement of Lee in this film is how he artfully choreographs his actors in small constrained spaces, like in the scene where Mrs Liang faints at the dining table after some momentous news, eliciting a lot of hullabaloo. Lee captures this scene with an active hand-held driving us head-first into the thick of things. We feel the commotion all around us.

A wonderful social comedy-drama with a damn-near flawless screenplay and some excellent acting and directing. 7.5/10 for me.