Review: Eat Drink Man Woman reunites the Ang Lee with the crew of the critically acclaimed The Wedding Banquet and also his first film to feature his native country of Taiwan. Featuring a cast of all Taiwanese actors, this is truly a pure and genuine Taiwanese film. The country of Taiwan hasn't been blessed with a plethora of budding film talents as the other countries of Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong (China). Most of the critical and commercial success of Chinese cinema is limited to the films made by Hong Kong. When Ang Lee emerged into the scene with Pushing Hands, the eyes of the film world turned to him. Then when The Wedding Banquet came out, those eyes began to praise him. His follow-up to his success was Eat Drink Man Woman and right after that film, he exploded into American film scene and made three films before establishing himself as a powerhouse filmmaker with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. With Eat Drink Man Woman, he is giving the world a taste of the culture and essence of Taiwan.

Food serves as the ultimate motif for this film. From the saliva-inducing opening to the gentle but full of warmth closing, food not only gives the cast of this film a full stomach, but also plays a pivotal in each of their lives. Chef Chu is the father to three very different daughters: the hapless in love oldest daughter, the stunningly beautiful mid-child who can't seem to get a break in love and life, and the full of youth youngest daughter who has not yet become a woman yet. The core cast of this film does an amazing job convincing us of their family love and rivalries. From love to hate, each emotion is played out with such style and ambiance, that you feel the emotions running through the room. However, that is not to say that the acting is not flawed. For the people who can understand Mandarin, the first ten or so minutes serves and an enduring trial. For some reason, some of the voice acting in those beginning minutes were simply terrible. The conversations seemed forced and the tones of their voices was bland (For the non-Mandarin speakers and listeners, this won't prove to be a problem since their facial reactions are flawless). While seeing this film for the first time, I was hoping that this was not the case for the rest of the movie. Luckily, it wasn't. Each characters voice acting improves, contributing to the beautiful performances they deliver. When all seems well with the core cast's acting, the supporting cast begins to sprout up. From the "witchy" mother of their friend to the confused lover the youngest daughter converses with, the supporting cast only adds spice to the already flavorful cast.

The story itself is something else however. Never have I been so ambiguous about a movie's story. It's a tale of three daughters and their father finding love in their own unique ways while discovering themselves and boding with each other. The story presents the ideal opportunity for the actors to work up a beautiful chemistry with each other. In some cases, the chemistry is done with shameless talent, but there's also others in which is lacks thereof. This brings up the most negative thing about Eat Drink Man Woman.

An example is this: the youngest daughter doesn't share many scenes with her family except around the dinner table. Her chemistry with her sisters therefore is downplayed. However, she makes up for it by having great chemistry with the hopeless lover. Also, there's practically no scenes featuring Chu and the nearby neighbor. Why do these empty holes prove to be such a problem? Halfway through the movie, the story begins to drop shock bombs on you. Out of no where, a family member will announce a new critical detail in their search for love. Now, this wouldn't bother me so much, but it does because there is practically no build-up to it! I don't know if that was Ang Lee's intention, to make the news just as much of a surprise to the audience as it is to the people in the film, but it gives the film a very unsettling soap opera undertone. From the youngest daughters first obscure news, to the father's extremely bizarre decision in the end, this movie is saturated with juicy soap opera shocks. Every time it happens, you'll be caught off guard. It also contradicts the whole message of taking your time to find true love. For me personally, this just didn't sit in my stomach right. They spend so much time in this film building up the search for the recipe of love, and to give us the outcome in such a hasty and obscure manner isn't my cup of tea. It's like studying a certain dish for months, and then making that dish in less than five minutes. However, others might find the sudden news delightful. I just felt cheated with an outcome that left much to be desired. That's the one part of the film that left a bad aftertaste in my mouth.

Perhaps the biggest forte of this film is Ang Lee's ability to take his camera and capture the beauty of Taiwan. He shows us the streets of Taiwan, the kitchens of Taiwan, the apartments of Taiwan, the countrysides of Taiwan, and so much more. Being from Taiwan myself, the scenery gave me a fresh taste of something I had seen so many times in my life, yet it was served to me with such delicacy, it was like a new experience. The shots of food preparation just stimulates your taste buds unmercifully. You'll long for Chinese food after seeing this movie. Not many films are able to display the traditions and essence of Taiwan with such precision (Back in the 70s and 80s, there was a rash of films that did the job). With films giving us insight into Japanese culture and Korean culture, it was pleasant to see a film that gave the world an accurate depiction to the culture of Taiwan. Although it has many positive attributes, Eat Drink Man Woman isn't Ang Lee's best work. However, it's still an enjoyable film about family, friendship, and most importantly of all, food.