I must admit that when I heard that The Wedding Banquet was being remade, I was sceptical. Why? I wondered, go back to a film from the 1990s? Ang Lee's breakthrough film has now been remade with one of the original screenwriters and a new director, Andrew Ahn, with the setting moved to Seattle.
Bowen Yang is familiar to audiences as a comedic actor on SNL and as the GBF in films, but here he is handed a weighty role as a commitment-phobe drifting into his 30s and living in a friend's garage with his boyfriend Min (Han Gi-Chan). Lily Gladstone and Kelly Marie Tran are Lee and Angela, the couple who live in the main house, which is owned by the former. As the film unfolds, decisions must be made and life choices embraced, with the pressure of Min's grandmother pushing him to take over the family business while he wants to pursue his art.
Once grandma arrives, things really pick up, with some delightful farce, including a frantic de-gaying of the house and a cringy Korean wedding ceremony. Gladstone, best known for her dramatic roles, is not a natural comic but has some great moments. But the film is really stolen by the two matriarchs, Angela's mother (Joan Chen) and Youn Yuh-jung as Min's grandma. It's laugh out loud and also moving. A delight.
We Are Faheem and Karun is billed as Kashmir's first LGBT film and is a dreamy, thoughtful drama of forbidden love between a military man guarding a checkpoint and a local resident. As the two, Faheem and Karun, exchange grins and pieces of fruit, one wonders where this budding romance will go. In amongst the pressures brought by well-intentioned parents and a hotheaded brother, there are also flashes of humour. Viewers would greatly benefit from understanding the Kashmiri conflict and the cultural and religious differences in play. But one can glean the barriers facing the two would-be lovers and appreciate the quiet moments they share, against the gorgeous backdrop of the mountains.
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