Eat Drink Man Woman

I found that a much more interesting movie than The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, is Ang Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman (1994). Of course, of course, attractive Taiwanese women ... I get it! But that’s not the sole or even primary reason. This movie is charming because of the simple yet effective story of a father, his three daughters, and their relationship with, and through, food. The father is a semi-retired master chef, who lost his wife sixteen years ago. His oldest daughter is a high school teacher who spent the past nine years nursing a broken heart. The middle daughter is a successful business woman who recently bought an apartment and then got offered a job in Amsterdam. The youngest of the three is a twenty-year old working the counter at Wendy’s. At the beginning of the story all three women still live at home, complaining about their father’s elaborate Sunday dinner banquets as if it’s a form of torture. First the youngest suddenly finds a boyfriend, gets pregnant, marries and moves out. Soon the eldest follows, finding a man to marry and move in with. The middle daughter considers staying at home to care for their father. But then things take an unexpected turn. And with such a beautifully simple story, and wonderful acting, you get a remarkably satisfying movie experience!