Eat Drink Man Woman

Eat Drink Man Woman

   Eat Drink Man Woman is a film about three very different sisters living with their father. It was directed by Ang Lee and released in 1994. It is a Taiwanese film, which we are watching with English subtitles. In the film, three sisters live in the same house with their father, a very popular cook in their town. The oldest sister is a career woman who is falling for a new coworker. The middle sister is a teacher who was burned by love in the past. The youngest sister is a college student who steals a coworker’s boyfriend. The father tries to keep the family together through the use of his great cooking while his health secretly deteriorates. The story that follows is how their lives are changed by growing up, find love, and eventually moving out.

   The most important theme of this film is obviously the love of cooking. The father used it as a way to bring the family together every weekend. It was also the way he made his living to support his family all these years. Cooking was so important to him that he would spend hours, maybe even a whole day, just preparing the meal. He showed a great passion for it. He tried to pass this tradition and passion on to his daughters, but they were uninterested. However, it does seem like his young niece has picked up this love for food.

   Other themes in the movie are love, responsibility, and breaking the mold. Everyone in the film had love for each other, and every character found love in someone new. Even the father was remotely enthralled by that viper lady. Each character also had an intense sense of loyalty and responsibility to each other. They felt so strongly that they had to remain home and not displease their father that it seems like they put portions of their life on hold. This obligation to him was shattered when they decided to break the mold and go on with their lives. It wasn’t easy and they were hesitant at first, but after they realized their father was accepting – they ran with it.

   Honestly, I feel like the movie could have been much shorter than it actually is. At points I felt like it was just a story about nothing. At points I felt that there were scenes added in with no point, just for the sake of reaching some sort of time standard. While everything was shot well and explained, I felt that there were some scenes where they were repeating themselves. This would have been a much better flick if maybe 20 minutes or so was shaved off. The repetition of the movie is my only complaint. Aside from that, I think the film was pretty good. I know it’s in some sort of trilogy series, but it didn’t move me enough to watch the other two. Eat Drink Man Woman was just good enough to me to watch once.