Eat Drink Man Women

Eat drink Man Woman is a film by academy award winning writer/director Ang Lee. The film takes place in Taipei, Taiwan and is about a Taiwanese chef and is three daughters. Chu is a widowed chef, losing his taste for food and his daughters and growing up fast. His eldest daughter is Jia Jen and she is a school teacher who is Christian and suffers being lonely. The middle child is Jia Chien and she is a business women who want to be independent. The youngest child is Jia Ning, and she is a college student looking for love.

As the movie progresses we find out that the Jia Jen has a crush for the new gym teacher. She keeps getting notes in her mailbox from a secret admirer and feels it could be him. Jia Chien plans on moving to a new apartment, but she thinks she may be falling for her sister’s ex-boyfriend. Jia Ning is falling in love with her friends boyfriend. Chu has been talking to and old friend and it looks as if they may hook up. Chu is also planning on selling the house.

In the end we find out that the notes Jia Jen were receving were not from the teacher but from the students playing a joke on her. She confesses her love to the teacher by giving him a loving kiss and they marry immediately. Jia Chien find out that her sister lied about her whole first relationship and decides that she should stay in Taiwan and takes over her fathers house. Jia Ning tells her friend of her relationship and continues to date him. Chu is not dating his old friend and is infact dating her very young daughter. They marry and have another child together.
I feel the major theme in this movie is aging. Everyone in the film is aging in a way and becoming more mature as they progress through the movie. They realize there are more important thing to life then what they were currently doing. Life is precious and should not be taken for granted.

This movie was very entertaining to me. It had a very western film and that makes sense considering Ang lee went to film school in America. The film was very well made and its themes were interesting. I have also scene the movies 2001 remake Tortilla Soup and the two films are very similar. Tortilla soup does have a warmer feeling to it though. Overall this was just the beginning for Ang Lee and it showed the potential he holds as a great film director.