Eat Drink Man Woman

In Taipei, the widowed chef Mr Zhu and his three grown daughters. He has lost his sense of taste and still cooks an enormous banquet every Sunday. At the table everyone announces something, and each announcement disturbs the order a little more. Ang Lee directed. The daughters are a chemistry teacher, an airline executive and a university student. Lee summarised the subject himself: because of love and tradition they have to obey, they have to care well. Food is both a bond and a burden, and the family gets happier as its members follow what they actually want. It was both a critical and commercial success, grossing 24.2 million dollars worldwide and becoming the highest-grossing foreign-language film in the United States and Canada that year. The New York Times called it uncomplicatedly pleasant. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. An American remake, Tortilla Soup, followed in 2001. It is the last part of Ang Lee's Father Knows Best trilogy, which works on the generational clash between tradition and modernity. Who it is for: viewers who like food films and family drama. Who it is not for: anyone watching on an empty stomach. The opening is nothing but cooking, and that is deliberate.