THE CHINESE FEAST
(金玉滿堂)
dir. Tsui Hark, 1995
Hong Kong. 100 min.
In Cantonese with English subtitles.

TUESDAY, MARCH 5 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, MARCH 15 – 10 PM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20 – 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, MARCH 30 – 5 PM

Chiu (Leslie Cheung) is a triad looking to start a new life as a chef in Canada, starting at the very bottom under the stewardship of overly critical restaurateur, Au (Law Kar-ying). Au, meanwhile, is fighting to save his restaurant against a takeover by the shady, faceless megacorporation, Super Group. When Au and Super Group’s leader agree to a cooking contest at the prestigious Qing Han Imperial Feast, Chiu seeks out the aid of Kit (Kenny Bee), a once renowned master chef whose life was left in shambles following a major personal and professional embarrassment.

Tsui Hark’s food-centric ensemble comedy re-united him with former Cinema City cohort, Raymond Wong, fresh off producing three consecutive, highly successful New Years releases, ALL’S WELL, ENDS WELL (1992), ALL’S WELL, ENDS WELL TOO (1993), and IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1994), all directed by Clifton Ko. The film is a testament to Tsui’s versatility as a director, hitting all the right comedic and feel-good beats in keeping with its New Years stylings, while still maintaining the kineticism and grandeur of the wuxia and heroic bloodshed work he’d been best known for. But historical context aside, this is basically “food porn, but with martial arts choreography by Yuen Bun,” and there shouldn’t be much more we need to say to sell this one.