The Wedding Banquet

The Wedding Banquet Chinese pinyin Xyn WadeGiles Hsi yen is a 1993 film about a gay Taiwanese immigrant man who marries a mainland Chinese woman to placate his parents and get her a green card. His plan backfires when his parents arrive in the United States to plan his wedding banquet.

WaiTung Gao and Simon are a happy gay couple living in Manhattan. WaiTung is in his late 20s, so his traditionminded parents are eager to see him get married and have a child in order to continue the family line. The early part of the film is madcap comedy. When WaiTungs parents hire a dating service, he and Simon stall for time by inventing impossible demands. They demand an opera singer and add that she must be 59 have two PhDs and speak five languages. The service actually locates a 58 Chinese woman who sings Western opera, speaks five languages and has a single PhD. She is very gracious when WaiTung explains his dilemma, as she, too, is hiding a relationship with a Caucasian man. At Simons insistence, WaiTung decides to marry one of his tenants, WeiWei, a penniless artist from mainland China in need of a green card. Besides helping WeiWei, Simon and WaiTung hope that this will placate WaiTungs parents.Mr. and Mrs. Gao announce they will visit from Taiwan, bringing US30,000 to hold an extravagant wedding for their son. WaiTung dares not tell his parents the truth, because his father, a retired officer in the Chinese Nationalist Army, has just recovered from a stroke they go through with the wedding. However, the heartbreak his mother experiences at the courthouse wedding prepares the story for a shift to drama. The only way to atone for the disgraceful wedding is a magnificent wedding banquet, offered by Mr. Gaos former driver in the army who now owns a restaurant and reception hall. After the banquet, WeiWei has sex with a drunken WaiTung, and becomes pregnant. Simon is extremely upset when he finds out, and his relationship with WaiTung begins to deteriorate. ........

Source: Wikipedia