The Wedding Banquet

In the world of remakes, this is a relatively obscure one—the 1993 Wedding Banquet was nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign-language film, and it was filmed on a relatively shoe-string budget of $750,000, leaning heavily on publicly available locations. Thirty-two years later, Andrew Ahn (Driveways, Fire Island) revisits the story for the twenty-first century, trading previous sources of conflict (which focused more on societal norms) for interpersonal issues. Min (Han Gi-chan) wants to marry Chris (Bowen Yang), but will lose a large Korean multinational fortune as an inheritance if the family discovers he’s gay; Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and Lee (Lily Gladstone) are trying for a child through IVF, but can’t afford ongoing treatment. So, a deal is struck—Angela “marries” Min—a marriage of convenience, so to speak. The ruse is established, and hijinks ensue.

The trailer begins on a cold opening, with dialogue underneath the studio title cards even before we see the speakers. Already, with an emphasis on sound effects and shakey cam with a fair amount of dead space in the audio, we get a sort of candid, documentary feel to the proceedings.

However, it isn’t long before “Bear Day” by Chinese American Bear enters at 0:07 with the Sundance title card, with some clever intertexual commentary going on in the lyrics in hindsight (“I need you and you need me / one, two, three / catastrophe”). At 0:24 the music stops for the first one-liner, a long-standing editing tradition for comedy and romcom trailers.

The music turns energetic at 0:40, with “Oh!” from The Linda Lindas’ 2022 album Growing Up on the docket as the housemates panic and attempt to, in their words, “de-queer the house” before Min’s parents visit. Notice the way there’s almost a dialogue between the lyrics “what can I do / what can I say” at 2:15 with the one-liner at 2:18, rhyming the lyrics in response with “everything in this house is gay”.

Overall, it’s a lighthearted, fast-moving trailer whose song choices offer a solid mix of styles (while also appropriately aiming for Asian American representation). Moreover, the trailer has a good and steady build in energy, from its cold opening to the final, rocking moments, while getting in a couple of those hallmark comedy trailer one-liners in for good measure. It’s never ponderous or meandering, offering a deft mix of plot setup, song selection,. and a sampler of the kind of humour on offer.

The Wedding Banquet hits theatres April 18th.

— Curtis Perry