LGBTQ+ Pride 2025: The Wedding Banquet

Wai-Tung Gao (Winston Chao) is a young, gay, successful Taiwanese American living in New York City with his partner, Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein). To keep his homosexuality hidden from his traditional Taiwanese parents and to placate their overbearing requests for a grandchild, Wai-Tung and Simon concoct a plan for Wai-Tung to enter a sham marriage with Wei-Wei (May Chin), a struggling Chinese artist who needs a green card. The arrangement seems simple, until Wai-Tung’s overjoyed parents (played by Sihung Lung and Ah-Lei Gua) decide to travel to the U.S. to throw a lavish traditional wedding banquet. As family expectations collide with personal truths, the façade begins to unravel, leading to comedic misunderstandings and poignant revelations that force all involved to confront love, identity, and acceptance.

The Wedding Banquet was released in 1993 and directed by Ang Lee, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Neil Peng and James Schamus. It was Lee’s second feature film and part of his acclaimed “Father Knows Best” trilogy, which explores generational and cultural tensions within Taiwanese families. The film was widely celebrated for its insightful portrayal of both immigrant and LGBTQ+ experiences, blending cross-cultural comedy with emotional depth. It won the prestigious Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and received nominations for the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. The film’s international success launched Ang Lee’s global directing career and remains a significant work in both queer cinema and Asian American film history.  In 2023, for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

I first saw The Wedding Banquet in the mid-1990s shortly after coming out myself.  It is one of the first gay themed movies I had access to and absolutely loved it.  The film is funny and warm with some great surprises.  I especially love the ending with the reveal of the secret that Wai-Tung’s father was keeping and an unconventional but happy ending.  Overall, just an extraordinary film and the one that really launched Ang Lee’s rise to stardom.  There is a 2025 remake directed by Taiwanese American filmmaker Alice Wu, which updates the original story for a new generation while honoring Ang Lee’s groundbreaking film. Set in contemporary New York and Taipei, the remake retains the core premise, a gay Taiwanese American man entering a sham marriage to satisfy his conservative parents, but expands the narrative to reflect evolving conversations around queer identity, immigration, and cultural heritage. With a more diverse cast and a sharper focus on intersectionality and modern family dynamics, the film incorporates current social tensions, such as generational trauma and the pressures of social media. While the remake received praise for its fresh perspective and emotional depth, some critics felt it lacked the subtle charm and quiet humor of the 1993 original. Nonetheless, it reignited interest in Lee’s film and sparked renewed dialogue about representation and authenticity in both LGBTQ+ and Asian American storytelling.