Hello Reader,

Last weekend, I went to see Andrew Ahn's new film The Wedding Banquet (2025) which updates and reimagines Ang Lee's 1993 queer classic for a 2025 audience.

Admittedly, I was a little skeptical. Much as I liked Lee's film and Ahn's feature debut Spa Night, I wondered...do we really need to revive this rather dated story 30 years later?

But I went to see it because, if nothing else, I will watch anything with Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon, Certain Women, and Lockdown Film School speaker) in it. (I should have known that Oscar Winner Youn Yuh-jung would also pull on all of my heartsrings.)

And I was surprised by how absolutely delighted and moved I was. In fact, it was kind of cathartic to note just how much the world has changed for queer people in the last 30 years.

Even more surprisingly? I think you should see this in a cinema for the sound design, which brings the film an uncommon tenderness and intimacy in its second, quieter half.

Episode 168: Andrew Ahn's The Wedding Banquet (2025)

Today on the podcast, I recommends Andrew Ahn’s delightful remake/reimagining of Ang Lee’s 1993 queer rom-com The Wedding Banquet. I look at the film through the lens of adaptation and how updating the film for 2025 means this is a story of more internal conflicts than external ones.

And I talk about Ahn's excellent use of sound design, blocking, and editing -- which elevate this film as more than just a fun distraction, to a sensitive, nuanced character drama with thoughtful filmmaking. Of course, the film is a lot of fun, and will make you laugh, something we desperately need in an era of increasing attacks on LGBTQ+ rights). But it's also a lot more than that, thanks to Ahn's filmmaking and especially the performances from Gladstone, Youn, and Joan Chen.

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Happy watching/listening!

Alex