Latest news with #Minari
RTÉ News
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
The Wedding Banquet: Old and borrowed, yet refreshingly new
Driven by director Andrew Ahn's desire to honour and modernise Ang Lee's acclaimed 1993 classic, this remake may borrow its premise, but make no mistake, this is far more than a vow renewal. At just eight years of age, the Korean-American filmmaker first encountered The Wedding Banquet when his mother rented it - a formative experience that would go on to shape both his personal identity and artistic vision. More than 30 years later, his desire to update the narrative to reflect contemporary LGBTQ+ experiences became a calling he could not ignore. And so, once again, the power of cinema triumphs. Relocating the story from Manhattan to Seattle, the 2025 film follows Min (Han Gi-chan), a closeted Korean artist facing deportation, who proposes a green-card marriage to his lesbian friend Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) in exchange for funding her partner Lee's (Lily Gladstone) IVF treatments. Their carefully laid scheme starts to fall apart when Min's headstrong grandmother, Ja-Young (a scene-stealing Youn Yuh-jung), unexpectedly shows up from Korea, determined to throw a hooley. Screenwriter James Schamus, who co-wrote the original with Ang Lee, offered his full endorsement of Ahn's reimagining, and the result is nothing short of cinematic harmony. Blending subtle gags and quiet melancholy, the remake offers a fresh, affecting perspective on the story, peppered with loving homages to the original including an updated twist on the infamous banquet scene, now tailored for the Gen Z'ers. Kelly Marie Tran and Lily Gladstone deliver nuanced, deeply human portrayals of a long-term lesbian couple, capturing both the quiet intimacies and unspoken tensions of their relationship. Youn Yuh-jung, the Oscar-winning actress from Minari, earns her place at the top table with her portrayal of the reserved grandmother, imbuing what could have been a one-dimensional character with complexity, wit, and heart. Han Gi-chan and Bowen Yang effortlessly serve up emotionally resonant performances, seamlessly balancing poignancy with lighter moments, while navigating the complexities of a modern queer relationship caught between cultural expectations and personal conflict. No wedding is complete without an awesome soundtrack, and Jay Wadley's score renowned for his work on I'm Thinking of Ending Things and Swan Song masterfully intertwines traditional Korean motifs with contemporary orchestrations. Much like the lull that follows a wedding dinner, the final thirty minutes struggle to balance levity with drama, as comedic moments clash with more somber tones. But, by this point, viewers will have journeyed so far down the aisle that all is forgiven. The Wedding Banquet (2025) ties the knot, delivering a heartfelt celebration of love and culture that certainly warrants a toast.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Dayton Library celebrates AANHPI heritage month events
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – The Dayton Metro Library is offering a selection of programs this May to celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The New Lebanon Branch, 715 W. Main St., will host a Thursday Matinee screening of 'Minari' (2020, PG-13) on May 1, from 2-4 p.m. The film follows a family of South Korean immigrants adjusting to rural life in 1980s America. (Adults only.) The romance book club 'Between the Sheets' will meet at the Miami Township Branch, 2718 Lyons Road, on Saturday, May 10, from 1-2 p.m. They will read 'Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors' by Sonali Dev, then discuss it. (Adults only.) Half of America can't name a famous Asian American actor or event, survey finds Guests can learn about hula culture at the Olohana Polynesian dances over two consecutive Mondays. (All ages.) May 12, 7-8 p.m., at the Miami Township Branch, 2718 Lyons Road. May 19, 7-8 pm, at the Huber Heights Branch, 6243 Brandt Pike. Teens will be invited to make mandalas at the Southeast Branch, 21 Watervliet Ave. on Tuesday, May 27, from 4-5:30 p.m. A mandala is a style of geometric art that is significant to many Eastern religions. (Teens only.) Kids will learn about the art of folding paper at an origami paper craft event at the Trotwood Branch, 855 E Main St. on Thursday, May 29, from 4-5 p.m. (Registration required. First through fourth grade.) How a canoe helped turn Hawaiian culture into a source of pride and even influenced Hollywood There will be special storytimes to honor AANHPI heritage. On Friday, May 2, and May 30, from 10:30-11 a.m. at the Trotwood Branch, 855 E Main St. This is for preschool and kindergarten-aged kids. On Saturday, May 3, from 10:30-11:30 a.m., at the Huber Heights Branch, 6243 Brandt Pike. A family storytime. On Wednesday, May 7, 11-11:45 am, Huber Heights Branch. For little kids ages 3-5. To learn more, click here or call the Library's Ask Me Line at (937) 463-2665. The library asks anyone who needs a sign language interpreter, assistive device, language translation, or accessibility services to call the Ask Me Line at (937) 463-2665 or click here. This is so they can get the service ready ahead of time. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Forbes
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Youn Yuh-Jung And Han Gi-Chan Redefine Family In ‘The Wedding Banquet'
Youn Yuh-jung's character insists on a traditional Korean wedding ceremony for her grandson, played ... More by Han Gi-chan and his fake girlfriend, played by Kelly Marie Tran. It's a question actor Han Gi-chan has answered more than once during interviews for the feel-good rom-com The Wedding Banquet. What was it like working with screen icon and Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung? And on his very first film? When he first saw her name on the cast list, he admits, he was sure it wasn't real. 'But it really happened to be her on the filming set,' said Han with a smile. 'And, oh, I could learn so much from her. For example, her facial expressions exactly tell a story, even when she doesn't speak a line. Through them we can tell there's a story inside her.' Although Youn has won multiple international awards during her 60-year acting career, she looks away when anyone refers to her as a legend. However, she looks up and laughs when Han shares an anecdote about one of their early encounters. When the actors first met up with director Andrew Ahn and the film's cinematographer, she wasted no time in testing Han's acting skills. 'The instant the door opened she told me at that moment let's read lines," said Han. "Without saying who I am, nice to meet you and blah, blah, blah. I was actually freaking out, but pretended not to. I don't know if you really noticed, but I was shaking.' Youn smiled at his story. 'I was planning to just test him, to see if he's ready or not," she said. "So as soon as he gets into the room I said, okay, let's go through the lines. And he was ready. So I'm grateful and I was very proud of him because he didn't stutter or whatever. Where should I start, he said, or something like that? He just threw out the line for me, so I was sure. Well, he's ready.' 'The Wedding Banquet' stars Kelly Marie Tran, Lily Gladstone, Han Gi-chan and Bowen Yang. In the film Han plays Min, a talented Korean fabric artist, and Youn plays his grandmother. Min has attended school in the U.S. for a few years and his grandmother wants him to get serious about joining the family company. What Min is reluctant to tell his grandmother is that he's in love with Chris, played by Bowen Yang, and wants to marry him. Given his grandfather's negative views on homosexuality, Min has not yet discussed being gay with his grandmother. He's worried that his grandfather might cut him off. He decides instead to arrange a sham marriage with a gay female friend, Angela, played by Kelly Marie Tran. In exchange for Angela's participation he will pay for a round of IVF for her girlfriend, Lee, played by Lily Gladstone. However, Min's grandmother insists on meeting his bride-to-be and suggests they hold a traditional ceremony. Initially, Youn wasn't sure she wanted to do the film. "After Minari, I just promised myself, okay, I'm not going to do any more independent movies," said Youn. "I'm an old lady. I need to be spoiled, not do harsh work like this. Well, I got the script from Andrew's friend and then I told him no." However, her oldest son, who also knows the director, eventually convinced her. 'He said why don't you do it. If you say no to him, I know him, he will cry,' said Youn with a laugh. 'Please do it. Okay, okay. I'll do it. So that's why I did that. It was a family decision.' The Wedding Banquet is a remake of the 1993 film by Ang Lee, but a lot has changed since then. Same sex marriage is legal for a start, so Ahn worked with one of the original writers, James Schamus, to update the story. Once Youn agreed to be in the film they fleshed out her character. 'Actually I was supposed to be Min's mother, but I found out that he's 26 or something," said Youn. 'So I told him, no, I cannot be his mother. I should be his grandmother. Then he was worried about how long ago the parents passed away, things like that. I said, never mind that, I think it will give you more layers. And then a grandma's love is different from your parents' love. I experienced it. So, I shared my personal story with him and then we almost built this character together between Andrew and me.' Min, played by Han, and Chris, played by Yang, are a couple, although Chris has commitment issues. Youn briefly lived in the U.S, during the late 70s, so she not only speaks English, but manages to be quite funny in a subtly ironic way. Han on the other hand is surprisingly fluent even though he never lived in an English-speaking country. 'I was shocked when he first arrived in Vancouver and he spoke fluent English,' said Youn. 'So I said, were you studying in Canada or America? And he said, no, this is my first time visiting a Western country.' Han learned English from children's TV shows and books. 'Since it's my first time acting in English, I thought it would be difficult but it actually turned out to be very comfortable because I'm really used to the language,' said Han. 'When I was young, I was growing up between Sesame Street and the Magic School Bus which American children were growing up with. So I really love those books. Also, fantasy stories like Magic Tree House. I love those stories and I was really into those when I was young. That's why even though I was born and raised in Korea, I had a real desire to portray a character in English.' 'He should be grateful for his mother's education," said Youn. 'His mother was very different. Korean moms are strong. His mother insisted he should watch American television and then speak English.' 'My mom will be very proud because of her saying that my mom's great,' said Han, gesturing toward Youn. 'My mom will freak out and love me.' It might be Han's first film in English, but it's not his first time playing a gay character. A decade ago gay characters were rare in Korean dramas and portraying a gay character might have limited an actor's career. However, recent productions have featured more queer characters, more nuanced queer characters, and the popularity of Boys Love dramas continues to grow. Han appeared in the BL drama Where Your Eyes Linger. 'I always love to challenge myself," said Han. "In Korea my company was really like, you shouldn't do another queer film, you've already done three, and you can't do it anymore. But I really just think about the characters, not the genres. If the character really inspires me and I want to portray him I just go with it. I don't care, if it's really queer or not, I just look at the characters.' Youn agrees with his choice. 'It's a good experience,' she said. "I think as an actor, but I'm worried about your girlfriend.' The Wedding Banquet is a sweet and funny romcom with authentic characters that engage viewers, particularly the emotionally generous Min and his concerned grandmother. It was also fun to make. 'Everything was such a fun experience for me," said Han." I still can't believe I was in it. It's really surreal to me now and when I go back to Korea, it feels like waking up from a dream, from which I never want to be woken up." He and Youn laughed about one of his fun on-set memories. It was the director's use of the word lovely during filming. 'He used the word lovely a lot,' said Han. "And I thought that was kind of comfortable for me. But she was almost like, oh?' 'He kept saying, lovely, it's lovely, but let's try one more take or something like that,' said Youn. 'So really, he meant let's do better with that 'lovely.' Because the American expression is not familiar to me, I said if it's lovely, why would I do it again?' "That was a really funny moment for me to watch,' said Han. 'Wondering how it might go. You know what? Later on Andrew never said lovely again.' Youn wasn't planning on doing another indie film, but noted that it's not a good idea to say never. She's seriously thinking about retiring, but it also might never happen. 'I don't have as much energy as these young guys,' said Youn. 'So I was thinking about retiring soon, but I don't know. I've been in the acting business, this industry, for 60 years. So this is my life, acting is part of my life. So if I just don't do it it's different than retiring from the office. So maybe I'll just do it as long as I have energy or I can breathe.' That's good news for viewers because the actress continues to deliver excellent performances in a career that already includes films such as Woman of Fire, The Housemaid, The Taste of Money, The Bacchus Lady, and Canola. She is also known for her roles in k-dramas such as Be Strong, Geum-soon!, My Husband Got a Family, and Dear My Friends and for appearing in the Apple TV series Pachinko. 'She's an icon in Korea as an actor,' said Han, who also appeared in the dramas Dare To Love Me and Again My Life. "So I think it's important to bring her passion to the young generation and we should accept it too." The Wedding Banquet is in theaters this week.
The Guardian
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Weding Banquet review – muddled gay comedy remake plays it too straight
Many remakes are utterly pointless, whether they're disregarding what made a movie good or interesting in the first place, or paying such slavish homage that a second version becomes redundant, rather than a worthy variation. If nothing else, the contemporary reconfiguration of The Wedding Banquet passes the remake test handily. Ang Lee's original 1993 film is about a bisexual Taiwanese immigrant, living happily with his male partner, who hastily arranges a lavish (and, emotionally speaking, fake) wedding to a woman to please his visiting parents; director/co-writer Andrew Ahn, who shares screenplay credit with original co-writer James Schamus, relocates the story from 1993 Manhattan to 2025 Seattle, and contends with a whole different set of social rules and actual laws in the process. Ahn is so acutely aware of how times have changed, in fact, that he seems reluctant to mine the new situation for comedy. Lee (Lily Gladstone) and Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) are unmarried but committed lesbians about to go through their second expensive round of IVF. They can afford to live in the Seattle area largely because Lee has inherited her family home, where she yearns to start a family of her own; the couple also rents out a converted garage to Angela's longtime bestie Chris (Bowen Yang) and his boyfriend Min (Han Gi-chan). Min, who comes from money, has been in the US on a student visa that's about to expire, and his grandparents want him to return to Korea and help run the family business. A green card is just a marriage proposal away, but commitment-resistant Chris is hesitant to marry, especially for convenience. So Min makes a counter-proposal: he'll secure some of his family money to pay for Lee and Angela's IVF, and in exchange, Min will marry Angela, for a green card and for familial show. The show becomes a lot showier when Min's grandmother Ja-Young (Youn Yuh-jung, who won an Oscar for Minari a few years back) announces a surprise visit. A courthouse wedding will no longer do – and nor, it seems, will the hints that this Wedding Banquet will involve some degree of Birdcage-like deception farce. Ahn moves so far away from the mechanics of the 1993 film that the new Banquet takes ages just to waffle its way into its halfhearted scheme, which it then treats with an almost funereal sense of trepidation. (This, despite the fact that Ja-Young, no dummy, understands that the wedding ceremony will be for show, to placate Min's unseen grandfather.) There are a wealth of serious relationship problems here: Chris, who has been indefinitely extending his grad-school years via an unfinished dissertation, shows similar reluctance to take the next step with Min. Angela, meanwhile, feels more ambivalent about motherhood than her partner, because of a fraught relationship with her overbearing mother May (Joan Chen). (In a fun twist on the intolerant-parent trope, May can't stop showing off how accepting she is of her daughter's sexuality, as Angela cringes and attempts to avoid the spotlight.) Angela and Chris are described as codependent, even toxically so, but most of the time the movie skips over the funny side of those relationships – the snark, the shorthand, the almost fetishistic acceptance of personal quirks – so it can get to their complaints faster. The exception is a bit of unexpected bedroom farce that finally gives Yang, one of the funniest current Saturday Night Live cast members, something comedic to play. Naturally, it lasts about three minutes and quickly returns to the kind of guilt-ridden world-weariness you'd expect to see from a drama about grief. Look, there's nothing wrong with Ahn taking his material seriously. That served him well in the beautifully wrought drama Driveways, about a kid who befriends his elderly neighbor, with masterly work from Hong Chau and, shortly before his death, Brian Dennehy. (It's currently streaming on Tubi; check it out!) Even in his Wedding Banquet, there are certainly points where the lack of hacky shtick imposing itself on the characters counts as a relief, and even a few scenes, particularly a wordless one between Gladstone and Tran, where the performers bring true depth of feeling to potential contrivances. Yet those moments would probably land better punctuating a funny movie, instead of one that spends long passages actively distancing itself from comedy. Ahn largely shoots it like an indie drama that's been cajoled into including some wan reaction shots, which has a domino effect: underdeveloped set-ups muffle the few punchlines and payoffs, which in turn make almost everyone involved seem vaguely depressed. (May, for example, never seems quite as monstrous as Angela makes her sound, which is more confusing than funny.) Han, making his film debut, is the only member of the central quartet paying much attention to comic timing. Tran and Gladstone keep the movie watchable, mixing prickliness and warmth in a situation that's more common than movies often acknowledge: a partnership where one person is far more invested in parenthood than another. They're stuck, however, in a movie that can't quite commit to either incisive relationship drama or comedy of manners. Maybe that's why Yang gets top billing over Oscar nominee Gladstone: his dithering Chris is the movie's semi-annoying soul. The Wedding Banquet is out in US cinemas on 18 April and in the UK on 9 May
The Guardian
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘I was being a sassy Karen': Florence Pugh's skyscraper stunt positions her as the new Tom Cruise
If you ever needed definitive proof that Marvel has lost pace with the zeitgeist, just look at the panicky marketing of Thunderbolts*. The film opens in a couple of weeks and, according to the trade press, is tracking to open soft. Had this been six or seven years ago, then fans would be clamouring to see Thunderbolts* simply because it was the latest instalment of the grand MCU soap opera. After all, it's a film that stars several side characters from older Marvel films and TV shows, and there was a time when audiences would go bananas for this sort of thing. But as the last few MCU films have shown, that approach doesn't really work any more. For a while Marvel attempted to trade on the intrigue of the asterisk, but that fell down because the people who cared guessed what it meant and the people who didn't couldn't care less. Then came the weird trailer last month where the movie tried to rebrand itself as an A24 film, declaring itself to be 'absolute cinema' because it hired the production designer from Hereditary and the editor of Minari (and, in Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the star of You Hurt My Feelings). And while there was a lot of novelty about this – when was the last time a Marvel film made a big deal about the pedigree of the people who made it? – it didn't do a lot to shift the needle. But now, finally, it looks as if Marvel has cracked it. The final flurry of pre-release marketing about Thunderbolts* doesn't make a big deal about the superheroes or the mythology or the cinematography or anything like that. No, this time it's being much smarter. This time it's unveiling Florence Pugh as the new Tom Cruise. Thunderbolts* contains a big setpiece stunt in which Florence Pugh jumps off the 2,722ft Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur, the second tallest skyscraper on Earth. Now it has been revealed that not only did Pugh perform the stunt herself, but she also pleaded with the Marvel brass to do it. 'As we got closer and closer to shooting, they said they don't think it's going to happen because it's a crazy insurance ordeal,' Pugh told Variety. 'I was like what the fuck? Of course we are! We have to do that.' Referring to herself as a 'sassy Karen' for refusing to let the issue drop, she then described the moment they relented. 'They're like, 'OK, if you want to fall off the second tallest building, we'll figure it out for you.'' These claims are backed up by a film that was posted to YouTube five days ago, in which we see Pugh jump off the aforementioned building. In truth, as far as the footage shows, it's less of a jump and more of a dangle – she appears to step off the roof and descend a small distance before she's winched back up – but nevertheless it looks absolutely terrifying. It's a very Mission: Impossiblish formula. You'll remember that the entire selling point of 2023's Dead Reckoning: Part One was the sight of Tom Cruise riding a motorbike off the side of a mountain. Indeed, by the time the film came out we'd already seen the stunt in its various forms hundreds of times. Of course, it turns out sharing your biggest stunt ahead of time is not always completely wise. Box office grosses for Dead Reckoning were lower than expected because we'd been given the exciting bit for free several years before it was released. This year's instalment, The Final Reckoning, is doing a better job of hinting at the big stunt – Tom Cruise flapping about on the underside of a corkscrewing biplane – without revealing the whole thing. Time will tell whether Thunderbolts* should have been less generous with the stunt footage. But for now that doesn't really matter. What matters is that Florence Pugh wants to do her own stunts, and she's fearless about it. If there's a Thunderbolts* 2, maybe she'll do a helmets-off motorbike chase, or a one-take skydive. Maybe she'll beat Cruise and literally shoot into space. Maybe she'll even start sending cakes to people for Christmas. Either way, this might be the start of an amazing action career.
