90’s Taiwanese film The Wedding Banquet is considered a gay classic, and now it’s been remade for a whole new generation.
After its premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival the new take on the classic got rave reviews. Australian audiences will get to see the film when it begins screening from 8th May.
The remake of the film is directed by Andrew Ahn, who previously directed Fire Island. It stars Kelly Marie Tran, Lily Gladstone, Bowen Yang, and Joan Chen.
The Wedding Banquet was the breakthrough film for Taiwanese director Ang Lee. He went on to make the arthouse film Eat Drink Man Woman, before making Hollywood films including Brokeback Mountain, Sense and Sensibility, Life of Pi, Hulk, and The Ice Storm.
The original film centers on Wai-Tung, a bisexual Taiwanese immigrant living with his boyfriend in New York. Frustrated by his conservative parents’ constant interference in his love life, Wai-Tung decides to marry a woman from China who needs a green card, hoping this arrangement will grant him the peace and privacy he desires. When his parent’s turn up for the wedding, his boyfriend has to pretend to be his roommate and a giant charade begins.
In the new version the plot follows Min, the heir to a wealthy Korean family who wants to marry his long-term boyfriend, Chris. When Chris turns him down, Min asks his lesbian housemate, offering to pay for her and her partners IVF treatment. The plan works until an unexpected visit from a member of Min’s family.
SNL star Bowen Yang, who plays Chris in the new version, spoke to Reuters about making the film.
“It’s been 32 years since the original film came out. A lot has changed in queer life,” Yang said, noting that director Andrew Ahn had cleverly updated the story.
Back in November 2024 co-star Kelly Tran shared that she’d been drawn to the film on a very personal level, revealing that she’s bisexual.
