Eat a bowl of tea

Set between 1949-1951, Wayne Wong’s Capra-style comedy centers on an arranged marriage in New York’s Chinatown. The marriage is a romantic and emotional success until it comes under well-intended but intolerable pressures from the Chinese-American community. The film asks how a young couple can cope when there are few role models at hand and they are isolated from their parents. It also shows the drastic effect of the endless pressure from family and friends to bear children. The tone however remains light, and while broaching serious political and social issues, the film uses laughter rather than anger to highlight these. English and Cantonese dialogue with some English subtitles.