喜宴 (1993)

Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein) and Wei-Tung Gao (Winston Chao) are a gay couple living together in Manhattan. Wei-Tung is in his late 20s, so his Taiwanese parents are eager to see him get married and have children. The first part of the film is madcap comedy. When Wei-Tung's parents hire a dating service he and Simon stall for time by creating impossible demands. Chinese opera singers are always men, so they demand an opera singer and add that she must be very tall, must have two Ph.D.'s and should speak five languages. The service actually locates a 5'9" Chinese woman who sings Western opera, speaks five languages and has a Ph.D. She is very understanding when Wei-Tung explains his dilemma. To defer the suspicions of Wei-Tung's parents, Simon suggests a marriage of convenience between Wei-Tung and Wei-Wei (May Chin), their tenant in need of a green card. Wei-Tung will marry the mainland Chinese woman, but the plan backfires when his parents arrive in the United States to plan his wedding banquet. They insist on an elaborate cross-cultural banquet that will cost $30,000 US. After the banquet, Wei-Wei seduces the drunken Wei-tung, and becomes pregnant. Simon becomes upset when he finds out, and his relationship with Wei-Tung begins to deteriorate.

Wei-Tung tells his mother (Ah Leh Gua) the truth. She is shocked and insists that he not tell his father, who is recovering from a stroke. However, the perceptive father knows more than he is letting on and secretly tells Simon that he knows about their relationship. He accepts Simon as his son as well. Simon receives the Hongbao from Wei-Tung's father, a symbolic admission of their relationship, but Mr. Gao (Sihung Lung) makes him promise not to tell anyone. Without everyone trying to lie to him, he says, he would never have had a grandchild. Wei-Wei makes an appointment to have an abortion, then decides to keep the baby. She asks Simon to stay together with Wei-Tung and be the baby's other father. In the final scene, Wei-Tung's parents prepare to fly home. Mrs. Gao has forged an emotional bond with daughter-in-law Wei-Wei, and Mr. Gao warmly shakes Simon's hand. They board the airplane, leaving the unconventional family to sort itself out.

This co-production between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the United States was written by Neil Peng and Ang Lee, who also directed. Lee later made the gay "Brokeback Mountain", and makes a cameo appearance in this film as a wedding guest attending the banquet. The English titles are "Hsi Yen" and "The Wedding Banquet".

Rites of Passage (1999)

The film begins with two recently escaped convicts approaching a group of campers. One shoots and kills the campers. At a hotel, young lawyer D. J. Farraday (Robert Glen Keith) notices his father Del (Dean Stockwell) with a woman whom he has obviously been having an affair with. D. J. is upset and the two drive to their remote family cabin by a lake to talk things over. What neither expects is that D. J.'s estranged gay brother Campbell "Cam" (Jason Behr) is already there, apparently planning a weekend retreat with his boyfriend. Cam has been out of touch with the family for two years because he had violent arguments with Del regarding Cam's lover. Del had found Cam and his boyfriend, Billy (Andrew Cooper), embracing in the cabin. Del brutally beat Billy, and father and son have not spoken since. Cam says Billy is dead, and blames his father for the loss. The three sit down to air their differences when a pair of strangers, Frank Dabbo (James Remar) and Red (Jaimz Woolvett), arrive at the door, claiming to need help with their car. Red is introduced as Frank's adult son. The mood soon turns confrontational between Frank and Del, threatening to erupt into violence at any moment, especially when it becomes clear that Frank and Cam know each other. It turns out that Frank and Red are escaped convicts who put their lives in danger. Frank is a psychopathic killer who has escaped from prison and has come to retrieve half a million dollars stashed in the nearby woods. The police show up looking for the convicts, things get tense, and in the aftermath it becomes clear that Cam knows the pair and has some sort of entanglement with them. Unexpected twists and turns thicken as this tale unfolds. The nature of the relationship between Frank and the not-so-innocent Cam is revealed.

This thriller has a mixture of feelings: sadness, regret, learning to forgive, and secrets unveiled. You may enjoy it if you are a fan of action and drama. Written and directed by Victor Salva, who based much of the dialogue between Del, D. J. and Cam on conversations he and his own father had while Salva was growing up. The production took 18 days to film. Two versions of the film have been released. A director's cut of the film with commentary by Salva and Behr was released on May 2, 2000 with several deleted scenes which further explain the relationships between the major characters.