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M. Butterfly with The Wedding Banquet
Fri, Nov 18 | 7:30pm | TMT
M. Butterfly
A cross-dressing Peking opera performer- cum-spy and a delusional French diplomat are unlikely lovers in David Henry Hwang’s explosive re-visioning of East/West sexual dynamics in M. Butterfly . Based on Hwang’s Tony Award-winning play set during China’s Cultural Revolution, John Lone and Jeremy Irons portray two men who convolute Western ideals of femininity and masculinity, where the East is submissive and the West is dominant, and where Asian men are feminized and more desirable as female than as male. David Cronenberg directed this richly designed pro- duction, which was inspired by a true story.
DIRECTOR: David Cronenberg.
WRITTEN BY: David Henry Hwang.
CAST: Jeremy Irons, John Lone, Barbara Sukowa, Ian Richardson. 1993. 101 min. USA/Canada. Color. English, Chinese, French. Rated R. 35mm.
The Wedding Banquet
Before Ang Lee directed his heartrending examination of repressed homosexuality in the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain (2005), he directed The Wedding Banquet , a playful comedy of manners involving a gay Chinese American New Yorker and his white boy- friend who fake a heterosexual marriage to quell nagging parents. The scheme sets the stage for lighthearted explorations of family, self-identity, cultural values, and sexual politics. The US/Taiwan co-production earned an Academy Award nomination for Best International Feature Film, propelling Lee’s career worldwide.
DIRECTOR: Ang Lee.
WRITTEN BY: Ang Lee, Neil Peng, James Schamus. CAST: Winston Chao, May Chin, Ah-Lei Gua, Sihung Lung. 1993. 106 min. Taiwan/USA. Color. Mandarin, English. Rated R. 35mm. Print courtesy of UCLA Film & Television Archive.
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