The elaborate meals [the chef] prepares as expressions of his affection are a perpetuation of traditional Chinese culture, the dishes a complex linguistic signifier, as Whitney Crothers Dilley's careful essay analysis notes. Combined with Lee's use of space and framing to convey psychodrama, this results in a deftly multilayered film, whose unconventional relationships resonate richly with the hard-won family outcomes of its predecessors.
Kate Stables
July 31, 2015