| A Taste Of Tea is unlike any movie I have ever seen…. Rarely do I start a movie this bizarre and keep watching, especially with over 2 hours to go, but this completely won me over. These are some of the most endearingly quirky characters I have ever seen on film. Unlike so many other movies I have seen where characters are pretentiously assigned some clichéd weirdness that somehow doesn’t quite work within the context of their environment and they have to change (and the film is about the unfolding of their achieving this goal), this movie just shows you the lives of some oddballs. And you come to care about them and want them to be happy. That’s it.
This film isn’t traditional in the sense that you’re not waiting for characters to develop—you just want to see what happens to them and it’s not important at all to know why and how these characters got this way, and it’s definitely not important (nor necessary) for them to change, because they are intensely interesting just to observe. These characters are weird but not damaged; they’re good folks who are just odd and do odd and hilarious things. (Well, there is one exception to the good folks cast, but he gets his comeuppance. But he IS hilarious, though.) You also get a nice assortment of peripheral characters not in the family that also do weird and funny things, and they do tie in to the family at some point in the film.
There was a somewhat obscure scene toward the end that I felt had a deeper meaning that I was missing, but it didn’t affect my perception of the movie as a whole. However, there was also a thoroughly moving scene (toward the end as well) that more than makes up for it.
Overall, this exceptional film was obviously made very passionately and it shines with an innocent brilliance. Fantastic performances all around, with gorgeous scenery and cinematography. Highly, highly recommended. |
Quick Takes:
