Take Out (2004)
Directed by Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou
Written by Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou
Starring Charles Jang, Jeng Hua Yu, Justin Wa
Release Date June 6th, 2008
Criterion Collection Release Date September 13th, 2022
Take Out is a brilliant slice of life story. This verite, day in the life of a take out delivery man, an immigrant from China, does not have a traditional structure but what it does have is the hum of life. Through remarkable sound design and brave choices by co-directors Sean Baker (The Florida Project) and Shih Ching Tsou, Take Out becomes a heartbreaking and human story of perseverance, striving, hope, despair, hardship and compassion.
Ming Ding (Charles Jang) is the main character of Take Out. Having come to America without his pregnant wife, hoping to make enough money to bring his family to America, Ming has struggled for months barely getting by. No matter how hard he works, he owes so much money to the criminals who helped bring him to the country that he can't get ahead. When he takes a chance and sends money back to his family, a pair of thugs show up at his rat hole apartment that Ming shares with nearly a dozen other poor Chinese men.
Find my full length review at Geeks.Media. Linked here.
