I like how the movie starts off by
showcasing the intricate skills of Master Chef Chu, you can see that he had
years and years of experiences with how he works his knife, the amount of
skills he possess, the precision he has, and the step-by-step methods he uses
to prepare those dishes. Then the movie introduces to the three daughters, each
of them with very different personalities. The eldest child, Jia-Jen the
chemistry school teacher, the middle child, Jia-Chen, the beautiful and
successful business woman, and the youngest child, Jia-Ning, who works at a fast
food restaurant.
Throughout the whole movie, we can
observe how these three daughters communicate with their father. As Asian
parents, we rarely explicitly verbalize love, unlike the Westerns who most
often utter the words “I love you”. Asians would express their love in more of
the act of giving and subtle actions, for example, a mother saving the biggest
piece of cake for her youngest son. This can be seen during the Sunday weekly
dinner in the movie, where Master Chef Chu, would serve each of his daughter
before he take his first bite. Other act of love that has been showcased in the
movie is when, Master Chef Chu, makes lunch for Shan-Shan, and when he wakes
his daughters up every morning before he goes for his morning jog. Besides
that, we can notice how each of the daughters communicate differently with
their father. Jia-Jen is more conservative, and soft-spoken, similar to
Jia-Ning, who obeys what the father says, and is not as straightforward as
Jia-Chen, who expresses what is on her mind, and is more of a rebellious type.
This movie also exhibits how the
family struggles to stay as a unit, as the three grown daughters are finding
their own path. The eldest Jia-Jen, battles with being single at her age, and
constantly being asked by people around her about her status, but at the same
time, she needs to take care of her father, as she took on the “mother-figure”
after they lost their mother. Jia-Chen, the gutsy one, strives to be free from
the shackles of her family, as she wants to be independent and live separately,
while, for Jia-Ning, things was going swell for her, she seems happy with what
she was doing. However, despite all this, all of them have a weekly ritual,
which is the Sunday dinner, where Master Chef Chu whips up delicious arrays of Chinese
dishes, and everyone attends it as if they are obliged to do so, but
eventually, at every Sunday dinner, important announcements were made from each
of the family members.
Dr.Goh, told us to think about the
traffic intersection and what does it signifies. In my opinion, I feel, the
traffic intersection signifies the leaving of a family member, or when a family
member had already found their own path to their personal lives. For example,
after the announcement of Master Chef Chu being together with Jin-Rong, if I’m
not mistaken, there was a traffic intersection few minutes later.
All in all, I enjoyed the movie very much. It was filled with humour,
the search for romance, poignant family moments, the unexpected plot twists,
and the displays of mouth watering dishes throughout the movie.
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