Eat Drink Man Woman Analysis

Eat Drink Man Woman Analysis

            In the film clip, Eat Drink Man Woman Opening, it starts off with no background music just the sounds a someone cooking feverously. This creates the environment as very tense almost as if the cook is in a rush. Immediately, I felt as if the cook was planning a big dinner or some really important event for a lot of people. All the movements the cook makes are very quick and efficient while the body language of the actor is very strict, serious and deep in concentration. A good 35-40sec goes by until the music finally starts fade in. The music in the background is very upbeat, chipper and relaxing. Suggesting that, instead the cook is just passionately cooking the food and going through the motions almost effortlessly. Also, to me anyways, even though we as viewers know that the cook cannot hear the music playing in the background it is almost as if the cook seems to be cooking to the beat of the song.

With lighting, throughout the film it was very dark with lots of shadows and dim lights around the backgrounds. The only point when light was really displayed is when there was just a scene/ clip of food being prepared or through passing. Another scene that is very bright in the backgrounds is when the cook goes outside to collect a chicken. The scene starts off very bright and airy because the cook is outside but as it gets closer to the cook killing the chicken it gets darker and, immediately, as the chicken dies it is dark and we, the viewers, can only see the outline of the cook and the chicken.

            The camera angles and extra sound effects are very important to consider. Everything in the film is close framed not, wide framed views. The camera zooms in on the food, the live animals, the man cooking, the knives, and the pots on the stove. The camera also captures the preparing process of each dish and at the rate at which they are being prepared. The extra sound effects include chopping of vegetables, breaking bones, and the sizzling of the boiling water. These effects help the viewer to relate with being in a kitchen and cooking since all of those sounds are very normal sounds to have while cooking.   

In summary, for me, as I watched this clip I felt almost as an outsider to the situation due to the music, setting, and the way in which the man was cooking his food. The dark scene also seemed almost uninviting to me at all. One of the reasons I felt like an outsider is through the way at which the food was prepared. Live chickens, frogs, and fish were killed immediately before being cooked. In America, this I feel would be strange to anyone because our food is always dead before it reaches the kitchen. If this was a real situation and I was there I would still feel at first awkward because the setting in which the kitchen is in makes me feel out of place because, it is very Asian oriented and the types of food being cooked are not typically foods I eat so all the smells would be different.