Combination Platter

Description

The story of a Chinese restaurant in the New York City area and its employees. One of these workers is Robert, an illegal immigrant, who is desperately seeking a green card. His best route to attain this goal, he admits, is to marry an American woman. Winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

Customer Reviews:

Not the Hot and Spicey Dish I Ordered.......2007-05-31

Although the subject of the film is very timely and contemporary because it deals with illegal immigration, as a whole the film is rather bland. It deals with Robert a Chinese illegal alien trying to get his green card. Robert is a waiter at Szechuan Inn, a Chinese restaurant in Flushing, New York. He saves his pay and tips to send money home to his parents in China. He writes to them regularly and tells them what they want to hear: that he is dating a nice Chinese girl (which happens to be untrue). The restaurant occasionally gets unannounced visits from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services who inspect the premises to round up illegal aliens - so far Robert has managed to elude them. Eventually, Robert hopes to receive his green card so he can remain legally in the U.S. A good friend advises him of his only two options: either his employer needs to sponsor him or he must get married, even if it is a "marriage of convenience" [he pays someone to stay married to him for two years] so he can remain legally.

His friend introduces him to an American Chinese girl who is very outspoken and self-absorbed. She knows no Chinese. They negotiate for her to marry him for the sum of $25,000. Unfortunately, she senses his desperation and refuses, unless he will pay her $50,000. The sum is too large, he can not afford it. The friend provides him another option, date an American woman and try to marry her. Robert finds this choice uncomfortable but he has little choice so he goes along with the plan. He is introduced to Claire, an American young lady who works with computers. Their first date is to a movie, where Robert nearly falls asleep and Claire raves about the film, while Robert agrees with everything she says since he does not remember anything about it. Unfortunately, when Robert tells Claire he has no green card, she believes he is dating her only to obtain one and she drops him. In the whole film, there is just one ironic twist at the ending regarding the American Chinese girl to whom Robert was first introduced. Robert is asked to place a message in a Chinese fortune cookie by the American guy she is dating. Robert works very hard to remove the previous fortune and place the new one inside ... Unfortunately this last scene does not redeem the entire film.

There are definitely some funny moments in the film, for example, when Robert is asked by his American bus boy how to say, "Luck off" (substitute "F" for the "L") in Chinese, which he *does* teach him. Another amusing scene is when the waiters demand the food be ready quicker and they exchange vulgarities in Chinese which nearly results in a physical fight. Unfortunately overall, the film is rather mild and bland, not at all what I had expected since it won a Sundance Film Festival Award for screenwriting. I hoped to see some unexpected, out-of-the-ordinairy, surprise behavior in Robert's character or some complex turn in the plot but none of these occured. The film seemed to deflate. It ended on a rather flat note. While it is a film worth viewing, do not expect excitement or any falling off your seat laughter. It does however provide "a slice of life" [as stated by David Mills, Washington Post] from the point of view of a Chinese illegal immigrant but that is about all. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]

poignant.......2006-10-24

I am amazed at the many reviewers who dont like it... then it strikes me,
that is precisely what the movie is about!

A Chinese illegal immigrant (Robert) who is seriously worried about survival and staying on in America - like all immigrants including legal ones like myself.

An American woman (Claire) for whom life is about self-fulfillment including a casual romance.

When these two worlds meet, grapple and try to come to terms, it comes apart.

The chinese man works as a waiter in a restaurant and there are true vignettes of chinese restaurant life.

Unwittingly perhaps, the director let on that many Chinese are not very truthful or in their culture it is not valued highly. When Robert (our hero) decides to come clean and honestly tell Claire what he wants, she doesnt recognize it because of the white lies he has told before.

Unfortunately the reviewers below are unable to appreciate the subtleness and some sadness - much like real life. They are like Claire in the movie.

Great movie - could replace Chinese with Indian, Hispanic etc and would in many places still be accurate.

A comedy???.......2005-10-26

Come on now, let's face it: This movie is awful! Another reviewer, trying to be kind, I think, suggests it might be enlightening for those who don't have the experience of living in an ethnic neighborhood. But really, there's nothing insightful about the situations in which these characters find themselves; they're boring, and offer no new aspects of a foreigner trying to make it in a foreign land. It's all cliches, and loaded with scenes with absolutely nothing happening! Okay, how about the positive aspects? Well, some of the characters are pretty likeable in my opinion--the main character and the hostess in the restaurant, in particular. That's the only positive thought I can muster for this one! And by the way, someone called this a comedy? I must have fast-forwarded through that part.

A Movie With No Ending = 1 Star.......2005-06-01

This movie was a Sundance winner? I heard this was a great movie so I was very excited about my lucky purchase. But I'm not sure what bothered me more: the poorly lit sets or the wooden acting by some of the lead actors. Probably the most bothersome thing about this film was the lack of an ending to the story.

Did the writer forget to add on the final scene so the audience would have some sense of where the lead character's life would take him? Or did the director just decide to call it a night knowing the audience would be denied have a satisfying (good, bad or ugly)ending to almost 2 hours worth of watching and caring about the lead charcter.

A celluloid slice of life into the dilemmas of the expatriated maybe, but we still need some kind of conclusion.

A Neo-Realist Flushing.......2004-11-11

Some of the other reviews compare COMBINATION PLATTER to MARTY. I don't know where this comparison began, but it's not apt. Although both films have to do with ethnic characters, MARTY, by Paddy Chayefsky is more character-driven, while COMBINATION PLATTER, though it follows a single protagonist, works more like an ensemble piece, following the adventures and misadventures of the waiters, cooks, dishwashers, hostess, and owner of a familiar mid-scale Chinese restaurant that caters to a predominently white clientele.

That said, what is strongest about the film is when the filmmaker and camera take us out of the restaurant and into the streets. Anyone who is familiar with Queens will instantly recognize Queens Center, Main Street, and the coup de grace, the old DRAKE movie theater, which was on Woodhaven Blvd, before it went out of business. These settings in and of themselves don't make for a movie, but they lend the film an authenticity of place.

The lead actor is also very convincing and with his muted performance conveys the angst of an immigrant seeking his place in the U.S.

Although the major dramatic question of will this illegal immigrant find a way to stay legally in the U.S. isn't answered at the film's end--the question is actually just dropped and forgotten 2/3 of the way in, the film does a good job of sustaining viewer's interest by picking up various strands of the ensemble drama. Will the hostess learn Chinese? Will the waiter with the gambling problem get caught? etc.

The film works and is an impressive first feature. The question in my mind is, whatever to the director Tony Chan? Has he done other films since? Anyone know?????

Average customer rating:

Man Push Cart / Combination Platter
Starring: Man Push Cart , and Combination Platter
Manufacturer: Koch Lorber Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video

Description

MAN PUSH CART
Every night while the city sleeps, Ahmad, a former rock star in his native Pakistan, drags his heavy cart along the streets of New York. And every morning, he sells coffee and donuts to a city he cannot call his own. One day the pattern of this harsh existence is broken by a glimmer of hope for a better life.

COMBINATION PLATTER
Combination Platter is director Tony Chan's engaging story of an illegal immigrant working at a Chinese restaurant in New York. Kitchen mayhem, irate customers and potential romance unfolds as Robert, a waiter in the restaurant, desperately searches for a way to stay in the United States.

DVD:

DVD

DVD