8.2 /10 1 Votes8.2
100% Rotten Tomatoes Edited by Sean Baker Initial release 18 January 2004 | 7/10 IMDb 3.8/5 Fandor Distributed by CAVU Pictures Budget 3,000 USD | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Directed by Sean BakerShih-Ching Tsou Produced by Sean BakerShih-Ching Tsou Written by Sean BakerShih-Ching Tsou Starring Charles JangJeng-Hua YuWang-Thye LeeJustin Wan Cast Charles Jang, Jeng-Hua Yu, Justin Wan, Karren Karagulian Screenplay Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou Similar Starlet, Rounders, Amanda, The Boy from Mercury, A Litany For Survival: t | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Take Out is a 2004 independent film depicting a day-in-the-life of an illegal Chinese immigrant working as a deliveryman for a Chinese take-out shop in New York City. The widely acclaimed film, co-written and directed by Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou, has been nominated for the John Cassavetes award in the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards.
Contents
Take Out was filmed in and near upper-Manhattan, New York, in the spring of 2003. It debuted at the Slamdance Film Festival in January 2004. In June 2008 it was given a limited release through CAVU Pictures. On September 1, 2009, Kino Entertainment released Take Out in the US on a Region 1 DVD.
Plot
Take Out is a day-in-the-life of Ming Ding (Charles Jang), an illegal Chinese immigrant working as a deliveryman for a Chinese take-out shop in New York City. Ming is behind with payments on his huge debt to the smugglers who brought him to the United States. The collectors have given him until the end of the day to deliver the money that is due. After borrowing most of the money from friends and relatives, Ming realizes that the remainder must come from the day's delivery tips. In order to do so, he must make more than double his average daily income.
In a social-realist style, the camera follows Ming on his deliveries throughout the upper Manhattan neighborhood where social and economic extremes exist side by side. Intercutting between Ming's deliveries and the daily routine of the restaurant, Take Out presents a harshly real look at the daily lives of illegal Chinese immigrants in New York City.
Reception
The film currently has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.