A Chinese Tale

Audience Reviews

View All (121) audience reviews

ANUBHAV T Movie is funny and well scripted. Short & Crisp. Audience is going to be glued to the movie. Actors performed very good. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 11/18/24 Full Review Daniel G Warm hearted story about solidarity, cultural shock, romance that couldn't have been made in a better manner. Perfect "little" movie! How can Darín make so many movies? Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/08/24 Full Review Ilson Simão S Muito bom, sensível, engraçado com atuação perfeita do Darin. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/24 Full Review dustin d Chinese Takeout reminded me of another Argentine film I've seen recently (and the only other Argentine film I've seen), Paula Hernandez's Herencia. Both are about a foreigner speaking zero to some Spanish arriving in Buenos Aires searching for someone (an uncle and a lover, respectively). Both cross paths with older, lonely and disagreeable small-business owners and end up living with them and helping with the business and forming an unlikely friendship. Both are sweet and sincere films only a cynic would dislike. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Apart from some exaggeration, this is a very sweet and moving film with enough originality. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member It hasn’t taken long, and only watching a handful of films, but I am now convinced that Ricardo Darin is one of the finest living actors today. I am now at a point where I just assume I’m going to enjoy the movie as soon as I see he is acting in it. Chinese Take-Out is more evidence of his brilliance. In this movie he plays a repressed and regimented man who enjoys his routine. It’s a great performance that shows a lot of heart despite the tough and grumpy exterior he presents. I laughed at his little idiosyncrasies, particularly his delight at collecting crazy stories from the newspapers. However the real magic of this movie comes when he is introduced to Jun. Injecting a new and unusual presence into his routine sets everything off-balance and adds to the humor. Chinese Take-Out isn’t a big laugh-out-loud movie, though. There’s a lot of humor but it’s more subtle and had me chuckling instead of bursting out with laughter. That isn’t a bad thing, because this movie isn’t a pure comedy, and I was able to enjoy the emotional elements as well. The story becomes similar to an Odd Couple situation where this Argentinian man is frustrated by the disturbance a Chinese man has caused in his life, and it is made worse by the fact that they can’t properly communicate. I was particularly impressed with how Ignacio Huang played the part of Jun. Because of the nature of this story, there was a strong chance he could become like a lost puppy, but there are several points where he stands up for himself and the climax is all about him expressing himself to Darin. The entire story of Chinese Take-Out is crazy, but it is presented in a way that doesn’t go over-the-top. Instead the movie feels quaint and charming. It can seem a little slow-moving at times, because they don’t have a lot of things that need to happen in the story, but I never got bored. The plot has elements I’ve seen before a number of times, so with the exception of a few scenes it was predictable. I think in other movies I would be annoyed by that predictability, but Chinese Take-Out hit all the emotional beats so that I still got a warm fuzzy feeling inside. They could have played up the comedy a little more, and perhaps made the romance a bit more powerful in the story, but those are just minor tweaks I would make to elevate this movie a little higher. Aside from that, I found Chinese Take-Out to be a delightful film, and one I think more people should watch. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 09/25/18 Full Review Read all reviews

A Chinese Tale

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW