Directed by Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou • 2004 • United States
Starring Charles Jang, Jeng-Hua Yu, Wang-Thye Lee
The American dream has rarely seemed so far away as in Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou’s raw, vérité TAKE OUT, an immersion in the life of an undocumented Chinese immigrant struggling to get by on the margins of post-9/11 New York City. Facing violent retaliation from a loan shark, restaurant deliveryman Ming Ding has until nightfall to pay back the money he owes, and he encounters both crushing setbacks and moments of unexpected humanity as he races against time to earn enough in tips over the course of a frantic day. From this simple setup, Baker and Tsou fashion a kind of neorealist survival thriller of the everyday, shedding compassionate light on the too often overlooked lives and labor that keep New York running.
Up Next in 21st Century Cinema
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The House of the Devil
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Dries
Directed by Reiner Holzemer • 2017 • Belgium
Starring Dries Van Noten, Iris Apfel, Pamela GolbinFor the first time, legendary fashion designer Dries Van Noten allows a filmmaker access to his creative process and rich home life. For an entire year, Reiner Holzemer documents the intricate steps ...
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A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour • 2014 • United States
Starring Sheila Vand, Arash MarandiThe first Iranian vampire western, Ana Lily Amirpour’s mesmerizing debut feature blends the influences of spaghetti westerns, graphic novels, horror films, the Iranian New Wave, and Jim Jarmusch into a truly...
