Take Out (2004 film)

Take Out is a 2004 independent film depicting a day-in-the-life of an undocumented Chinese immigrant working as a deliveryman for a Chinese take-out shop in New York City. Written and directed by Shih-Ching Tsou and Sean Baker, the film was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award in the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards.

Take Out
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Written by
  • Sean Baker
  • Shih-Ching Tsou
Produced by
  • Sean Baker
  • Shih-Ching Tsou
Starring
  • Charles Jang
  • Jeng-Hua Yu
  • Wang-Thye Lee
  • Justin Wan
CinematographySean Baker[3]
Edited by
  • Sean Baker
  • Shih-Ching Tsou
[3]
Production
company
CRE Film
Distributed byCAVU Pictures
Release dates
  • January 18, 2004 (2004-01-18) (Slamdance Film Festival)
  • June 6, 2008 (2008-06-06) (United States)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
Languages

Plot
Young and Ming outside the take-out

Take Out is a day-in-the-life of Ming Ding, an undocumented 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.

Cast
Role Actor Description
Ming Ding Charles Jang A determined, reticent delivery man who is racing against time to come up with the late payment owed to snakehead smugglers. Ming came to the United States with the goal of creating a better future for his wife and child back in China.
Young Jeng-Hua Yu A fellow delivery man and Ming's closest friend at the take-out. Young is a happy-go-lucky slacker who provides comic relief to the mundane work day. He is the only one at the take-out who is aware of Ming's dilemma.
Big Sister Wang-Thye Lee The cashier and managerial figure of the take-out. Big Sister is a spunky woman with street smarts who juggles the orders and operations of the take-out.
Wei Justin Wan A cook at the take-out who has been in the country longer than most of the others. Wei's sense of seniority frequently lands him in minor disagreements of opinion and power with the other workers.

Style

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.

Production notes
Shooting inside the take-out

Take Out was filmed in and near upper-Manhattan, New York, in the spring of 2003 on a budget of $3000.[4] The film was shot on digital video due to both the cinema vérité style and a non-existent budget with an ensemble cast of both professional and nonprofessional actors[5] while shooting without a full crew in an actual take-out restaurant during operating hours.[6][7]

Release

Take Out debuted at the Slamdance Film Festival in January 2004. The film had already been screened in over 25 film festivals when lawyers representing Baker and Tsou sent a cease and desist letter to filmmaker Seth Landau who was planning to release a film with the same name. The case went into arbitration under rules of the Motion Picture Association of America in November 2005.[8]

The film was not given a limited release through CAVU Pictures until 2008. On September 1, 2009, Kino Entertainment released Take Out in the US on a Region 1 DVD.[9][10][11][12] In September 2022, the film was given a Blu-ray release as part of the Criterion Collection.[3]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 23 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Take Out presents an unvarnished view of one immigrant's experiences as a restaurant deliveryman – and leaves the audience with plenty of food for thought."[13]

Accolades

Take Out was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards.[14] It also won the Grand Jury Prize at the Nashville Film Festival.[8]

References
  1. "Superprime Signs Director Sean Baker". Superprime. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  2. "Shih-Ching Tsou". Film Independent. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  3. "Take Out". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  4. Lyon, Shauna (June 23, 2008). "The Film File: Take Out". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on June 18, 2008.
  5. "Take Out". TVGuide.com. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  6. Barsanti, Chris (June 28, 2008). "Late Delivery: Take Out (2004)". PopMatters. Archived from the original on June 15, 2022. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  7. "indieWIRE INTERVIEW | "Take Out" Co-director Sean Baker". IndieWire. June 3, 2008. Archived from the original on October 8, 2017. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  8. Welkos, Robert W (November 2, 2005). "'Take Out' for party of two: Indie films with the same title dispute the matter in major-studio style: It starts with a letter from lawyers". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 10, 2008. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  9. Lee, Nathan (June 6, 2008). "A Tall Order". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  10. Hillis, Aaron (June 3, 2008). "Take Out's Microbudget Realism". Village Voice. Archived from the original on August 27, 2008.
  11. Trueman, Kerry (June 6, 2008). "Take Out: A Story of Stir-Fried Servitude". HuffPost. Archived from the original on September 30, 2022. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  12. Murray, Noel (June 5, 2008). "Take Out". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on July 24, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  13. "Take Out". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  14. Maxwell, Erin; Jones, Michael (December 2, 2008). "Spirit Award nominees announced". Variety. Archived from the original on June 10, 2022. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
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