Classic Movie Review: 'Take Out' Joins the Criterion Collection

Take Out (2004)

Directed by Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou

Written by Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou

Starring Charles Jang, Jeng Hua Yu, Justin Wa

Release Date June 6th, 2008

Criterion Collection Release Date September 13th, 2022

Take Out is a brilliant slice of life story. This verite, day in the life of a take out delivery man, an immigrant from China, does not have a traditional structure but what it does have is the hum of life. Through remarkable sound design and brave choices by co-directors Sean Baker (The Florida Project) and Shih Ching Tsou, Take Out becomes a heartbreaking and human story of perseverance, striving, hope, despair, hardship and compassion.

Ming Ding (Charles Jang) is the main character of Take Out. Having come to America without his pregnant wife, hoping to make enough money to bring his family to America, Ming has struggled for months barely getting by. No matter how hard he works, he owes so much money to the criminals who helped bring him to the country that he can't get ahead. When he takes a chance and sends money back to his family, a pair of thugs show up at his rat hole apartment that Ming shares with nearly a dozen other poor Chinese men.

These men force him to give up his meager savings and give him a deadline of the end of the day to come up with what remains of his debt. Ming will have to swallow his pride and ask for help from his only friend, a wonderfully positive and gregarious fellow immigrant, Young (Jeng Hua Yu)., Young is able to help to a point but there is still a lot of debt left. So, to further help his friend, Young allows Ming to take all of the take out orders from their job at a New York City Chinese restaurant. Ming will need to earn more tips today than he ever has before but it also means working a 14 hour day riding a bike in the rain and delivering food to rude, uncaring or merely thoughtless people, some of whom will complain and not even give a tip.

And that's it, once the stakes, such as they are, are established, Take Out is about observing Ming Ding and the routine of his daily life. The makers of Take Out merely observe Ming Ding going from one delivery to another as the constant noise of New York City on a rainy day provide a strangely beautiful score. Everything from car horns, loud conversations, footsteps on creaky stairs and the buzz of a security door being opened provide a perfect ambient soundtrack. Occasional dialogue occurs back at the restaurant, layering in more backstory and the hardships faced by immigrants in the aftermath of September 11th. Take Out was made in 2004 and reflects the challenges so many immigrants faced amid the paranoia of post 9/11 America.

What astonished me about Take Out is how much genuine emotion and compassion Take Out evokes with minimal dialogue and long periods of just Ming Ding going from one apartment to another, one symbol of poverty to a symbol of privilege, all uniting as a fascinating reflection of the disconnection we all feel from the strangers that briefly visit our lives. We're all the main character of our own story and a movie like Take Out throws that fact into a unique reflection of life. Take Out forces you into the perspective of a person that you've likely seen but never thought about. The people who ever so briefly provide a service to you and then are gone. We rarely give these people a second thought.

Add to that the challenge of being an immigrant in the midst of a toxic culture opposing immigration of any kind and the self-inflicted challenges created when people like Ming Ding are driven to extremes to try and make a better life for their family. Take Out powerfully conveys the failed aspects of human nature, how our society works to keep us divided and urges us not to concern ourselves with the pain of others. Take Out forces you to confront Ming Ding and recognize how a more just society would be kinder to someone who works this hard and simply wants to improve the lives of his wife and child.

Take Out is the newest addition to the legendary Criterion Collection. It features all new director approved features:

New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by directors Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack

Audio commentary featuring Baker, Tsou, and actor Charles Jang

New interviews with Baker, Tsou, Jang, and actors Wang-Thye Lee and Jeng-Hua Yu

Program about the making of the film

Deleted scenes

Screen test

Trailer

New English subtitle translation and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

PLUS: An essay by filmmaker and author J. J. Murphy

Find my archive of more than 20 years and nearly 2000 move reviews at SeanattheMovies.Blogspot.com. Follow me on Twitter at PodcastSean and follow the archive blog at SeanattheMovies. Listen to me talk about movies on the Everyone's a Critic Movie Review Podcast on your favorite podcast app. If you've enjoyed what you've read consider subscribing to my work her on Vocal. You can also pledge to support my work or make a one time tip below...