#1149: BAKER, Sean and TSOU, Shih-Ching: Take Out (2004)

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BAKER, Sean and TSOU, Shih-Ching (United States)
Take Out [2004]
Spine #1149
Blu-ray


The American dream has rarely seemed so far away as in the raw, vérité Take Out, by Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou, 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 (Charles Jang) 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.

88 minutes
Color
Stereo
in Mandarin and English
1:85:1
Criterion Release 2022

Director/Writers

Sean Baker was 33 when he and Shih-Ching Tsou wrote and directed Take Out.

The Film

a

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Ten-page wraparound featuring an essay by filmmaker and author J. J. Murphy.

Commentary

Featuring Baker, Tsou, and actor Jang.

Interviews

With Baker, Tsou, Jang, and actors Lee and Yu.

Program

About the making of the film.

Deleted scenes

Screen test

Trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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