Review of Take Out (2008) by Zachary L — 27 Aug 2010

In "Take Out," Ming Ding(Charles Jang) has been threatened by loan sharks he is in debt to. If he does not pay them $800 by the end of the day, they will double his debt. And they leave him something to remember them by. The first $500 is easy enough and his co-worker Young(Jeng-Hua Yu), who has dreams of bigger things than delivering Chinese food, gives him another $150. He also helps out Ming by giving him his deliveries for the day, and therefore his tips, because he also really does not want to be riding a bicycle in the rain in Manhattan, not exactly a bike friendly place.

"Take Out" takes a realistic approach in its depiction of immigrant life in New York City with its digitally shot footage at street level. The immigrants are here trying to make a better life for themselves but also in many cases, like Ming's and Young's, leave family behind. So, in the new country, they have to work together to survive. What separates Ming is that he has borrowed money from loan sharks to pay off his family. That's what gives the movie its driving force but also puts it at odds with its otherwise naturalistic approach.(By comparison, "Clerks" did well by just depicting one ordinary day in the life of a convenience store.) That's not to mention that we do not have any way to measure how well Ming is doing through the day(His previous record is $90.) which leads to a good deal of repetitiveness and a predictable buildup to something I could see happening a mile away.