Take Out

SYNOPSIS

Authentic, suspenseful, funny, and alive with surprising detail, Shih-Ching Tsou and Sean Baker’s Take Out “takes no false step as a scrupulous and socially conscious slice of life” (Nathan Lee, The New York Times), revealing an unseen world of illegal Chinese immigrants at work in New York City.

A day in the life of Ming Ding (Charles Jang, in a masterfully unselfconscious performance) begins as a pair of hammer-wielding loan sharks come to the door of Ming’s squalid apartment. Their ultimatum, delivered in Mandarin, is as simple as it is virtually impossible to fulfill: “You give us $800 tonight, or your debt is doubled.” With the family he supports half a world away, Ming has a single rain-soaked shift at his job -- anonymously and almost wordlessly delivering Chinese food on Manhattan’s Upper West Side -- in which to pay off his thuggish creditors.

Deftly combining a “terrific cast” (The New Yorker) of professionals and non-actors with uncompromisingly ingenious DV photography that is “beautiful in unexpected ways under rough-and-ready conditions” (Variety), Take Out intelligently illuminates an immigrant underdog and his small community of harried co-workers with the same in-the-moment, pragmatic honesty with which Ming endures the constant deprivations of life on the American margin. “This,” raved the Village Voice, “is as exceptional as micro-budget cinema gets.”

REVIEWS

“Exceptional... Some of the most authentic neo-realism this side of De Sica.” – Aaron Hillis, THE VILLAGE VOICE

“A remarkable film... Baker and Tsou’s simple narrative feels like a richly authentic documentary.” – Shauna Lyon, THE NEW YORKER

“Keeps you on the edge of your seat... city guerilla filmmaking at its finest.” – Eric Monder, FILM JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

“Takes no false step as a scrupulous and socially conscious slice of life” – Nathan Lee, THE NEW YORK TIMES

AWARDS

NOMINEE John Cassavetes Award INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS 2009

WINNER - BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE at Nashville International Film Festival

DVD Features

• Audio Commentary with Directors Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou and Actor Charles Jang
• Cast and Crew Interviews
• Two Deleted Scenes
• Charles Jang’s Audition for Ming Ding
• Theatrical Trailer
• Stills Gallery
• Optional Chinese subtitles
• Optional English subtitles
• Enhanced for 16x9 TVs