Writer/Director David Au’s EAT WITH ME is a feature-length, dramedy film that explores that issue of communication gaps between parents and their adult children. Emma (Sharon Omi) is our middle-aged mother, who is struggling to come to terms with her son’s gay identity. Elliot (Teddy Chen Culver) is a Generation X son who is just trying to find his place in the world. He’s no longer the boy that Emma once knew yet can’t seem to really talk to his mother as an adult. Both don’t know how to break the ice, but they don’t have to because she lives in comfortable suburbia and he lives in the city.
Their two worlds collide when one day, having enough of her stale marriage and insensitive husband (Ken Narasaki), Emma packs a bag and runs away from home. With nowhere else to go, she turns up at Elliot’s doorstep. In their odd couple living situation, Emma begins to discover her zest for life again. She comes alive through her accidental friendship with Elliot’s eccentric neighbor. With no choice but to see her son for who he is, she learns how to love him just the way he is.
And what about Elliot? His whole life, he’s been playing it safe, cooking the same dishes at the family restaurant, staying under the radar, and avoiding relationships that require real emotional vulnerability. When an intriguing man enters his world, he finds himself torn between exploring this chance for love and the fear of disappointing his mother. Just as Emma must find her way, so too must Elliot transform from boy to man.
Recent Comments