'The Vigil': To Believe or Not to Believe?
If you mix religious rituals with dark mythology, the result will be effective, and the story powerful in 90% of the cases. That is exactly what happens at the beginning of The Vigil.
In this remake of the 1993 film of the same name, The Wedding Banquet follows the life of two queer couples as they struggle with life-changing decisions. Although the central plot of the film remains the same, the 2025 version gives us a modern example of romantic love, friendship, family, and the decisions we need to make to find happiness.
In the movie, a Korean man, Min (Han Gi-chan), realizes that his Visa is expiring and he is expected to return to Korea to work at his wealthy family’s company. To avoid this fate, Min proposes to his long-term boyfriend, Chris (Bowen Yang), who is too scared of commitment to accept the proposal. Rather than leave his boyfriend and the life he created in Seattle, Min comes up with an idea. Their best friends are a lesbian couple unable to afford another round of IVF. Min offers to pay for the fertility treatment in exchange for a marriage. The planned green-card wedding goes awry when Min’s grandmother shows up and announces that there will have to be a big wedding ceremony complete with photographers.
Frustrated with his commitment-phobic boyfriend Chris and running out of time, Min makes a proposal: a green-card marriage with their friend Angela in exchange for her partner Lee's expensive IVF. Elopement plans are upended, however, when Min's grandmother surprises them with an extravagant Korean wedding banquet.
If you mix religious rituals with dark mythology, the result will be effective, and the story powerful in 90% of the cases. That is exactly what happens at the beginning of The Vigil.
Ricky Staub’s Concrete Cowboy, based on Greg Neri’s novel "Ghetto Cowboy", tells the story of a young teenager forced to adapt to a new lifestyle.
The newest in a long line of Cinderella adaptations, Amazon’s Cinderella (2021) prizes girlbossification above the very story it tries to adapt.