The Banquet 1991

Developer Tsang Siu-Chi, [Eric Tsang], and his agent, [Jacky Cheung], have bought two of a quartet of properties. Rival developer Boss Hung, [Sammo Hung Kam-Bo], holds the other two, and the race is on to secure all four so they can tear them down and replace them with gleaming hotels. The high-stakes push sets the stage for a cunning scheme: persuade a billionaire prince to sign a billion-dollar contract, and you’ve basically won the city’s development game.

The计划 hinges on a carefully staged display of familial harmony. The agent learns that billionaire Kuwait Prince Allabarba, [George Lam], is due to arrive in Hong Kong, and he suggests that Tsang play up his supposed affection for his father to sweeten the prince’s impression. The prince’s father has recently died, and the young monarch regrets not having been a better son. To sell this illusion, Tsang is told to bring his father back into his life, even if the gesture is entirely performative.

But Tsang has not seen his father, [Richard Ng], for a full decade. He travels with his wife, [Carol Cheng], and his sycophantic assistant, [Tony Leung Chiu Wai], to reunite the family, hoping that this reunion will strike the right chord with Allabarba. When they finally meet, Tsang is driven to fake a cancer diagnosis to convince his father to come home. He isn’t alone in this manipulation: his sister, [Rosamund Kwan], and her husband, [Tony Leung Ka Fai], join the ruse, amplifying the illusion of a loving clan. The plan is not merely to reunite a wayward son with his kin but to stage a grand banquet that will double as a birthday celebration for the supposed patriarch.

As the banquet unfolds, the scene is crowded with an array of staff and performers who exist as a who’s-who of Hong Kong cinema. The father’s retinue includes a sword expert, Master Lau / Uncle Nine, played by [Lau Kar-leung], a Servant portrayed by [Kara Hui Ying-Hung], two English teachers, [Eric Kot Man-Fai] and [Jan Lamb Hoi-Fung], a makeup artist named Mak [Karl Maka], and a body language expert/gigolo brought to life by [Simon Yam]. The imagined world Tsang conjures during the banquet also bursts into a dream sequence where his look-alike self strides through the room as if he were [Leslie Cheung], with [Aaron Kwok] cast as his Brother and [George Lam] again appearing as Allabarba.

The daydream is populated by icons from the film world and stage: [Anita Mui], [Sally Yeh], [Sylvia Chang], [Angie Chiu], and [Gong Li] all appear as guests in this fantasy tableau, alongside well-known male actors including [Anthony Chan Yau], [Stephen Chow], and [Michael Hui], with [Maria Cordero] in attendance as well. It’s a carnival of star-power that blurs the line between reality and fantasy, underscoring the performative nature of Tsang’s hustle.

Back in the real banquet, the actual staff bring a different, more practical energy to the table. The chefs include [Leon Lai] and [Ng Man-Tat], while the attendants include [Meg Lam Kin-Ming] as a servant and [Wong Wan-Si] among the staff. The waiting crew features [May Lo Mei-Wei], [Sandra Ng Kwan Yue], [Fennie Yuen Kit-Ying], [Ti Lung], and [Kenneth Tsang], each contributing to the whirlwind of activity that keeps the banquet afloat. The guests who stroll through the hall are a gallery of luminaries: [David Chiang], [Tony Ching Siu-Tung], [Ku Feng], [Carina Lau], [Lee Hoi-Sang], [Loletta Lee], [Waise Lee], [Maggie Cheung], [Bryan Leung], [Mars], [Lawrence Ng], [Barry Wong], [Johnnie To], [Melvin Wong], [John Woo], [Pauline Yeung Bo-Ling], [Gloria Yip], [Chor Yuen], [Yuen Cheung Yan], and [Mimi Chu Mai-Mai]. The scene is completed by a performance from the house band Grasshopper. The banquet’s televised nature is underscored by the presence of two TV presenters, [Teresa Mo] and [Andy Lau], who frame the event for the audience at home.

As the night unfolds, a thief crashes the banquet, pursued by a pair of police officers, injecting a pulse of danger into an evening designed to be nothing more than a gilded display of familial unity. Yet beneath the glitter, the banquet is revealed to be a carefully constructed ploy—a political gamebook written by Tsang’s agent, who has secretly been working for Boss Hung all along. What began as a bid to secure a billion-dollar contract through a fake family reunion spirals into a tangled web of deceit, betrayal, and high-stakes manipulation, exposing the fragility of the deals that drive Hong Kong’s glittering skyline.

In the end, the banquet serves its purpose as a showcase, but the truth is harder to pin down. Tsang’s plan depends on a fragile illusion of harmony and kinship, and the revelation that the whole spectacle is a product of calculated maneuvering leaves the characters to confront the real costs of their ambitions. The film moves between grand, star-studded dreamscapes and bustling, authentic HK banquets, weaving together a satire of power and prestige with a surprising depth of character study. The result is a vivid, sprawling portrait of a city where fortune is negotiated at the dinner table, on television, and in the quiet moment when one man finally faces the truth about his father, his family, and the price of selling dreams.