Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Ricardo Daly The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Falconeer "The Teahouse' stars the amazing & legendary Chen Kuan Tai, portraying a decent man in a land of criminals and dishonor! Cheng Wang, a refugee, owns a neighborhood Teahouse/restaurant that he obtained through hard work as a street vendor. his restaurant seems to be in the middle of a modern day war zone, with teenage thugs committing robberies, rape, and assaults right outside his door. Cheng quickly becomes the hero of this city, when he and his 'family' of workers stand up against the thugs, and the faulty justice system, through a series of vigilante attacks on the people that hurt his own. Formuliac and simplistic, but the presence of Chen Kuan Tai, as well as some beautiful camera-work, and dedicated performances, make this one worthy of it's cult status. although there are some nasty scenes, it should be known that, while Chen kuan Tai is a renowned kung fu master, there is no kung fu in this film, which plays as a straight crime drama. I was disappointed that Chen's unique "monkey claw" style kung fu was not on display here, but this remains a fine film all the same. Featuring some powerful dramatic scenes, and the best thing about "Tea House" is the way the employees form their own family, and learn to love their boss, who becomes a hero to them all. A standout scene features 'brother Cheng' taking in two young beggar children, and feeding them in his restaurant. There is even a nice romantic side story. "The Teahouse" is a must-see for fans of Chen Kuan Tai. If you can find this rare title, i recommend seeing it. followed by a sequel titled "Big Brother Cheng."

mj970128-1 Action drama, sometimes dissonant and at the end somehow unsatisfactory, but with enough strong scenes. It's about Wang Cheng [ Chen Kuan Tai ], the owner of the Tea House, and his trouble with the gangs around and also the rather bothering police. The plot is too episodic, with the only connection that a customer or a coworker of the Tea House is involved in the individual stories, and the movie is also undetermined between drama and comedy, what leads to some strange and fizzle scenes. Example: An underage guy tries to convict the judge, to arrest him, but the judge is waffling about the bad social states and non-decent education by the parents. In the next scene a girl is driven to death, her brother goes berserk on the street, killing 2 guys. Next scene we get a comedy about cheating the social welfare office. Later the plot is about Cheng dealing also with criminals, of course his intentions are good, but at the end his actions are coming back, the gangster devaste his Tea House. This scene is shot in a long slow motion, the ravage is celebrated visually and also acoustic, it's one of the very awe-inspiring sequences, the movie has a lot of. Between them it's a little coasting, it never gets boring, but some points are really unnecessary. And the limitation on a major place like a Tea House is some kind of unrealistic, imagine a Scorsese Pic about Starbucks becoming Vigilante Force.There isn't really Martial Arts in it by the way, and the end is quite unsatisfactory, but there's the sequel BIG BROTHER CHENG.