Take Out

This is as exceptional as microbudget cinema gets.

The movie took a long time to get distribution, but there's no expiration date on filmmaking this strong.

Shih-Ching Tsou and Sean Baker’s gripping, no-budget tale of a day in the life of a young Chinese immigrant taking on extra restaurant delivery duties in order to pay off a debt manages to mix immersive, pseudo-documentary filmmaking with a suspenseful narrative.

Take Out is the season’s freshest, most sympathetic movie about making your way in modern-day Manhattan with a little help from your friends.

Take Out, beautifully shot and coming to a Criterion DVD, makes a gritty, intimate portrait of working life on the struggling end of the spectrum.

His endless string of demeaning apartment-doorway interactions with a convincing cross-section of hungry customers is darkly funny, even if it never snowballs into the “After Hours”-type obstacle course one might hope.

Take Out is a sweet-and-sour look at the immigrant experience.