Joan Chen’s movie taste is exactly as rich as her career
Joan Chen has entered the Criterion closet, and naturally her picks are as thoughtful, sensual, mysterious and visually rich as the work that has followed her across decades.
In her Criterion Collection “Closet Picks” visit, the actor and director praises the beautiful and tragic performances in Rouge, talks about her attraction to the mysterious atmospheres of David Lynch, and gets wonderfully tactile about Body Heat. Criterion’s official collection for Chen also includes Mulholland Dr., the Three Colors set and the World of Wong Kar Wai collection.
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Build Your Own Joan Chen Movie Shelf
Her Criterion picks move from Stanley Kwan and David Lynch to Wong Kar Wai, Krzysztof Kieślowski and Lawrence Kasdan.
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Why Joan Chen Has Always Meant More to Us Than One Role
Coming of age, Joan Chen was one of those faces that felt permanently threaded through the movies around us. She could turn up in something glossy, strange, dangerous, intimate or completely unexpected and still feel unmistakably like Joan.
There was the deliciously over-the-top sci-fi world of 1995’s Judge Dredd, where she played Dr. Ilsa Hayden. There was the far more underground Wild Side, opposite Anne Heche and Christopher Walken. And later came films such as Autumn in New York, alongside Winona Ryder and Richard Gere.
And Then There Was The Wedding Banquet
For us, though, one film from that era hit differently: Ang Lee’s 1993 The Wedding Banquet.
We watched it over and over because we were lucky enough to grow up with cable — the kind of access that quietly opened windows to gay-themed films and stories long before those lives were routinely centered on television or at the multiplex. Movies like this helped shape our understanding, our comfort and, at the same time, our awareness of just how closed-minded the world could still be.
The film follows Wai-Tung, a gay Taiwanese man living happily in New York with his American boyfriend, Simon. Under pressure from his traditional parents, Wai-Tung arranges a marriage of convenience with Wei-Wei, a woman who needs a green card. Then his parents arrive for the wedding and the carefully constructed plan starts unraveling.
Here is the Joan Chen connection we did not fully appreciate back then: Chen was originally in line to play the female lead in the 1993 film years before it finally went into production. Financing delays changed the timing, and the role ultimately went to May Chin. More than three decades later, Chen came full circle by appearing in Andrew Ahn’s 2025 reimagining of The Wedding Banquet as May Chen.
Joan Chen’s Criterion Closet Picks
Back to thee original programming: Joan, we adore you. We speak your name. Her Criterion visit turns into a compact tour through filmmakers and movies that clearly continue feeding her imagination.
- Rouge — Stanley Kwan
- Mulholland Dr. — David Lynch
- Three Colors Collector’s Set — Krzysztof Kieślowski
- Body Heat — Lawrence Kasdan
- World of Wong Kar Wai Collector’s Set
It is a gorgeous little stack: romance, mystery, eroticism, atmosphere, longing and visual obsession. In other words, very Joan Chen.
A Few Joan Chen Screen Memories
From cultier ’90s turns to major studio roles, Chen’s filmography has never stayed neatly inside one lane.
Watch Joan Chen’s Criterion Collection Closet Picks
Chen discusses Rouge, David Lynch, Body Heat and the films she pulled from the Criterion closet during her July 2026 visit.
Sources: The Criterion Collection; Focus Features; Joan Chen interviews; The Wedding Banquet cast records.
