Lan Yu (2001)

Hailed by NEWSWEEK as one of the best films of 2002, Stanley Kwan's groundbreaking, beautifully filmed adaptation of an anonymously published internet novel, Lan Yu is set against the Tiananmen Square uprising. Lan Yu tells the story of a young, gay architecture student and his ongoing relationship with an older, successful businessman. The handsome playboy-businessman must choose between his comfortable, yet closeted life in the straight world, or an honest, yet subversive life with the student. Lan Yu was selected in the opening/closing night slots for the San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles Gay Film Festivals inn 2002, as well as playing at the Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, and Toronto Film Festival.

Sweet, tragic, gritty

Aside from the fact there's TOO MUCH SMOKING, and the lead characters could have been prettier, this was a well done movie with a little of everything: love, angst, humor, loss, tragedy, betrayal. If you're not fond of gay love, don't watch it. Otherwise, it's worth a look. November 12, 2007

Really Enjoyed!

I really enjoyed this movie. The cover sparked my interest immediately, and the film did not disappoint. I was all smiles from the start (until the very end, naturally). How anyone can look upon the love shared between these two men in disgust (or homosexuals in general for that matter) is beyond me. It's sexy and real and beautiful and sad all in one. And like the director says in the interview available on the disc, it's a story no different than one that can be told between a man and a woman as well. Love is love. Anyway, it's also interesting to learn that the director can relate to both lead characters himself from his own personal experiences with love. And can't we all? May 27, 2007

Ehh...

I read many reviews saying this was one of the best gay love stories ever. great gay movies are extreemly hard to come by. most are d-movies with horible acting and silly plots and bad filming. i was told by many that this one was "different" its "fantastic". I didnt really like it. It hardly could keep my attenchion for 5 minutes. I didnt care if they stayed together at all. break up? make up? be together forever? more like whatever...will true love conquer all? maybe in a better movie... November 29, 2006

Liked It, But Not As Much As I Wanted To -- But I think you'll enjoy it

There are plenty of things to like about this movie, but my expectations for "Lan Yu" were several levels higher than any point this flick ever reached.
I do like the "treatment" of the female character the older man left Lan Yu to marry -- it was easy to see why a gay man would try going straight to be with her. Alas, the poor guy was no match for her intellect, and this was made very appparent so that without showing any scenes of their married life I knew why the relationship was doomed from the start, and it wasn't due to his being gay, but due to the fact that he wasn't as astute as was she. I'm glad she was cast as some pathetic fag hag so desperate for the company of a man that she knowingly tried to swim upstream. Looked more like she figured a moderately rich but dumb guy who knew he needed her interllectual skills to get them both to wealth was better than a poor man who shared her intellect but would never acquire any of the material things so appreciated by a woman with good tastes. She would have been age-appropriate for him if not for the fact that he was an adolescent in a middle-aged man's body. She was certainly better-looking than Lan Yu!
Happily, and unlike with that loathesome "Eban & Charlie", things connected up well in Lan Yu, so that little things touch upon early on turned up meaning a lot by the end. I won't be specific so you will have to enjoy watching it yourself.
I was expecting a more attractive actor for Lan Yu. Yeah, I know, you say I'm too shallow. Well, I think if I were an older guy spending money on young bed bunnies, I'd get the prettiest ones my money could buy. Having adjusted to his seeming penchant for the "hardworking young student" type, I was puzzled by his clumsy attempts to make-it with the "young athlete" type. Tell you what though, I got plenty of laughs looking at the body of the guy cast in the "young athlete" role: he looked ridiculous! Like a little mini-Michelin-man! Whenever they pick guys with big-yet-soft-and-flabby-features where there should be hard, well-defined muscles, I think the casting woman must have been using too much heroin that day.
The movie was far too sterile for my liking, which is to say that it needed sex or violence to make it interesting. On the other hand, the men weren't especially attractive, so the lack of sex is a good thing, but they should have made up for it with violence. Show us the accident, for example. In fact, show us such an accident early on, then later we'll already know something like that could happen.
Also, I wonder if there's any benefit to showing one side of a phone conversation with a person who is inconsequential to the plot.
The ending put an interesting twist on everything that preceded it, just as it should.
ENJOY this movie by not having high expectations. In fact, if you want to guarantee you will love this movie more than any other, watch it right after viewing Eban & Charlie. JOKING -- Only Osama Bin Laden should be made to see that piece of crud. February 11, 2006

Surpised me

I had no inkling what was in store for my viewing experience when I picked up this DVD out of curiosity at my local public library. Someone had stolen the case cover, so I was trying to figure out what this movie might be about. Alas, I can tell you that I didn't expect at all to see full frontal nudity of a man... in a film from China!

Well, strictly speaking this is a Hong Kong production, I suppose, and I'm sure this is an underground cult in Communist China. I can't imagine "the butchers of Beijing" would let this film run publicly, not only because of its homosexuality theme, but because of the backdrop of corruption among the party elite (what's the Russian word for that?) and the Tiananmen Square protests.

Anyway, the movie is surprisingly good. Some may find the story melodramatic or simple-minded. But as a non-gay person, I find the plot very easy to follow, the emotions very easy to believe in, and the acting superb. The actor who plays the title character is simply outstanding. He exudes both some kind of countryside manhood and yet at the same time a lot of feminine sensitivity. OK, seriously, I'm not gay, but I was totally drawn into the story and into the characters. The death of Lan Yu at the end is just very, very sad.

I'd always thought HK movies were cheesy, low-budget flicks aimed at pleasing the after-hour drunkards. Now I know better. Stanley Kwan has a masterpiece in Lan Yu. It's a movie that will touch the hearts of both gay and non-gay viewers. October 9, 2003

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