Lan yu (2001)

Director:

Stanley Kwan

Writer:

Jimmy Ngai (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 November 2001 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Beijing, 1988. On the cusp of middle-age, Chen Handong has known little but success all his life. The eldest son of a senior government bureaucrat...

Plot Keywords:

Gay Asian | Tiananmen Square | Business Corruption | Loss Of Lover | Gay Husband

Awards:

8 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Ye Liu	...	Lan Yu
Jun Hu	...	Chen Handong
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bin Li
Huatong Li	...	Liu Zheng
Shuang Li	...	Weidong
Fang Lu	...	Yonghong
Jin Su	...	Lin Jingping
Shaohua Zhang	...	Niu Ma
Yongning Zhang	...	Daning

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity and some language.

Runtime:

86 min | Argentina:89 min (Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema)

Country:

Hong Kong | China

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:(Banned) (original rating) | Singapore:R21 (re-rating) | Malaysia:(Banned) | Argentina:16 | France:U | USA:R | Italy:VM14 | Japan:PG-12 | Australia:M

Company:

Kwan's Creation Workshop

Trivia:

Director Stanley Kwan auditioned more than 100 actors in both China and Hong Kong for two months, finally deciding on Ye Liu based on a photo given by Liu's assistant director from his debut _Postmen in the Mountains (1999)_.

Subtle, honest film about love ...

I found this particular film very moving. Regardless of the the way the two characters meet for the first time it is about relationship, not sex. (despite Handong, struggling to perceive it the other way around). Nice and subtle, seem bereft of any cheap cinema tricks. I guess that goes back to the Asian culture towards homosexuality and is the reason why I prefer Asian gay-themed movies to European or north American main stream production. I wish there was more of this kind of movies portraying man to man relationship as based on feelings rather than sex. Stanley Kwan joins Ang Lee in leading the way... In my opinion, along 'Farewell My Concubine' the best gay-themed Chinese movie.