Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Absolutely brilliant

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

LAN YU is another indication that films from China are becoming increasingly more poignant, less dependent on spectacle, and certainly more daring in view of the political milieu. Director Stanley Kwan not only has courage to make this poignant film, he also has the gifts to create an atmospheric, gentle, quiet, and luminously photographed love story. He draws understated performances from his actors, never stooping to caricature, always respectful of the inherent delicacy of his subject matter. Lan Yu is a handsome young gay architecture student who becomes involved with Hangdong, a closeted Beijing businessman. The affair they pursue is subtle yet not without passion, the kind of understated passion that rings true rather than playing for sensationalism. The plot twists and turns - Lan Yu is set aside by Hangdong for a "proper marriage" which leads to divorce and to other losses, bringing Hangdong back to seek his real love - Lan Yu. The change in their relationship speaks loudly for a wider acceptance of same sex love. To reveal the ending would be a disservice to the viewer. Part of the joy of this simple story is the sensitivity of Hangdong's colleagues in responding to the his various dilemmas: there is no "bad guy", no prejudice, no castigation - these friends are committed and make homophobia seem merely a foreign, unimportant word. This film is a model of restraint and intelligent, finely crafted story telling. The actors are uniformly excellent and win our hearts. Highly Recommended!

I was so very disappointed by this movie. There was absolutely no sex at all. Sure, they show you every little thing up until the act that I was waiting for the whole 86 minutes, and then they disappoint you. This movie is the biggest tease ever, in the history if things that tease. Also, why are all movies about gay Chinese men so depressing? They need to get their act together and just be happy like the Thai boys in Formula 17. Other than the great lack of getting it on, this movie did have good qualities. It does a really good job of portraying the growth of a relationship and the mistakes people make. However, the ending was completely unnecessary and seemed as though it was simply a way to make the movie even more depressing. The ending left me feeling the way one feels when the main character wakes up in a great movie and it was all a dream, as though the writers were out of ideas and just slapped something together in an effort to try to mess with the audience.

As someone who has had two or three boyfriends in "The New China", this film is very accurate, not just about gay men in China -- but also about China today with its real estate booms, and banking scandals, and drinking lots of Johnny Walker Black Label if you're rich enough to afford it. And as someone who has been a professional filmmaker, I think the work is well done. I didn't know that Stanley Kwan cited Sirk and Ozu as influences, but I can see them when I look at this movie. It's got a good narrative pacing and intelligent framing, two qualities I associate with Sirk and Ozu. You can't passively consume this movie; if you try, you'll be bored. But by meditatively viewing this film, there are some good rewards that you will feel by the final fade-out.

It has an overall feel of an Eric Rohmer film, the portrayal of the reality of emotion and connection in the stark environment of modern Beijing and Chinese society is a feat of amazing subtlety.Perhaps incomprehensible to people in a society long open, the stark contrast between the comfort of rare privilege and emotional squalor and the material squalor of the young student/architect and emotional richness there goes beyond the triteness the another user accuses this material of.I am fairly jaded westerner moved to emotional resonance, (certainly not the result of the melodramatic ending I could have done without.)