Gay Asian Movies Yeah!
Oct. 17th, 2010 12:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blodeueddOnce upon a time, I made a point of tuning in to all the queer movies on Showcase, or at least taping them to watch later. Then I moved to Japan and started downloading all the queer movies I could find torrents or dowload links for, and for a while I sort of had my "queer movie of the week" habit, but that fell by the wayside when I stopped watching as many movies and tv shows because I suddenly had a full-time job and a social life! I didn't stop downloading stuff, though, so things have been piling up. In an effort to get back into the gay groove, over the past week I've watched two movies that have been sitting around for a while (well, technically, I only found a torrent for Lan Yu a few months ago, but my aunt recommended it to me three years ago, and I'd been searching for it ever since).
[BL movies are about pretty boys overacting and pretending to kiss and/or have sex, sometimes more convincingly than others. I don't count them as queer movies, because they're not. Show me one in which the characters are more than some sort of air-brushed fantasy of what gay men are, and I'll reconsider my stance.]
There are spoilers for both the movies, in case any of you were planning on watching them and are worried about such things. *crickets chirping* No? Right, then, carry on.
Taiwanese lesbians!
Spider Lilies
This movie was ultimately a little disappointing. It looks great (and the two leads are both gorgeous in very different ways), and the storylines were all tied up by the end (at first I couldn't understand what the hell the undercover cop was in the story for, but it was made clear later), but the central theme of memory ended up being more confusing than not. Like, did they remember each other, or not? Did one, and not the other? Was Takeko's brother not the only one who suffered memory loss because of the earthquake? It's never really made clear, unless the fansubbers missed something.
(And speaking of the subtitles, it was indeed a fansubbing job; I doubt a professional release would translate some of the Taiwanese expressions as "[Taiwanese]" and the few Japanese lines in the film as "@#!!$@@!!!@#@# [Sorry I don't understand Japanese.]")
I also didn't quite get why Xiao Yu thought that Takeko was the one going by the handle "Silence" in the chat room. Hadn't Silence been hanging around for longer than she'd known Takeko? And did she really think Takeko would act so differently in person than on line? Still, the scene where she realises her mistake was the most affecting one in the movie. Her grandmother, finding her crying inconsolably, tries to comfort her. "There, there, it's just a machine. How can a computer make you so sad?" I'd be lying if I said my heart didn't squeeze up for her.
Though the love story between the two women isn't the only thing going on in the movie, it still fell into the annoying trope of portraying same-sex love as somehow inherently tragic, or in this case, the agent for some other tragedy. Their first night together (that they may or may not remember, it's not clear) was the night of the earthquake, and as Takeko had "abandoned" her little brother that night, she feels that his present condition is somehow her fault. Their second night together (a long time later), she also "abandons" her brother, though this time, there's an extra complication thrown in that has nothing to do with her relationship with Xiao Yu. So while the movie isn't condemning their love, it feels like it's criticising Takeko for letting her love become more important than her family. And that love just happens to be for another woman, so... yeah. Still, everything turns out all right in the end (the brother recovers from the accident, Xiao Yu isn't caught in the police sting, Takeko finally opens up to Xiao Yu and they end up together), and the conclusion is happy and hopeful.
Anyway, it wasn't a bad movie, by any means, though I'm sure some might say it moves too slowly, but I have no problem with slow movies, as long as they're interesting and bring me to a satisfying conclusion. This one worked on the first count, and but sort of dropped the ball on the second, so I'll give it 7 out of 10.
This next one, gets my highest recommendation. Watch it. It's one of the most touching love stories I've ever seen. The fact that it's about two men is really incidental, though if you're into that kind of thing, this movie also has some of the best depictions of tenderness between lovers, gay or otherwise, that I've ever seen.
Gay Chinese men!
Lan Yu
It's probably safe to say that I cry pretty easily when it comes to movies, but no movie has made me cry so much, or so hard since Aimée & Jaguar which, coincidentally (or not!) was also a tragic queer love story! Okay, so Lan Yu is not about two women, a Christian and a Jew, who fall in love during WWII, (like that's going to end well!) and the heartbreaking ending has nothing to do with the characters' gayness, but the movie feels so immediate, and so real, and the actors are so good, that even when they're barely saying anything at all, you feel their pain. Oh, how you feel it.
Lan Yu is one of the two main characters, a student who finds himself as older businessman Chen Handong's "kept boy" of sorts. Lan Yu is in love, and doesn't try to hide it, though Chen keeps saying that there will come a day when it will be time for them to part, and it's only natural. Of course, he winds up regretting that, and a few years later, a chance meeting with Lan Yu gives him the opportunity to try and fix what he screwed up before.
Tear-worthy scenes:
- the break-up scene, which is silent and spare and heart-wrenching;
- when they meet up again, and after a completely platonic evening together, Chen's admission of "I'd love to hold you," is all he needs to say to get across how sorry he is, and their subsequent reunion is wonderful and painful at the same time;
- the final tragedy, even before Chen breaks down in tears, had me bawling right along with him.
More than the sadness, though, are the incredible moments of tenderness between the two. If straight love stories were more often told like this, with simple emotion and little to no background music, maybe I'd be more interested in them! I also need to mention the cinematography, which was extremely good: the story is told mostly indoors (it seems it was shot in Beijing without any permits), and shadows, mirrors and doorways play a big role as framing devices*. These are things that I don't tend to notice much in movies; that I did is a testament to their effectiveness here, I think.
The movie ended over an hour ago, and I'm still feeling emotionally drained from it. I don't know whether I'll have the strength to watch it again anytime soon, but it's definitely going to be included in my mental list of Movies That Really, Really Moved Me Because They're Really, Really Good. 9/10
Now I have to send an email to my aunt to thank her for suggesting this title.
* In this, it reminded me more than a little of In the Mood for Love, another movie that really moved me, so it'll be interesting to compare it to Happy Together, a gay film directed by Wong Kar-wai. He does love his music, though, so the sound will be quite different.
[BL movies are about pretty boys overacting and pretending to kiss and/or have sex, sometimes more convincingly than others. I don't count them as queer movies, because they're not. Show me one in which the characters are more than some sort of air-brushed fantasy of what gay men are, and I'll reconsider my stance.]
There are spoilers for both the movies, in case any of you were planning on watching them and are worried about such things. *crickets chirping* No? Right, then, carry on.
Taiwanese lesbians!
Spider Lilies
This movie was ultimately a little disappointing. It looks great (and the two leads are both gorgeous in very different ways), and the storylines were all tied up by the end (at first I couldn't understand what the hell the undercover cop was in the story for, but it was made clear later), but the central theme of memory ended up being more confusing than not. Like, did they remember each other, or not? Did one, and not the other? Was Takeko's brother not the only one who suffered memory loss because of the earthquake? It's never really made clear, unless the fansubbers missed something.
(And speaking of the subtitles, it was indeed a fansubbing job; I doubt a professional release would translate some of the Taiwanese expressions as "[Taiwanese]" and the few Japanese lines in the film as "@#!!$@@!!!@#@# [Sorry I don't understand Japanese.]")
I also didn't quite get why Xiao Yu thought that Takeko was the one going by the handle "Silence" in the chat room. Hadn't Silence been hanging around for longer than she'd known Takeko? And did she really think Takeko would act so differently in person than on line? Still, the scene where she realises her mistake was the most affecting one in the movie. Her grandmother, finding her crying inconsolably, tries to comfort her. "There, there, it's just a machine. How can a computer make you so sad?" I'd be lying if I said my heart didn't squeeze up for her.
Though the love story between the two women isn't the only thing going on in the movie, it still fell into the annoying trope of portraying same-sex love as somehow inherently tragic, or in this case, the agent for some other tragedy. Their first night together (that they may or may not remember, it's not clear) was the night of the earthquake, and as Takeko had "abandoned" her little brother that night, she feels that his present condition is somehow her fault. Their second night together (a long time later), she also "abandons" her brother, though this time, there's an extra complication thrown in that has nothing to do with her relationship with Xiao Yu. So while the movie isn't condemning their love, it feels like it's criticising Takeko for letting her love become more important than her family. And that love just happens to be for another woman, so... yeah. Still, everything turns out all right in the end (the brother recovers from the accident, Xiao Yu isn't caught in the police sting, Takeko finally opens up to Xiao Yu and they end up together), and the conclusion is happy and hopeful.
Anyway, it wasn't a bad movie, by any means, though I'm sure some might say it moves too slowly, but I have no problem with slow movies, as long as they're interesting and bring me to a satisfying conclusion. This one worked on the first count, and but sort of dropped the ball on the second, so I'll give it 7 out of 10.
This next one, gets my highest recommendation. Watch it. It's one of the most touching love stories I've ever seen. The fact that it's about two men is really incidental, though if you're into that kind of thing, this movie also has some of the best depictions of tenderness between lovers, gay or otherwise, that I've ever seen.
Gay Chinese men!
Lan Yu
It's probably safe to say that I cry pretty easily when it comes to movies, but no movie has made me cry so much, or so hard since Aimée & Jaguar which, coincidentally (or not!) was also a tragic queer love story! Okay, so Lan Yu is not about two women, a Christian and a Jew, who fall in love during WWII, (like that's going to end well!) and the heartbreaking ending has nothing to do with the characters' gayness, but the movie feels so immediate, and so real, and the actors are so good, that even when they're barely saying anything at all, you feel their pain. Oh, how you feel it.
Lan Yu is one of the two main characters, a student who finds himself as older businessman Chen Handong's "kept boy" of sorts. Lan Yu is in love, and doesn't try to hide it, though Chen keeps saying that there will come a day when it will be time for them to part, and it's only natural. Of course, he winds up regretting that, and a few years later, a chance meeting with Lan Yu gives him the opportunity to try and fix what he screwed up before.
Tear-worthy scenes:
- the break-up scene, which is silent and spare and heart-wrenching;
- when they meet up again, and after a completely platonic evening together, Chen's admission of "I'd love to hold you," is all he needs to say to get across how sorry he is, and their subsequent reunion is wonderful and painful at the same time;
- the final tragedy, even before Chen breaks down in tears, had me bawling right along with him.
More than the sadness, though, are the incredible moments of tenderness between the two. If straight love stories were more often told like this, with simple emotion and little to no background music, maybe I'd be more interested in them! I also need to mention the cinematography, which was extremely good: the story is told mostly indoors (it seems it was shot in Beijing without any permits), and shadows, mirrors and doorways play a big role as framing devices*. These are things that I don't tend to notice much in movies; that I did is a testament to their effectiveness here, I think.
The movie ended over an hour ago, and I'm still feeling emotionally drained from it. I don't know whether I'll have the strength to watch it again anytime soon, but it's definitely going to be included in my mental list of Movies That Really, Really Moved Me Because They're Really, Really Good. 9/10
Now I have to send an email to my aunt to thank her for suggesting this title.
* In this, it reminded me more than a little of In the Mood for Love, another movie that really moved me, so it'll be interesting to compare it to Happy Together, a gay film directed by Wong Kar-wai. He does love his music, though, so the sound will be quite different.
