Skip to main content

Lan Yu (Mandarin)

By Golu

There are a lot of tragic love stories but not many come to mind in the LGBT context. Yes, you will see a lot of queer themed films which have a sad ending, but either they were not really romantic in the first place or the tragedy didn't hit the audience like it does in this film. Apparently, this movie was filmed in Beijing without government permission and is based on a novel published anonymously on the Internet in 1997.

Lan Yu is an architecture student and is desperately in need of money. Someone who knows him suggest prostitution for one night, and Lan Yu is introduced to Handong, who is a successful businessman and international trader. They spend the night together and Lan Yu starts feeling emotionally attached to Handong, for whom this was just another sexual night. They meet a couple more times and Handong showers Lan Yu with expensive gifts and money. ONe night when Lan Yu finds handong wit another young man, he is heart broken and he leaves. Handong does reconnect wit him until a few years later on the night of Chinese army's Tiananmen Square crackdown. The two men start a new chapter in life. Handong now almost loves Lan Yu, gives him time, attention, money and an expensive house to live in. But soon enough Handong meets woman and gives in to marrying her for social pressure. This comes as a shock to Lan Yu, who decides to leave the big house and him and Handong lose all contact. A chance meeting at the airport and Lan Yu's invitation to a home-cooked meal reunited the pair. Finally, Chen Handong reciprocated the love and commitment Lan Yu had so freely given and the two were truly a couple. But again, Handong's company gets into government investigation because of which he is put into prison. Lan Yu sells the home, takes out al his savings and gifts that he was saving to go to US to help Handong come out of prison. Unfortunately, just as he realized that the younger man was truly his beloved and his destiny, Lan Yu is killed in a construction accident. Three years later, Chen Handong is still grief-stricken.

The film shows us a span of almost 1-12 years in the life of these two lovers and how things and situations change with them and around them. People grow up with time and mature and this is so well portrayed in the film. Sadly, its never made clear how much time has passed between the scenes and as an audience you just have to guess whether few months or few years have passed. But lives of both these men go on and the film is about the lovers reuniting a few times and getting separated time and again for one reason or the other. Lan Yu is passive, loves Handong but he never stands upto him. He always just blindly accepts him for what he is. In contrast, Handong is a sharp focused man. He is just not sure of whether he loves this man or not. Also remember, we are talking of the situation in late 80s, when probably being gay was not the easiest thing. One of my personal favorite scene is when they reconnect after Handong's divorce and there is this awkwardness between them. They both clearly still love each other but neither wants to make the first move. Lan Yu still feels cheated and hurt while Handong feels guilty for leaving his true love for a woman. The end was a bit sad, more for Lan Yu, who never really got to live his dream or true love.

I think the film definitely deserves an audience. At less than 90 minutes of run time, this did not disappoint me. (6/10)

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

By Golu
Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin...
5 comments
Read more

Sei no Gekiyaku (Japanese) [Dangerous Drugs of Sex]

By Golu
Every person has their own unique way of dealing with loss. This film is as much a psychological thriller as it is a soft porn BDSM portrayal of two young men that makes the film overall horrifying as well as humane. It is really hard to describe the genre of this film in one word. Its important not that the film has some really disturbing scenes so if you go into seeing this film, please proceed with caution. Although any sexual non-consensual activity is not ok, this film has its won strange way of showing that suicide is not the only solution to all life's problems. Makoto is a regular office goer, who just finds out that his girlfriend is probably cheating on him. ON top of it, his parents sudden death coming back from a trip that he forced them to take, he gets completely dejected and decides to commit suicide. Unknown to him, he is saved by mysterious man Yoda Ryoji, and he wakes up finding himself tied up in leather and belts in a very BDSM setting. This mysterious saver soo...
3 comments
Read more

One Summer Night (Korean)

By Golu
I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors. Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who ...
Post a Comment
Read more