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Hainan ji fan (English/Mandarin) [Rice Rhapsody]

Romance and rivalry are the two primary components of this film. I wouldn't call this a gay film, per say because the focus is on the mother, but given her sons are gay, this film definitely warrants a review here forepeople who might be interested in prominent gay characters being featured in a film. The film was overall a fell good film where, I guess the importance of family and th bond is what comes to the forefront despite the sexuality.

Jen runs a successful restaurant business with best Chicken rice in Singapore. She has three sons whom she raised single handedly. Two of them are openly gay. Daniel is a successful pilot, who lives with Tim and then Harry, a dafdy gregarious guy who has a new boyfriend every other week. Jen has all her hopes on her third son Leo to get her grandchildren. Leo, as of now is young to sexually discover himself, but he does spend a lot of time with his best friend Batman. Jen's best friend is Kim Chui, who has loved her for years and runs another restaurant nearby. Together they plan that when the French female student Sabine comes as an exchange student, they do everything they can to propel Sabine and Leo towards each other. Initially Leo shows zero interest in her since he is just an awkward teenager but eventually they end up sleeping together. But despite the mother's best intentions, Leo soon realizes that its Batman who has a stronghold on his emotions, which becomes even clearer when Batman leaves Singapore. When Jen realizes this, she gets super angry, beats up Leo who leaves home and the mother-son stop talking. With help of Kim Chui, Sabine comes up with a plan to bring the family back together as a unit. There is story about food competition which leads to an interesting finale where there is a surprise for all from Leo. 

The film is filled with some heartwarming performances. As expected , it is the leading last Jen who stands out. The issue of homosexuality is not really explored here. It is approached with humor and candor, but how I wish, some supportive statements were made instead of showing Jen's aversion to her son being gay. The way she reacts when the eldest son decides to get married was also quite weird in my opinion. A lot of things in this film are half-baked. All the relationships that her son are with, Leo and Batman's chemistry, Leo's involvement with Sabine and Jen and Kim Chui as well. The acting was ok. Leo's confused looks worked for me but that was probably because he is still exploring his sexuality. I can understand that the film makers were trying to not make a great film here, instead they were focussed only on entertainment. Do not try to find logic or reasoning here. How I wish that, the film did slightly more for gay audience. (5/10)

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