There is always a lot of hype whenever a gay film is released. And the film's burden only gets heavier when awards and accolades come its way. Lan Yu is a fine example of such a film, and a victim at that. Many have watched the Chinese film (winner of 5 Golden Horse Awards) and were disappointed - with the stereotyped plot and characters, with the shallow treatment of gay relationships, with the melodramatic and contrived ending, and perhaps because they have harboured excessive expectations, with a million other aspects that a film can be faulted for.
Indeed, the film breaks no new ground. The characters are stock characters, with Lan Yu (Liu Ye) as the young idealistic architectural undergraduate who is new in his search of love, and Han Dong (Hu Jun) as the worldly-wise businessman whose every sexual encounter is nothing more than a casual fling. Their initial encounter (which was a business transaction of sort), subsequent reunions and everything else that happens in between are the common tools that have been used to propel a zillion other love stories, straight or otherwise. But seriously, how different can a love story of two people whose paths cross time and again get?
That said, Lan Yu's plot cannot really be faulted. It chose to focus on the story of the two men, and made no qualms about it. Some people may think the film's secondary plots have been neglected or too hastily brushed aside. But I think that was a wise move, because in restricting the scope and defining its topic of interest, it steers clear of the pitfalls that plagued many films that attempted to be epics. I don't really want to know about Lan Yu's family background even though he made that one single call to his mother. I don't really want to know what Han Dong's illegal business dealings were even though he did go to jail for a while. I don't even want to know about the three-year marriage that Han Dong had with a brainy woman called Lin Jin Ping (Su Qin), or when it was that Han Dong's family members were so comfortable with his sexuality. Very focused direction indeed.
In addition, Stanley Kwan has shown more restraint and maturity in directing this film than he had in his previous acclaimed movies. Perhaps it's because the subject matter here is much closer to his heart. Centrestage, despite the luminous Maggie Cheung, was picture-perfect but drifted in a million directions, and his Red Rose/White Rose, despite credible technicalities, was all flashy images with no heart. In Lan Yu, much of the dialogue is made up of lines that you and I speak all the time, with little pretension. And given the film's potential to degenerate into mush, Kwan does not spend excessive time on the melodrama or on trying to milk your tear-glands. We get a heartfelt story that is appropriately paced, and sincere in its delivery.
The gem of the film lies in the extraordinarily understated strength of the two actors, both in portraying the complexities of the individual characters and in concocting the intense chemistry that resulted. Leslie Cheung never reached that level with Tony Leung in Happy Together though he had it slightly better with Zhang Fengyi in Farewell to My Concubine. Daniel Wu and Stephen Fung were too preened and pretty to act in Bishonen, and Huang Lei and Yi Zhaode were overwhelmed by the visuals in Fleeing by Night. Here, you could feel Hu Jun's lip-biting vulnerability and loneliness beneath the character's steely exterior as the film progressed, and this is matched emotion for emotion by Liu Ye's delicate demeanour that gradually toughened and matured as Lan Yu promised never to allow himself to be hurt by others again. The latter's Best Actor win was a well-deserved one.
One of cinema's greatest magic is its ability to elicit a gamut of subjective responses to any film, or even down to any scene. A film whose plot can touch in ways others can't deserves compliment. A film whose characters one can identify and empathise with deserves praise. To me, Lan Yu has both, and it deserves both my compliment and praise.
Indeed, the film breaks no new ground. The characters are stock characters, with Lan Yu (Liu Ye) as the young idealistic architectural undergraduate who is new in his search of love, and Han Dong (Hu Jun) as the worldly-wise businessman whose every sexual encounter is nothing more than a casual fling. Their initial encounter (which was a business transaction of sort), subsequent reunions and everything else that happens in between are the common tools that have been used to propel a zillion other love stories, straight or otherwise. But seriously, how different can a love story of two people whose paths cross time and again get?
That said, Lan Yu's plot cannot really be faulted. It chose to focus on the story of the two men, and made no qualms about it. Some people may think the film's secondary plots have been neglected or too hastily brushed aside. But I think that was a wise move, because in restricting the scope and defining its topic of interest, it steers clear of the pitfalls that plagued many films that attempted to be epics. I don't really want to know about Lan Yu's family background even though he made that one single call to his mother. I don't really want to know what Han Dong's illegal business dealings were even though he did go to jail for a while. I don't even want to know about the three-year marriage that Han Dong had with a brainy woman called Lin Jin Ping (Su Qin), or when it was that Han Dong's family members were so comfortable with his sexuality. Very focused direction indeed.
In addition, Stanley Kwan has shown more restraint and maturity in directing this film than he had in his previous acclaimed movies. Perhaps it's because the subject matter here is much closer to his heart. Centrestage, despite the luminous Maggie Cheung, was picture-perfect but drifted in a million directions, and his Red Rose/White Rose, despite credible technicalities, was all flashy images with no heart. In Lan Yu, much of the dialogue is made up of lines that you and I speak all the time, with little pretension. And given the film's potential to degenerate into mush, Kwan does not spend excessive time on the melodrama or on trying to milk your tear-glands. We get a heartfelt story that is appropriately paced, and sincere in its delivery.
The gem of the film lies in the extraordinarily understated strength of the two actors, both in portraying the complexities of the individual characters and in concocting the intense chemistry that resulted. Leslie Cheung never reached that level with Tony Leung in Happy Together though he had it slightly better with Zhang Fengyi in Farewell to My Concubine. Daniel Wu and Stephen Fung were too preened and pretty to act in Bishonen, and Huang Lei and Yi Zhaode were overwhelmed by the visuals in Fleeing by Night. Here, you could feel Hu Jun's lip-biting vulnerability and loneliness beneath the character's steely exterior as the film progressed, and this is matched emotion for emotion by Liu Ye's delicate demeanour that gradually toughened and matured as Lan Yu promised never to allow himself to be hurt by others again. The latter's Best Actor win was a well-deserved one.
One of cinema's greatest magic is its ability to elicit a gamut of subjective responses to any film, or even down to any scene. A film whose plot can touch in ways others can't deserves compliment. A film whose characters one can identify and empathise with deserves praise. To me, Lan Yu has both, and it deserves both my compliment and praise.