Lan Yu

A FILM BY Stanley Kwan

... not only one of the best gay love stories ever made, but one of the best love stories...
- David Noh, FILM JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL
A triumph...
- Chris Gore, FILM THREAT
Assured, vital and well wrought...
- Kevin Thomas, L.A. TIMES

Synopsis

Beijing, 1988. On the cusp of middle-age, Chen Handong has known little but success all his life. The eldest son of a senior bureaucrat, he heads a fast-growing trading company and plays as hard as he works. Few know that Handong's tastes run more to boys than girls. Lan Yu is a country boy, newly arrived in Beijing to study architecture. More than most students, he is short of money and willing to try anything to earn some. He meets Hangdong in a pool hall, and has what turns out to be a life-changing sexual initiation. Handong and Lan Yu meet often, and the boy is soon secure in his love for the man. But Handong insists that he wants a play-mate, not a companion, and warns Lan Yu that they will eventually break up. Lan Yu is undeterred, until the night he catches Handong with another boy. Handong gives him lavish gifts - a newly built villa and a car - and they begin living together. But again, Handong shies away from his feelings for the boy. But fate can play cruel tricks...

Theatrical Release Date

Original Languages: Mandarin
Genre: Drama, GLBT, World Cinema
Running Time: 86 min.
Year: 2001

Credits

CAST
Jun Hu
Ye Liu
DIRECTED BY
Stanley Kwan