Discover
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Stanley Kwan Kam-Pang
Director -
William Chang
Production Design -
Yadong Zhang
Music -
Tao Yang
Director of Photography -
Beijing Comrade
Novel -
Wang Xueyi
Sound -
Jimmy Ngai Shiu-Yan
Screenplay -
Zhang Jian
Cinematography
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CinemaSerf 10/22/2023 10:24:53 AM
This actually starts off rather seedily, I thought! A handsome young student "Lan Yu" (Ye Liu) is working in a restaurant where some of his colleagues discuss the idea of renting him out! It's the wealthy "Chen Handong" (Jun Hu) who gets the privilege and initially their's is the most transactional of relationships. The older man is an highly successful businessman and the younger one, a would-be architect who lives a basic lifestyle. Against the odds, perhaps, the two men start to bond and even though "Chen" is an ostensibly upstanding, straight, member of the community there is the distinct scent of love in the air. What now ensues condenses quite a lot of their lives - ups and downs for both men, even a conforming marriage - into the story of their sometimes quite turbulent relationship before a conclusion that I really didn't like!! That strength of disappointment with the ending, I think, is testament to two strong performances and a story that draws you in. You start off feeling a bit sorry for "Lan Yu", but gradually thereafter you begin to feel more invested in him as a person, and then with his lover and then with both as the characterisations blossom in a plausible fashion. There is a strong supporting cast of characters who help diffuse the tension at times, but when it is just the two on screen then this makes for one of the better gay romantic dramas that I've seen.
Hu Jun
Chen HandongLiu Ye
Lan YuShaohua Zhang
Niu MaLi Bin
Bin ZiZhang Fan
JianerSu Jin
Lin JingpingZhao Minfen
Handong's MotherLi Shuang
Weidong