Histoire d'hommes à Pékin

I cried while watching it, and I don't know if I was crying about my life or the movie. "Rainbow Shy and Afraid to be on Camera" kept feeling like it was a bad ending, and near the end thought it was a happy ending, but it almost can be seen as a good ending. The square was mentioned over and over again and I kept wondering if it was really just a romance movie.

It has an overall feel of an Eric Rohmer film, the portrayal of the reality of emotion and connection in the stark environment of modern Beijing and Chinese society is a feat of amazing subtlety.

Perhaps incomprehensible to people in a society long open, the stark contrast between the comfort of rare privilege and emotional squalor and the material squalor of the young student/architect and emotional richness there goes beyond the triteness the another user accuses this material of.

I am fairly jaded westerner moved to emotional resonance, (certainly not the result of the melodramatic ending I could have done without.)

The person who loves you the most is me, how can you make me sad, when I need you most, you leave without saying a word

I found this particular film very moving. Regardless of the the way the two characters meet for the first time it is about relationship, not sex. (despite Handong, struggling to perceive it the other way around). Nice and subtle, seem bereft of any cheap cinema tricks. I guess that goes back to the Asian culture towards homosexuality and is the reason why I prefer Asian gay-themed movies to European or north American main stream production. I wish there was more of this kind of movies portraying man to man relationship as based on feelings rather than sex. Stanley Kwan joins Ang Lee in leading the way... In my opinion, along 'Farewell My Concubine' the best gay-themed Chinese movie.

I expected something tepid and tormented, like "East Palace West Palace" and instead found a wonderful drama about the China of the 80s and 90s.

A successful businessman sees, at a fancy party, a young man brought to the party by another attendee. He and a co-worker decide to pounce: they take him (Lan Yu) out and treat him royally. The young man winds up staying with the businessman, who gives him money, but is ambivalent about whether he wants to see Lan Yu again. He feels that he can have relationships and remain unattached.

Lan Yu shows up periodically over the course of years, and the businessman gives him larger and larger gifts, including a fancy house in the suburbs. But the businessman meets a woman who translates for him in a deal he's making with Russians. He decides to marry the woman. Lan Yu will not put up with it and refuses to see the businessman.

The businessman's shady deals get him into trouble, and he loses almost everything. Then Lan Yu comes back into the picture and . . . (I'll leave it there).

Besides being a wonderful melodrama, this is also a hot gay film. Full frontal and dorsal nudity, some sex. The men are hairless and sexy, but real. Lots of kissing.

And all the time you're wondering: did they actually film this in China? Do they allow this in China? How did they get away with this....It must have been filmed in Hong Kong. Well, according to the Sundance website, this was filmed in China, and based on a short story that appeared only on the Internet.

It's by far my favorite Chinese movie, and if you're interested in gay life in the new China, this is the one to see.