Mon beau locataire

I liked it a lot. Yes, it's very much indie and low-budget, but the point of the movie was to show things from the Chinese-American character's point of view, to show why the answer to "why don't you just come out to your parents?" can be a lot more complicated than others may imagine. Worthwhile and fun and sweet.

The style and acting was meant to be naturalistic, and the emotions are kept pretty restrained. I kind of liked the way the characters were very much depicted as pretty much ordinary guys, like the ones I knew growing up. The movie avoids extremes that are so common that we don't even think about them. There's no big, high-drama drug problems (at one extreme) nor no guys with jet-setting (perfect but empty) lives, and the funny "best friend" characters aren't so terribly arch. Seems pretty true to life, which forces you to concentrate on the story and message, which is pretty quiet, emotionally brave turf to tread. In that sense, it takes some risks in its simplicity.

As a gay Asian American man, I grew up watching TV and movies where I was never represented. So for me Under One Roof was a welcome change from the usual Hollywood depiction of Asian men as either mysterious strangers, emasculated servants, or comic side kicks. Asian men are never portrayed as the central love interest, or god forbid SEXY.

Finally there is a movie where I can see myself reflected on the screen. A movie where not only the lead actor, but several supporting actors are gay Asian men. Yes, I am familiar with the Wedding Banquet, and yes it is a better movie, but how many years has it been since a gay Asian man was the lead in a movie?

Now I am not saying this is a great movie, far from it. The acting can be wooden at times, and downright bad at other times, but after having listened to the directors commentary I think a lot of that can be blamed on the way that filming had to be rushed along.

The two leads, Daniel and Robert were convincing in their scenes together, but less so when they were acting with the others in the cast (I think they had real chemistry together) Given the limited budget and time I think everyone did a good job. The writing was a bit stilted in places, but there were some genuinely touching as well as funny scenes in this movie.

AS for the male nudity. As a healthy gay man, I NEVER find frontal male nudity gratuitous. It is always appreciated and very welcome.

I liked this film because it comes from a very gay indie perspective. As the director notes in the commentary, all the gay characters are played by gay actors, and that's important to him. You hardly ever get that in a big budget movie because openly gay actors can't draw a big enough audience. The sex and nudity scenes are meant to contrast with typical Hollywood movies that try to hide genitalia and rush through sex and intimacy, which when you think about it is much more distracting and unnatural than including nude scenes in a romantic comedy. It is also refreshing to see gay Asian characters (and actors), especially since they are at the center of the film, and not just revolving around white characters. In fact, there are several relationships shown between two gay Asian men, both sexual/romantic relationships as well as friendships. Sure the acting isn't perfect, partly because it was so rushed, and some of the lines are cheesy. But if you look beyond that, you will be in for a treat.

Okay, I almost never write reviews on IMDb because I generally agree with what at least one person has said about any certain film. However, in the case of "Under One Roof" I was shocked to see that the film had garnered a 6.1 rating and three generally supportive comments.

After viewing this film I couldn't think of a single original or unique attribute that made it worthwhile... every scene, scenario and character is ripped from the endless slosh of gay narratives available in film and television-- many of which are low-quality, but which all surpass this confusing spectacle. Many filmmakers today are using DV as a mechanism to reduce production cost, increase camera mobility and allow for more footage to be shot without being concerned about cost. In "Under One Roof" the extremely low production value is evident, but the makers fail to use DV for any of its other advantages... each scene is shot from only one angle and it is obvious in the scenes where actors stumble over their lines that the production was a very rushed process.

The film is at best a terribly watered down version of Ang Lee's brilliant "The Wedding Banquet" and employs liberal use of musical montages (resulting in very repetitive, annoying keyboard music that becomes very familiar to the viewer by the end of this 76-minute train wreck), flashbacks, supposedly meaningful silences and unnecessary voice over. It teeters between dramedy and pornography with various interspersed scenes of gratuitous nudity that fail to both serve any erotic purpose or further the plot (most notedly a painfully long "sex" scene in which two characters undress and stand around aimlessly for a while before breaking into a sentimental story about a very special coin in one of their collections). The strange, unnatural sets and cheap cinematography only contribute to the film's pseudo-porn air.

Absolutely no variation on the traditional "coming out" story is offered here, in a story about a man (Jay Wong) in his late 20s living at home with his traditional Chinese mother and grandmother in San Francisco. The script's derivative nature is almost too much to handle when you hear the actors stumble over lame one-liners and puns.

I implore you to avoid this bomb at any cost... if you don't believe me, just watch the charming trailer available at the top of this page to see a few seconds of the film's top notch quality.

This film is about a young Chinese American who has to come out to his mum who holds traditional Chinese attitudes.

It approaches the traditional Chinese values of family and respect for elders in a touching way. I was particularly impressed by the scene where Daniel picks back up the torn dating leaflet after mum's simple sentence about dad. It illustrates how tradition imposes intense lock and chain on Chinese youngsters. Even more touching is the exchange of thoughts between the two mothers. It is almost inspirational, and I think all mothers in the situation should watch it for educational purposes. Daniel and Robert are so natural and passionate about each other that makes their relationship and the film even more convincing.