L'été de mes 17 ans

I have recently seen several "Asian gay dramas". Formula 17 is one of the best.

An observation I have made is that several of the Asian gay dramas are full of guilt. This is nothing unique to the Asian gay dramas, just think of Brokeback Mountain. But I have seen a few too many films that end in death and general misery, where the conclusion seems to be that being gay is just pain, suffering and misery. Perhaps this is a realistic description in some of the more conservative Asian societies, but if suicide is the only way out for the protagonist of the film, then that is a bad film in my opinion.

Formula 17 is a much more hopeful film. The protagonists have their struggles and problems to deal with. However, these problems are in good sense more everyday. The characters cover a wide and not too subtle spectrum of being gay, and the story is both fun and cute. Yes, it is a bit sugar coated, but why not? Also, the film offers some nice photo of Taiwan. After I saw this film, I wanted to go there.

Highly recommended, especially if you want to see a good Asian gay drama with more fun and less depression.

The cast of characters, who are exceptionally attractive and/or genuinely lovable, would probably make this movie worth watching in any case. Fortunately, in addition to the eye-candy, this movie involves quite decent acting and very well-orchestrated humor. It's based on the usual run of misunderstandings that thwart the quest for true love, but done in a way that pokes fun at the whole overly dramatic, soap-operatic response often used in other movies, especially in terms of peer support and psychoanalytical "therapy." Quite often in Asian language movies the English subtitles can defeat the dialogue but in this case the subtitles were obviously done by someone with an excellent command of English. The only bizarre issue was that every letter J was turned into a K. So the main character is looking for a summer "kob" and denies feeling "kealous." Not something that really matters, but strange nonetheless.

I think I missed the "formula 17" meaning,unless it refers to the one boy's age, but there is a trigonometric identity featured for fans of mathematics.

If you want a light, feel-good experience, this movie is well worth watching. No ponderous morality or gut-wrenching tragedy, but you do get a lift to your spirits.

One of a few gay Asian movies out there today. It depicted a naive young Taiwanese gay man who ventured out to a very much open Taipei society in search of his true love only to encounter that lust rather than love was on the minds of most. Formula 17 also tried to approach this love story through a comedic style...with characters that were quite dramatic and over-reacting. In retrospect, I appreciate Formula 17 not only because it was a work of art, it was also an expression that many gay people out there could also relate with. Love have been lost and is seldom seen but the main character in this movie tried to bring it back for us to see and taste.

I would definitely recommend this movie to everyone...gay or straight.

Innocent boy sees then meets jaded boy. Jaded boy becomes unjaded. Familiar story but with a sweetness that can make even a tired old queen believe (again) in the power of love at first sight.

The supporting characters are truly funny and resemble many I've met in Asia. Even though the version I saw had 15 minutes of lost subtitles (?!?!?!?) the message was still clear.

I saw this at the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. There was an error in the program. This movie is from TAIWAN not Thailand. But a lot of the charm that was part of Iron Ladies (from Thailand) can be seen in this film.

Not a deep film but certainly worth a see.

Although this movie is low budget and completely silly, it revels in that and seems proud of it rather than trying to ignore it. A completely generic plot that anyone can guess, especially if they're familiar with gay fiction, and your typical gay characters would usually mean a boring movie. Instead this film puts together characters that you can completely believe and expect to meet on the street. I found myself thinking "I wish I knew these guys!" many times. A totally adorable wonderful happy movie that will make you giggle and squeal and completely believe in love, even if it's just for the duration of the film, this one is not to be missed. Heartwarming, adorable, real, yet fantastic... I can't rate this one highly enough.