Reviews
CinemaSerf
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. see more
22 Oct 2023
More like this
Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken
2004
Yusuf & Yusuf
2014
Я люблю тебя
2004
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
2011
扬名立万
2021
リトル・フォレスト 夏・秋
2014
Possession
1981
Cuando acecha la maldad
2023
Malèna
2000
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
2011
American Beauty
1999
The Devil Wears Prada
2006
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
2018
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
2003
기생충
2019
Poor Things
2023
Joker
2019
Green Book
2018
Nuovo Cinema Paradiso
1988
Fight Club
1999