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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Lan Yu
Strand Releasing
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring
Hu Jun,
Liu Ye,
Su Jin,
Li Huatong,
Lu Fang,
Zhang Yongning,
Li Shuang,
and
Zhao Minfen
Adapted from the internet novel "Beijing Story," this is the story of a young gay student and his relationship with an older man set against the uprising of Tiananmen Square. (Strand Releasing)
| GENRE(S): |
Romance
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Jimmy Ngai
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Stanley Kwan
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
Theatrical: July 26, 2002
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
86 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
China / Hong Kong |
| LANGUAGE(S): |
Mandarin (with English subtitles) |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
83
Portland Oregonian
Kim Morgan
This is a beautiful, moving picture about a love affair between two very different Chinese men.
80
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Assured, vital and well wrought, the film is, arguably, the most accomplished work to date from Hong Kong's versatile Stanley Kwan.
80
LA Weekly
David Chute
The complex narrative counterpoint is anchored by a rock-solid performance by one of the world's great actors, the Beijing theater veteran Hu Jun.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Carla Meyer
It's really just old- fashioned melodrama, dressed up with lustrous cinematography and a few nods to history.
75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
It's not often that Chinese cinema tackles same-sex relationships, and rarer still to see a film of such stark, muted emotion coming from mainland China.
75
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
At times too restrained, yet there are moments it captures the erotics of intimacy in a way that makes most American love stories look downright unfree.
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Ray Conlogue
It's a good film. But its exotic allure may lead some to mistake it for a great one.
70
TV Guide
Ken Fox
What will really shock Western viewers are the luxurious trappings of Handong's world: The tailored suits, Mercedes Benz and expensive Japanese sushi bars have little to do with age-old perceptions of the PRC.
63
Chicago Tribune
Patrick Z. McGavin
Wong Kar-wai made a much more dynamic film, "Happy Together," five years ago. Lan Yu suffers by comparison.
60
New Times (L.A.)
Andy Klein
Filled with sharp observations and interesting, often subtle, bits of visual trickery, much of it evoking the technique of Douglas Sirk's American domestic melodramas. Still, the very simple story seems too simple and the working out of the plot almost arbitrary.
60
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
The connection between Hu and Liu seems more scripted than real, founded on musty allegorical clichés about innocent country folk and corrupt city slickers.
60
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
Lan Yu is like a less dizzily gorgeous companion to Mr. Wong's "In the Mood for Love" -- very much a Hong Kong movie despite its mainland setting.
60
Film Threat
Chris Gore
This delicately observed story, deeply felt and masterfully stylized, is a triumph for its maverick director.
50
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Deserves high marks for political courage but barely gets by on its artistic merits.
50
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
With its scenes of full-frontal nudity and its references to the Tiananmen Square protests, Lan Yu may be a breakthrough film for China, but it's well-trod territory for American viewers.
50
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
This well-directed Hong Kong drama is at its best when it captures the casual affection that grows between the main characters. It also touches on important Chinese social and political themes, but Kwan understates these so sketchily that they build little psychological power.
50
Variety
David Stratton
Might spark controversy in mainland China, not only because it deals with a homosexual relationship between a member of the Chinese establishment and a peasant, but also because it touches on events such as the 1989 massacre in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. However, pic is unlikely to raise eyebrows anywhere else.
50
Village Voice
Michael Atkinson
For all of its careful realism, Lan Yu is constructed around clichés, plummeting toward a modestly heroic sacrifice and a tearjerking act of fate. But Kwan is a master of shadow, quietude, and room noise, and Lan Yu is a disarmingly lived-in movie.
 The average user rating for this movie is 0.0 (out of 10) based on 0 User Votes
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