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| Lan Yu is a poor and desperate country boy, newly arrived in Beijing to study
architecture. Desperate for money, he decides to prostitute himself one night
at a pool hall in order to make money. However, the boss of the pool-hall that
evening, takes Lan Yu home himself, and gives the young man what turns out to
be a life-changing sexual initiation. |
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Stanley Kwan's new film is based on the most widely read text ever to emerge from the underground subculture in the People's Republic. Someone Likes Lan began appearing on the internet in 1996; it was China's first e-novel and it attracted a nationwide audience long before the tenth chapter brought it to an end. It was also China's first modern gay novel, describing the romance between wealthy entrepreneur Chen Handong and college student Lan Yu and went into their lovemaking in explicit detail. The author credited himself only as 'Beijing Comrade' 'comrade' being present-day Chinese slang for 'gay'.
Kwan's adaptation leaves much of the sex off-screen, but otherwise follows the novel rather closely. Handong (played by Hu Jun, last seen as the cop in East Palace, West Palace runs a profitable trading company in Beijing. Publicly, he's one of the lads; privately, he goes to bed with the lads. His loyal lieutenant Liu Zheng one night introduces him to Lan Yu (newcomer Liu Ye), a penniless architecture student desperate for money. Handong enjoys bedding the boy, and tucks banknotes into his pocket, but doesn't think of an on-going relationship. Indeed, he warns Lan Yu that lovers invariably break up when they become too close emotionally.
Two major obstacles get in the way of what is clearly a dream match. First, Handong's compulsive promiscuity. Second, Handong's assumption that one day he'll marry and have children. But Lan Yu is doggedly faithful and incurably romantic, and two separations are followed by two reunions. Handong seems ready to settle down and accept being gay, but...
Although Kwan is openly gay, the idea of adapting the e-novel came from the producers and financiers all of them new to the film industry and it was they who cleared the rights with the pseudonymous author. Kwan agreed to make the film only when he realised that some aspects of the central relationship echoed his own experience. "I responded to the elements which meant something to me personally," he says. "And so I made it as a relatively straightforward gay love story."
Tony Rayns
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Film Credits
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| Director |
Stanley Kwan |
| Screenplay |
Jimmy Ngai |
| Photo |
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| Editing |
William Chang |
| Decor |
William Chang |
| Costume |
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| Music |
Zhang Yadong |
| Cast |
Hu Jun
Liu Ye
Zhang Yongning
Su Jin
Li Huatong
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| Production |
stanleykkp@netvigator.com |
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KWAN'S CREATION WORKSHOP |
| Agent/Distributor |
Celluloid Dreams |
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