Save your money for something good and enjoyable

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This movie tells a love story between two Chinese men from the late 1980s to the late 90s. A teenager named Lan Yu just enrolled in a University in Beijing. He forced himself to accept a one-night stand offer in order to save himself from poor financial situation. Handong was a business man who lived a luxury and self-indulging life at that time. One of his indulgences was to bed with men and women. The pair spent their first night in Hangdong's private hotel room, which was Lan Yu's first time. Since then, fate had kept bringing them back to each other until Lan Yu's sudden death.This movie is based on an anonymous online novel named "Beijing Story" in which the author cherished the memory of Lan Yu as his lover. Compared to the original novel, the movie slightly altered Lan Yu's personality from an absolute introvert to someone who showed tendency to voice out emotions from time to time. But the essences of Lan Yu's shining personalities have been well preserved in the movie, which are his purity, simplicity, nobility and loyalty.Lan Yu's young heart had widely opened for Handong since their first night. For Lan yu, Handong's strong male presence in his fragile and humble life was a potent force that had been instilled in his young soul from the very beginning. Because of his admiration and affection for Handong, he ardently looked for part-time jobs and saved all the money Handong gave to him, in a hope to change the nature of their relationship. However for Handong, he would rather regard his associations with Lan Yu as straightforward business deals, logically. His genuine liking and growing concern for Lan Yu brought him not only satisfaction but also resistance and fear. After spending a short and happy time together in their suburban house that Handong gave Lan Yu as a gift, Handong decided to marry a woman in order to fulfill his male obligations, and accepted Lan Yu's refusal to stay in that house for him. A few years later, the pair met again accidentally, right after Handong's divorce. Without words, they revealed their suppressed longings for each other at Lan Yu' place through a sincere hug. Shortly after that, Handong was sent to prison due to his illegal business conduct. Lan Yu did everything he could to help Handong gain freedom. He put in all his personal savings and sold all his valuables including that suburban house Handong gave him. After being released from jail, Handoing said to Lan Yu that during his time in jail, he had clearly figured out that Lan Yu was his destiny. When Lan Yu eventually had chance to enjoy Handong's committed, unguarded and passionate love, he died in a tragic accident. For Handong, the most soothing way to ease his grief was driving along the streets of Beijing, day after day and year after year, in a hopeless and endless search of his lost angel, Lan Yu.As Da Vinci once said: "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication". Stanley Kwan's movie 'Lan Yu' has set a perfect example to show us the great contrast that how a truly deep love story can be told in a plainly calm way. Kwan did not force us to see, to listen or to believe anything just for the sake of the movie itself. Not a single word in the movie was purposefully written to manipulate the audiences' emotional reaction. The verbal exchanges between two characters were as simple as "It has been four months.", "Are you cold?", "Happy new year!","What should I wear?", "Are you still using the same shampoo?"… But it was those very words that took us from one season to another, from one year to another to witness their love attachment growing stronger and stronger. Not a single scene in this movie was intentionally plotted to amuse or sadden the audiences. Every moment was innocently unfolded to depict the unstoppable blossoming of their love while wrestling with resistance and hurts. They looked at each other, they quarreled with each other, they walked alongside by each other and they sang together with each other… Every moment was to reflect their evolving love in a natural flow until the moment they accepted each other as their divine destinies.In mainland China, intimate behaviors between two men would still be considered as a criminal offense before a reformed Criminal Law was issued in 1997. But this movie did not pay any attention to the homosexual controversy during that period. By focusing less on the convolution and adversity of its social context, this movie actually made a resoundingly stronger statement that love is merely about two people and the interaction of their souls, and nothing else should be taken into account in the matter of love.Besides its simplicity, 'Lan Yu' displayed Stanley Kwan's exquisite style and effortless taste in every aspect of filming. The movie is so beautifully made and I find it incredibly powerful pertaining to emotion awakening and spiritual nourishing.(In Chinese language, 'Lan' means the color of blue, and "Yu" has multiple meanings including cosmic space or grace. The name of 'Lan Yu' is perfect by itself.)

As someone who has had two or three boyfriends in "The New China", this film is very accurate, not just about gay men in China -- but also about China today with its real estate booms, and banking scandals, and drinking lots of Johnny Walker Black Label if you're rich enough to afford it. And as someone who has been a professional filmmaker, I think the work is well done. I didn't know that Stanley Kwan cited Sirk and Ozu as influences, but I can see them when I look at this movie. It's got a good narrative pacing and intelligent framing, two qualities I associate with Sirk and Ozu. You can't passively consume this movie; if you try, you'll be bored. But by meditatively viewing this film, there are some good rewards that you will feel by the final fade-out.

It has an overall feel of an Eric Rohmer film, the portrayal of the reality of emotion and connection in the stark environment of modern Beijing and Chinese society is a feat of amazing subtlety.Perhaps incomprehensible to people in a society long open, the stark contrast between the comfort of rare privilege and emotional squalor and the material squalor of the young student/architect and emotional richness there goes beyond the triteness the another user accuses this material of.I am fairly jaded westerner moved to emotional resonance, (certainly not the result of the melodramatic ending I could have done without.)

Generally I'm not a big fan of melodrama, and LAN YU is a classic, Sirk-league piece of melodrama, so I can't say I loved this film. But it is impressive in a number of ways - the depiction of intimacy, and of a slowly-developing relationship is very well done, and this film is very obviously the work of a thoughtful and talented filmmaker. I also liked the cinematography - very un-flashy, which serves the material well: a dry, slice-of-life look which stands apart from the dramatics of the plot, and definitely underscores the normality (or validity) of gay relationships, perhaps in a culture that is still coming to terms with such relationships. The dinner scenes - which are beautifully shot and staged - stand out.It should be noted that director Stanley Kwan has a handful of other artistically notable films to his credit, with ROUGE and ACTRESS generating acclaim around the globe. Kwan claims Hollywood melodramatist Douglas Sirk and Japanese contemporary dramatist Yasujiro Ozu as major influences, and both of those influences are apparent here - the studied, careful mis-en-scene of Ozu; and a story balanced between social critique and three-hanky melodrama, in the fashion of Sirk. Kwan is also one of a small (but growing) number of out Asian filmmakers, and noting this (and his artistic influences) helps to understand the overall importance of this film.If some of the most creative and engaging gay film being made today is coming from Asia, Europe and Latin America - which I believe to be true - then this film is definitely among the best of that wave. Worth a look.