Lan Yu (2001)

Very touching movie told in compact episodes (i.e. events seem to be left hanging and then you find out how you got to the next bit by the use of back story, so you have to just carry on watching even if it may seem confusing) so it's all very well pieced together into a tight organic whole. Interesting background issues with China's modernization, Tiananmen etc. If you don't like movies with sad parts this, this may not be for you. I don't either, but of course I didn't know how the movie would turn out. But it's worth persevering for the moving story of how a relationship develops and is sustained over a long period. Fine acting and directing. I give re-watch values based on whether it justifies re-watching, although I must admit I'm inclined to skip sad ones - life's sad enough as it is!

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i donno how i feel about this movie - cause i didn't like Chen Han Dong from the start to finish. like i pitied Lan Yu throughout this movie - first off Liu Zheng who introduced Lan Yu as an old friends son, and he was pimping him out - i was like WTF. get Lan Yu was poor and needed money for tuition as he was from the country and now a student in the city supporting himself - but as Liu Zheng kept later on giving him odd jobs, why not offer those from the start - but then thought maybe its cause he would make more in this line of work. still seeing Lan Yu who looked not only a bit scared, but timid and naïve falling into Chen Han's hands didn't feel right. the fact that he didn't hurt or abuse him was a plus point - or so i though at the start .
cause if he had, at least then Lan Yu wouldn't have fallen so hard for Chen Han , it was pretty evident that he was smitten by the end of that night which wasn't the case with Chen Han.

yeah the description goes a long way into explaining, vindicate and excusing Chen Han's actions and behavior - but from what i saw in the movie, his motivation wasn't fear of being in a gay relationship, or the fact that he loved Lan Yu - he was very attracted to Lan Yu (but it was the naivete - the fact that he was a virgin that had never been with anyone - never even kissed) that was a boost to his ego, that he not only could be his first, but everything he would ever experience sexually Chen Han would be his first, his teacher - men love that - like plz.
he may have developed a fondness for him as personality wise Lan Yu was very open and trusting, let alone loving - who wouldn't want that around them?!? the fact that he brought him gifts - he couldn't offer him genuine feeling, so what else could he do? he had tons of money so at least he didn't owe Lan Yu - cause no matter what he got from him, at the end of the day/night he paid him with hard cash. and considering his always bringing it up - the fact that he lavished a lot of money on Lan Yu - kinda put Lan Yu in his place

Lan Yu on the other hand had the bad luck of falling for a man that was never ever gonna love him emotionally, the way Lan Yu loved him - he could give him all the love sexually and all the comforts in the world. but the sec he got bored or found a new person that attracted him, he had no problem kicking Lan Yu to the curb. justifying his moving on as a natural course of any relationship - which is b.s as what it was, was him getting bored and finding a new play thing - whether it be a new young stud to mount or a new intelligent female he could marry cause he had come of age and needed to produce a heir - it had nothing to do with love - fear or appearance's. bottom line Chen Han was a self-centered douche

the only plus point i can find in Chen Han is that when he decided to marry, he didn't try to keep Lan Yu as his "side chick" but broke things off with him ready to commit himself to the woman he wanted a future with - even though that hurt poor Lan Yu, it was commendable -

this was a sad movie cause of Lan Yu - from start to finish he was all heart... u knew what u got with him and he didn't care for the gifts and money he got from Chen Han - he just wanted Chen Han heart and when he got it, it was too late -

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L'amour d'une décennie.

J'avoue que mon avis sur le film est partagé : les acteurs qui jouent Lan Yu et Chen Handong nous offrent une belle performance et le développement d'une relation dont l'histoire tragique est fort émouvante.

D'ailleurs, le film en lui-même est touchant raconté en épisodes de vie où il faut attendre les flashbacks qui nous permettent de mettre bout à bout les choses qui se sont déroulées, le tout forme un ensemble organique très bien assemblé.

Les propos et questions de fonds abordés sont intéressants et nous en apprennent plus sur le développement de la Chine à cette époque, ainsi que le ressenti qu'on pu avoir les gens sur les évènements de Tian'anmen.

Je pense que ce qui m'a fait tiqué, ce doit être le personnage de Chen Handong qui, selon moi, apparait tout au long du film comme l'image du "Sugar Daddy" égocentrique qui embarque le pauvre Lan Yu, éperdu d'amour, dans une relation toxique qui va se dérouler sur une bonne dizaine d'années.

En effet, on peut le remarquer à plusieurs reprises, Chen commence par utiliser Lan Yu comme le petit agneau innocent sacrifié sur l'autel de son propre désir sexuel, à ce moment (et pour longtemps encore), il lui offre cadeaux sur cadeaux car au contraire du jeune homme, il ne ressent rien de plus qu'un désir charnel qui varie selon les habitudes et rencontres de passage ou désir d'héritier et ne peut qu'offrir des choses matérielles à défaut de sentiments réels.

Pour ce dernier épisode d’abandon,on peut au moins relever que Chen a le mérite de ne pas garder Lan Yu pour ses petits 5 à 7 en dehors du nid familial, et qu'il coupe franchement les ponts avec lui. C'est, à mon sens, le seul moment où je lui rends grâce d'une bonne action.

De son côté Lan Yu, fera tout pour l'amour de sa vie : s'adaptant au diverses situations qui lui sont imposées, jetant aux orties ses possibilités d'un avenir prometteur loin de cette relation toxique vers laquelle il est néanmoins irrépressiblement attiré.

Et quand, enfin, tout semblait s'arranger, pas par miracle, mais par le travail acharné et la dévotion sans faille de Lan Yu, le film nous montre de façon très réaliste et cruelle que l'amour et la vie ne se déroulent pas toujours comme on le voudrait.

Là, Chen Handong se rend enfin compte de l'énormité de la perte qu'il subit et du fait qu'il l'aimait réellement. Devant, à présent, continuer sa route seul.

Alors, le film est fabuleux, je n'en disconviens pas mais, et là c'est mon cœur amateur de guimauve qui parle, c'est trop injuste pour ce cher Lan Yu ! Finalement je dirai que mon avis reste partagé car il se passe tellement de choses tristes dans le monde réel qu'il faut se préparer à voir des films tragiques comme celui-ci.

Maintenant, à vous de vous faire votre avis.

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Does love always have to be so painful(

Honestly if I knew this movie would be so heavy I would have prepared myself a lot better before watching. While it had its sweet moments this was definitely a tragic love story about everything that could go wrong when falling for a player. But sometimes it just doesn't matter, you fall for someone and as hard as you try to get away or tell yourself that this is not going to end well you stick around.

As far as the technical stuff, the acting was good. Both Chen and Lan Yu had great chemistry together and created a believable toxic gay relationship. The pacing and plot development felt rushed. Would've been nice to see a little more of what happened during some of those year's that were skipped which would maybe create even more depth for not only the story but for Chen and Lan Yu. Overall a good film with some hard hitting realities of how love doesn't always pan out the way we want.

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Very nice ...

I'm not surprised that this Hong Kong film has been awarded so many times at many festivals including Sundance and Cannes.
I still think about the story, how it was tastefully set since it was filmed more than a decade back in Beijing, with how sensitive the story was to the development of Chinese society at the time, but at the same time so intimate and without pomp, with very good processing and acting, when the older man from the central pair, the bigger symposus slowly became a phenomenon for me (Chen Handong), as the main character (Lan Yu) ...

I think that the Chinese themselves would not have been able to film such a point of view of their society at that time, but they were lucky in that in the year the film was made, the "returned" capitalist Hong Kong contributed to it with its freer perspective. Very nice.

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