'Boss, I Love You' is an LGBTIQ+-themed short film by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yuan, starring singers and actors Li Quan and Lu Yulai.
Filmed in Beijing and released in 2014, the film tells the story of Hu Kun, a young car driver (played by Lu Yulai), tasked with transporting Wei Zishan, his disdainful and callous boss (played by Li Quan), from a from one place to another in the Chinese capital, without the two men exchanging a single word.
In addition, he is also responsible for taking care of the daily life of the boss, a man who is going through two crises, one of mid-life and one of marital breakdown, and occasionally comes into contact with his superior's wife (Li Xinyun) and other close people. to the character played by Wei Zishan.
The film had its world premiere in 2014 in one of the main cinemas in the Chinese capital, an opening ceremony attended by the two protagonists and the director.
With a script by Fan Jiu Wei, the 29-minute film tells how the serious and taciturn driver is responsible at work, but has his own hidden motives: he is deeply in love with his boss. Due to the enormous difference in identity and social status, added to the fact that he hides his homosexual condition, the driver represses his emotions, but secretly hopes to be able to satisfy his passions one day.
'Boss, I Love You' is the third short film by independent film director Zhang Yuan, and is also one of the works of Youku's "Master Micro Film" from 2014.
As in his landmark film, 'East Palace West Palace' (1996), director Zhang Yuan explores same-sex attraction in the context of power relations in contemporary China, this time as part of the production from the Hong Kong International Film Festival, Beautiful (2014).
While the previous film linked a hapless citizen to ruthless, seductive power ("the prisoner loves his jailer"), in 'Boss, I Love You', the conflict arises from the socioeconomic inequality that leaves the dispossessed pining for what they can't have.
Presented at the International Institute of the California University of Los Angeles (UCLA), as part of its 2014 China Screen Biennial: Spectrum, and awarded at the HK International Film Festival in 2014, 'Boss, I Love You' is co-produced by its two protagonists Li Quan and Lu Yulai.
Graduated in 1989 from the Photography Department of the Beijing Film Academy, after directing 'East Palace and West Palace', Zhang Yuan returned with a same-sex love story in 'Boss, I Love You'.
Known internationally for directing 'Mama' (1999), a combination of documentary and fiction, film and video, which was the first Chinese independent feature film since 1949 and is credited with launching the "Sixth Generation", as well as the "Urban Generation", Zhang Yuan made a series of "underground" films, often inspired by local countercultural movements, such as the indie rock scene 'Beijing Bastards', from 1993, the film 'Sons', from 1996, or the gay subculture, in which 'Boss, I Love You' is inserted.
Starting with 'Seventeen Years' (1999), the Chinese filmmaker made several successful feature films, among which 'Beijing Flickers' stands out.