The Lan Yu Phenomenon

With Lan Yu showing in theatres just one week, Ms. Chen-who has already seen it three times-went to the gay bookstore Gin Gin's to snap up a Lan Yu poster. "Of the three posters from the movie studio, this is the only one I hadn't bought yet," said Ms. Chen, "I asked around for the longest time before I found out this is the only place where you can still get it." She had already rushed to collect other promotional items such as notebooks, postcards, calendars and the original novel. This gay movie moved her deeply, she said, exciting her to the point that it took quite some time for her to calm down.

Gin Gin's manager Chen Ching-ju points out that the Lan Yu craze is virtually unprecedented. Normally 90% or more of customers are male homosexuals, but more than one-third of Lan Yu accessories have been purchased by females. And they were sold out in just a few days.

Chinese movie miracle

On-line chat rooms have also been flooded by items related to Lan Yu. "Can straight people also enjoy Lan Yu?" "Lan Yu moved me so much I almost wet my pants," and other such topics have generated continuous discussion. The full text of the movie dialogue was even uploaded. Patently absurd suggestions such as adapting Steven Zhou's recent film Shaolin Football into Shaolin Lan Yu have spread like wildfire too.

The success of Lan Yu has turned Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan, off the radar of late, into a hot item. Even the prestige of the two mainland China male leads formerly totally alien to Taiwanese viewers, Hu Jun and Liu Ye, has skyrocketed and they have become new cinema idols to the Taiwanese. At an autograph event held in Taipei, hundreds of movie lovers were packed into a tiny bookstore. The media described this as a "miracle" for the Chinese film industry, and movie critic Wen Tien-hsiang labeled Lan Yu as "a milestone in Chinese-language gay cinema."

Film distributor Group Tower Workshop Co. Ltd. has been astonished at the success of Lan Yu. Because this is a film purely devoted to a male homosexual love story, says publicity head Kuo Chih-cheng, at the outset promotion was heavily weighted toward gay men, but according to their research, more than one-half of viewers have been female.

The times vs romance

The on-line original literary work Lan Yu claims to be a genuine gay love story which took place over the preceding ten or so years in rapidly evolving mainland Chinese society. During the early period of economic reform in China, Han Dong, child of high-ranking officials, exploits his family's prestige, and has a few achievements to his name before reaching 30. But the successful youth finds it difficult to avoid a certain wildness in his lovelife. Not one to refuse a woman or a man, by chance Han Dong purchases the favors of virgin Lan Yu, a male student who has just come to Beijing for studies. But due to Lan Yu's naivete and goodness, Han Dong unexpectedly tumbles into the river of love. In the midst of this, the June 4th Incident almost causes their eternal separation and thus deepens their mutual attachment.

The helpless Han Dong is incapable of brushing off the pressure of traditional mores calling for a man to "make his home and establish a career." Bequeathing a luxurious residence to Lan Yu, he grits his teeth and bids farewell for a marriage which, however, is short-lived. After divorcing, Han Dong comes across Lan Yu by chance, and the emotional Lan Yu once again accepts Han Dong. Not long thereafter, in the midst of political struggle Han Dong is arrested and imprisoned for economic crimes. Lan Yu sells off the luxurious mansion given by Han Dong in order to save him.

The tail-end of the story doesn't escape romantic cliche, however, as Lan Yu loses his life unexpectedly, leaving Han Dong and the audience sobbing. As Han Dong drives away, Huang Pin-Yuan's classic How Can You Stand for Me to be Sad? fills the theatre. Before the tune has ended, the credits begin to appear on the screen, but most of the movie-goers remain in their seats listening intently, unwilling to leave.

Popular but not low-brow

The characters in Lan Yu face a problem of homosexual romance often encountered in an open society: One partner cannot break free of social pressure, while the other remains unfailingly faithful, believing that true love is everything.

Much of the dialogue in the movie highlights the special way that cyber-literature closely reflects real life. Upon first meeting Lan Yu, Han Dong tells him: "Playing this game depends on your being willing. If we get along, we stay together; if it doesn't feel right, just forget about it. Actually, if the two of us become too familiar, you won't feel comfortable to keep on playing."

"Well, we're not too familiar, are we?" asks a tense Lan Yu.

This snippet of true-to-life conversation is continuously cited on the web.

Director Stanley Kwan cut certain inflammatory portions of the original work, employing a plain narrative style to tell the story in a matter-of-fact way. In the absence of the exhibitionist language seen in earlier works of Kwan's, Wen Tien-hsiang qualifies the final version as "accessible without being low-brow."

"Stanley Kwan's achievement is to combine the elements of gay and mainstream films in a natural and moving way. When all is said and done, gay cinema doesn't necessarily have to be filled with symbols, subtle metaphors, accusations and shouting. It can also seek a more low-key acceptance in society by portraying the ups and downs of love," analyzes Wen Tien-hsiang in his critique.

Kwan also candidly admits that Lan Yu is autobiographical. During more than ten years together with his boyfriend William, they have experienced all sorts of gay lovers' arguments, union and separation, waiting, and even one period when they were on the verge of a break-up. So he used the affection between him and his boyfriend to shoot a true-to-life Lan Yu which reflects a higher level of romance.

Breaking through

After he came out of the closet about his homosexuality, Kwan felt much more relaxed when shooting the film, he reveals. If there is significance in the movie's box-office performance, it is to be found in the way it wins recognition from both gay and straight viewers. How has the film been able to break through the gay-straight divide?

Ho Chun-jui, head of the Center for the Study of Sexualities at National Central University, analyzes the movie in terms of time, place and people thus: The gradual legitimization of homosexuality in Taiwanese culture has lessened the taboo against Lan Yu; the two cool male protaganists not only show passion and warmth, but also pointedly express intimate tenderness, a breakthrough in the portrayal of the traditional male lead; and the contradiction between love vs class background and tradition-told without leaving the parameters of a love story-all naturally please the audience.

"Taiwanese rush to watch American love stories. Plain-faced people also love to watch a love story acted by two gorgeous leads. And adults get a kick out of films about young adults in love. To be blunt, if the story is well told and can satisfy one's imagination and desires, the typical movie-goer has no reason to avoid a gay love story," says Ho Chun-jui. Especially as our culture and education have rendered Taiwanese females into life-long lovestory buffs, it's no surprise that there are so many female fans of Lan Yu.

Valuing sincerity

In violating a taboo and using real sentiment to move viewers, Lan Yu appears to have won acclaim based on real merit. The South China Morning Post review cites Lan Yu as the most courageous and genuine piece of cinema made in Hong Kong last year.

The Golden Horse Award, however, is no guarantee of box-office success. Director Stanley Kwan had not shot a blockbuster since Rouge in 1987 and Taiwanese viewers have just made acquaintance with the two male leads, so word-of-mouth has yet to come into play. But in its first week, Lan Yu box office receipts ranked behind only Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and The One, suggesting the tone of the film's publicity was the main reason.

At the Taiwan press conference attended by the two male stars, Hu Jun and Liu Ye (neither of whom is gay) they were candid about the fact that they both poured a lot of emotion into the shooting. Real-life gay affection seemed just a step away.

"As per the director's advice, the two of us intentionally did not meet again, but it still took me six months to leave my film persona behind," said Hu Jun. He couldn't resist buying a piece of clothing to give to Liu Ye, but the occasion to give it to him never presented itself.

The two actors' comments generated an uproar in the Taiwanese media, and since one goes to great lengths to avoid "Things Gay" in Chinese-language performing art circles, the frankness of the stars regarding their own homosexual leanings became the most convincing selling point for the movie.

"Several other films were nominated for the Golden Horse Award, and for a gay film to be mentioned in print so frequently is, strictly speaking, no easy feat. Add to that a small budget for promotion, the main reason for such a miracle in such poor conditions comes down to the sincerity and earnestness of the director and the actors displayed during promotion," Kuo Chih-Cheng, the man behind the box-office success Tempting Heart and promotions director at Group Tower Workshop, said modestly.

Kwan explained that he tapped into his own emotions to shoot the film, to the point of ending Lan Yu as a tragedy. Perhaps due to his own advanced years, he said, he fears waking one morning only to discover that the one he loves has suddenly died. In filming Lan Yu's death, he hopes that others will learn to treasure those they love.

VCD and DVD versions of Lan Yu will be released by the end of January, increasing the film's reach, but as to whether this will incite a new wave of interest, the movie studio is waiting with bated breath. Regardless of the result, in Taiwan's media climate where a trend toward greater openness is encumbered by all sorts of sex scandals and falsehoods which cannot be totally verified or refuted, perhaps we should, as Kwan puts it, learn how to treasure this unprecedented ambience of friendship and sincerity among homosexuals and heterosexuals-as expressed in Lan Yu.

Backgrounder: Stanley Kwan

Before he outed his homosexuality via his 1996 documentary Yang + Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema, Kwan's films revolved around female themes, as in his maiden work, Women (1985), the professionally and financially successful Rouge (1987), The Actress (which won the 1991 Berlin Film Festival Best Female Actress Award for Maggie Cheung), Red Rose, White Rose (1994), adapted from Eileen Chang's novel, and so on.

Kwan is talented at conveying the role of the tormented but strong-willed female in traditional society. Considered as particularly skilled at smashing the stereotyped female image as portrayed in cinema, he possesses a strong sense of feminism. Rouge has become a classic of Chinese female cinema.

In the story, a female ghost waits miserably yet fruitlessly on the road to the netherworld for her lover with whom she had committed suicide several decades earlier. Then she returns to modern society, and with the aid of a pair of journalist lovers, finds her former lover whom she discovers did not die together with her, and is now white-haired, poor and down-and-out. In the face of this weak-willed man who is incapable of resolve toward love or even himself, the ghost experiences a revelation and does an about-face, now ready to face the long descent to the netherworld on her own.

But after 1996, when Kwan shot Hold You Tight, The Island Tales and other films, revenues and reviews were no longer as good. Hold You Tight, considered a film shot to "please himself," was even described by Hong Kong media as the low point of his creative career. But just when viewers were beginning to gradually forget Kwan, he has used Lan Yu-filmed some time ago but long kept "in storage"-to reach new creative heights in his career in Taiwan.

Kwan's star is rising in the east this year, and Taiwan is his land of good fortune.

(Eric Lin/tr. by Bruce Humes)