Wong Kar-wai made a much more dynamic film, "Happy Together," five years ago. Lan Yu suffers by comparison.
Lan Yu(藍宇)
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Hong Kong, China · 2001
Rated R · 1h 26m
Director Stanley Kwan
Starring Liu Ye, Hu Jun, Huatong Li, Shuang Li
Genre Drama, Romance
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A love story between a country boy in Beijing to study and a wealthy businessman set against the backdrop of the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
This delicately observed story, deeply felt and masterfully stylized, is a triumph for its maverick director.
The New York Times by Dana Stevens
Lan Yu is like a less dizzily gorgeous companion to Mr. Wong's "In the Mood for Love" -- very much a Hong Kong movie despite its mainland setting.
New York Daily News by Jami Bernard
With its scenes of full-frontal nudity and its references to the Tiananmen Square protests, Lan Yu may be a breakthrough film for China, but it's well-trod territory for American viewers.
Deserves high marks for political courage but barely gets by on its artistic merits.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
At times too restrained, yet there are moments it captures the erotics of intimacy in a way that makes most American love stories look downright unfree.
The connection between Hu and Liu seems more scripted than real, founded on musty allegorical clichés about innocent country folk and corrupt city slickers.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea
It's not often that Chinese cinema tackles same-sex relationships, and rarer still to see a film of such stark, muted emotion coming from mainland China.
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