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CONSENSUS
A well-crafted love story, but it may be too simplistic for some.
CAST & CREW
Jun Hu, Ye Liu, Jin Su
Directed by Stanley Kwan
more...
SYNOPSIS
Beijing, 1988. On the cusp of middle-age, Chen Handong has known little but success all his life. The eldest son of a senior government bureaucrat, he heads a fast-growing trading company and plays as hard as he works. more...
MPAA RATING
Not Rated
RUNTIME
86 minutes
RELEASE DATES
Theatrical: Jul 3, 2002
Video: Apr 8, 2003
RELEASE COMPANY
Strand Releasing
GENRE
Dramas, Foreign Films, Chinese/Mandarin, Romance, Homosexuality, Love Affairs, 1980s
OFFICIAL SITE
• The Official Lan Yu Site
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NEWS ARTICLES
SUBMIT/EDIT ARTICLE
SUBMIT USER REVIEW
FORUM
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 "The characters seem one-dimensional, and the film is superficial and will probably be of interest primarily to its target audience."
-- Jeff Vice, DESERET NEWS, SALT LAKE CITY
 "Stanley Kwan has directed not only one of the best gay love stories ever made, but one of the best love stories of any stripe."
-- David Noh, FILM JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL
"It's a lovely, sad dance highlighted by Kwan's unique directing style."
-- Kim Morgan, OREGONIAN
"Seems like something American and European gay movies were doing 20 years ago."
-- Sean Means, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
"The very simple story seems too simple and the working out of the plot almost arbitrary."
-- Andy Klein, NEW TIMES
"Lan Yu is certainly a serviceable melodrama, but it doesn't even try for the greatness that Happy Together shoots for (and misses)."
-- Jeremy Heilman, MOVIEMARTYR.COM
"This delicately observed story, deeply felt and masterfully stylized, is a triumph for its maverick director."
-- Chris Gore, FILM THREAT
"Lan Yu is a genuine love story, full of traditional layers of awakening and ripening and separation and recovery."
-- David Elliott, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
"A beautifully crafted love story that should stand as a career breakthrough for the subtle Hong Kong stylist Stanley Kwan."
-- David Chute, L.A. WEEKLY
"Lan Yu seems altogether too slight to be called any kind of masterpiece. It is, however, a completely honest, open-hearted film that should appeal to anyone willing to succumb to it."
-- Jeffrey M. Anderson, SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
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"A nicely constructed film with an unusual, though not unheard-of theme for Chinese cinema."
-- Jean Lowerison, SAN DIEGO METROPOLITAN
"Should have been worth cheering as a breakthrough but is devoid of wit and humor."
-- Harvey S. Karten, COMPUSERVE
"Though Lan Yu lacks a sense of dramatic urgency, the film makes up for it with a pleasing verisimilitude."
-- Pam Grady, REEL.COM
"Brave and sweetly rendered love story."
-- Ken Fox, TV GUIDE'S MOVIE GUIDE
"A moving, if uneven, success."
-- Rick Curnutte, THEFILMJOURNAL.COM (OHIO)
"For the simplicity and strength of its emotional core, Lan Yu is an exquisite film."
-- Liz Braun, JAM! MOVIES
Click to read the article.
-- Eric D. Snider, ERICDSNIDER.COM
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FRESH 62%
Avg. Rating: 6.3/10 |
"Assured, vital and well wrought, the film is, arguably, the most accomplished work to date from Hong Kong's versatile Stanley Kwan."
-- Kevin Thomas, LOS ANGELES TIMES
"In the end, we are left with something like two ships passing in the night rather than any insights into gay love, Chinese society or the price one pays for being dishonest."
-- John Terauds, TORONTO STAR
"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."
-- A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES
"While it is welcome to see a Chinese film depict a homosexual relationship in a mature and frank fashion, Lan Yu never catches dramatic fire."
-- Frank Scheck, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
"Hu and Liu offer natural, matter-of-fact performances that glint with sorrow, longing and love."
-- Steven Rea, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
"It's probably worth catching solely on its visual merits. If only it had the story to match."
-- John Monaghan, DETROIT FREE PRESS
"Pulpy and mesmerizing."
-- Carla Meyer, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"The movie is gorgeously made, but it is also somewhat shallow and art-conscious."
-- Patrick Z. McGavin, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
"Deserves high marks for political courage but barely gets by on its artistic merits."
-- Lou Lumenick, NEW YORK POST
"Lan Yu is 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."
-- Owen Gleiberman, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
"There is much that is touching in the affair of Lan Yu and Handong."
-- Ray Conlogue, GLOBE AND MAIL
"Kwan is a master of shadow, quietude, and room noise, and Lan Yu is a disarmingly lived-in movie."
-- Michael Atkinson, VILLAGE VOICE
"Kwan makes the mix-and- match metaphors intriguing, while lulling us into torpor with his cultivated allergy to action."
-- John Anderson, NEWSDAY
-- Click to read the article.
-- HOUSTON CHRONICLE
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* Who are the Approved Tomatometer Critics?
* Mouse over a tomato icon for a publication's original rating. Original rating not available for every publication.
* In fairness to critics whose last name begins with a letter at the end of the alphabet, certain pages are sorted in reverse order, z-a.
* Certain "Lan Yu" article data provided by the Movie Review Query Engine.
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lepetitchat78
| If I could be anywhere: "Back in Cuba, sitting Indian style on the Malecon. Mojito in one hand, handsome revolutionary in the other." |
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