Bishonen

Love is the story of a moment.

"Bishonen" is an old film, like many other old films, slow-paced, told largely through the narrator's voice, with a gloomy, suffocating atmosphere, not rich in details but very poetic, very romantic.

Honestly, if this were a modern film, it probably wouldn't be classified as "classic" and wouldn't be mentioned much, but considering the era when the film was released, I understand why nearly 30 years later, people still talk about it so much. The film is slow, but not lacking in "drama"; after all, it's still an old-fashioned love story, still the typical way of portraying homosexual people, especially those in the service industry. Love in the film is truly the love of moments.

We can't blame the film for not developing characters or emotional progression deeply enough, because it seems they fell in love from the first moment they saw each other, just like how other love stories come and go—all in an instant when their eyes meet. Besides the love story, the story of those who are cruel, moments of reckless passion that quickly fade, this also seems to be a story about loneliness, the dark knots inside people. Psychological issues, family and social expectations, prejudices... exist just in one look from the father. And Sam's death. One person's death perhaps can't change much, like ripples disappearing, submerged in water, except that love is something that doesn't die with the person. Actually, the film talks about love, but doesn't talk (enough) about the love between the two main characters; in the end, it's just Sam, Jet, A Ching, each having loved and been loved.

The ending for homosexual love films in this era is still shrouded in tragedy. People are pessimistic, putting a full stop to almost every love story, everything is always chaotic, messy, and ends with one or two deaths, either physical or spiritual. What that pessimistic view wants to reflect, or what common truth it tries to prove, I don't know and don't want to discuss too much; well, knowing that Sam is liberated, and Jet knows he was once loved is enough.

Overall, this is not a pinnacle classic film, nor truly artistic, not characteristic of traditional Hong Kong cinema culture... but it's still a film with sufficient emotional range, creating an atmosphere poetic enough, beautiful enough, cinematic enough for me on a late evening, enough for me to ponder the story of men rejected by society. What I like is the feeling, not necessarily the film itself.

And honestly, this film's popularity and frequent mentions are partly due to the extremely handsome cast of movie stars who give off a very artistic vibe :)

Read More

STORY: A TRADEGY about the broken lives of a few gay men. The story was very slow-paced but it had quite a few tiny plot twists that were uncovered via various flashbacks which explained how the guys became who they are. It's shown from the hustler's perspective on the streets, complete with a pimp, brothel, drugs, and alcohol.

ACTING/CAST: Well, there were a lot of cute actors and they did a good job. They did not shy away from the myriad of make out scenes and all that kissing.

MUSIC: Standard.

REWATCH VALUE: Nuh uh. So slow. Did I mention it's a tragedy? OK, I realize this came out 10 years ago and was probably pretty progressive for its time.

OVERALL: 100% Guaranteed to cure insomnia and the desire to live! Act now while supplies last!

Read More

know this was made in 1998 and most of the actor's were newbies (which shows) donno about the director / producer - but this was lacking. the Narrator was needed cause without her "hand-holding" = telling us what was going on, we would be clueless. usually in good movies the acting is enough to convey the plot (sometimes even without words) so donno whom to blame, as this turns not only boring, but unbelievable. calling this a love story is a reach, i didn't get anything but attraction from Jet - heck the dude was more interested in his own image in any reflective surface, then in Sam. same goes for Sam - he wasn't a narcissist but he wasn't in-love either, or the plot wasn't thought out. cause from them meeting (Sam suddenly bumping into Jet - nothing to do with that add) to suddenly jumping to Jet becoming part of the family, sitting in on every meal - was weird. and the woman on the poster is very misleading, she nothing but a minor character. that was Ah Chin "place" - heck even KS would be logical, as there is No fiancée / gf - they both a "beard" for each other...

Sam for sure not a good-guy, the dude pimped out his then bf Ah Chin (who was a freakin clerk) but cause Sam/Fai was funding his lover (the one he was cheating with) on the side, KS (who was a freakin man-whore, ironic saying that here) and as clerk's neither he nor his bf earned enough to sponsor the rising star, K.S - so Ah Chin goes and sells himself and that not enough so Sam does the same - and then (cause he has enough? idk) he bails not even a goodbye, leaving Ah Chin heart-broken and living a pretty bleak life.
most of this movie Sam treats Jet like his new buddy (even though the dude is gay and not even confused about it, considering Kana), while Jet keeps hustling at night and supposedly acting love sick in the day idk - until the 3 finally meet. as Ah Chin talks about his fated-ex Fai and Jet refers to his new infatuation as Sam, so when the 3 come face to face - and the roommates "get" they talking about the same guy. Sam bails (which it typical of him) only to have Jet follow (and considering everything he gets up too, i get why he is fast to forgive and understand), finally confessing to their sexual attraction - the combustion takes place in Sam's house and of course someone walks in and then quietly leaves.

frantic Sam keeps his cool, trying to understand which of his parent knows - and when he sees his fathers quite destress he goes into his room and dots a line to Jet ?!? i guess that someone kind of explanation or "goodbye" note, but found it lacking considering the magnitude of his choice - felt really bad for his parents. i get that in that day and age, how hard being gay was.. but considering everything it just fell flat - even Jet reading the letter was like a meeh moment - cause i didn't get the undying love, yearning that existed between Jet and Sam. Ah Chin was more infatuated with Fai, heck KS was more into Sam then Jet was. so maybe this should be "forgiven" for its imperfections, cause of the time it was made - but seen short movies with less budget but better acting, that conveyed more - idk, not my cup of tea ....

Read More

Beautiful story with a beautiful message

I want to start by sharing part of a review a friend created on letterbox which is beautiful (just like the movie imo) and demonstrates how today we are forced-fed conservative and reactionary ideas masquerading as progressive ones under a fig leaf of liberal identity politics.

She writes: “male sex work is portrayed as being done for survival but it is made very clear that all of these men are pushed into this line of work where their bodies are commodified and their personhood is alienated because of financial need and capitalist incentive. the negative impact their sexual exploitation has on their psyche is communicated very well.” I think many supposed BL Directors who think it’s edgy to portray male prostitution as a cool, positive choice men make, could learn from this queer Director how not to flippantly portray people like Jet at the corrosive, dead end of the labour food chain under capitalism as enjoying their own exploitation! BL is political and as such cannot treat prostitution as an apolitical process, or the product of individual choice among the most oppressed segments of the labouring class.

I think Yon Fan, the Director who was also the Writer, did a very good job and I am now keen to look at the rest of his filmography since most of them seem to be queer stories including lesbian stories.

Some points of departure I want to raise given the discourse I’ve seen from viewers.

- It’s Not the Father; It’s the Son -
I don’t think that the father necessarily rejects Sam. That man loves his son. And as a parent, a loving - nay a doting parent, the first thing you worry for is how is your child, this sensitive, socially aware and upstanding young man going to be treated by the world and how will that affect the man that he knows his son to be. No matter what the dad’s level of shock or even disappointment, no matter how big or small his worry or his son’s future after he is gone, I feel he would have surmounted it; but Sam was so wound up in his own guilt, much of which is deserving guilt for unethical actions that violated the trust of a primary person in his life, which turns out to be all for nothing (spoilery) and that understandable guilt he carried also would not let him go back and make good on the irreversible harm he had caused.

This is the core of the story; how living a life on the margins doesn’t necessarily allow one to have superior insights into the human condition or the good life but can enmesh good people into a series of bad choices that limit not only their own future but those of several people around them for whom they actually have love towards and receive love from. If not for the cataclysmic events, which Sam’s accumulated actions precipitated, he would’ve been able to assure both his parents as a filial and responsible son. This is the true tragedy of the closet. Not primarily who gets to have sex with whom.

I love the way Bishonen utilises the devastatingly beautiful lady Kana, the Fujoshi in the mix, to remind us that to love is one thing but to be loved and to know that you are loved is *everything*. To ignore this aspect is to evacuate the meaning of the story from the point of view of the protagonists which is the story being conveyed.

- First & Second Cinema is Part of Today’s Filmaking Rot -
This brings me a discussion a few of us have been having in our Killer and Healer Discord about first, second and third cinema because people keep mentioning the degree to which Bishonen is good “for a low-budget film”. No it was good for a film - period.

Director Yon Fan does everything himself, he even picked up Sam for the cast as his lead actor quite randomly on the street; he didn’t even have a stable of experienced actors and as I’m always saying when the Director knows what they’re doing and has a story to tell that’s important to him, even a basic actor can portray that story because the most important, the bulk of the meaningfulness of the work comes from the Director’s creative vision and skill. Every scene, every bit of narrative said and unsaid, every frame that gets into the final cut, reflects the Director’s choices and intent. Director Yon Fan owns this story; hence it cannot be replicated or mass produced, which is the essence of revolutionary filmmaking and allows Bishonen to be evaluated from within a Third Cinema political space, just like all good BL.

If we compare Bishonen to what is coming out of the most highly funded, Thai corporate machine in terms of what passes for BL these days for example, it is clear that the more money that is put into BL productions, the more reactionary, the more fake, the more exploitative, and the more boring and insincere is the result.

Money is not only undermining the enjoyability, even the very watchability of the BL in countries where it has become industrialised, but it is also seriously destroying and separating the resulting productions from the radical queer potential of that genre.

Industrial, mass-produced culture is an oxymoron. Bishonen is one of a kind precisely because it is art, created not for profit (it made $18k when it was released) while the big studio movie Bros with a price tag of $22M flopped critical as well as financially and is no longer talked about, but Bishonen’s legacy will still be moving audiences who stumble across it to tears, to smiles and to complete empathetic recognition for at least another 30 years.

Read More

The Hong Kong film from the time when this city was freshly returned to "mother China" caught my attention after watching it, despite the fact that the quality of the copy was bad, which also affects the rating for many. You were focused right from the start and perceived the early days of relationships, when even a marketable boy can experience true love. The foreign currency of the film, probably not only for me, is also the fact that the main roles are played by wonderful actors and they play excellently, Daniel, Stephen and the beautiful Taiwanese Shu Qi, who plays a lesbian. The storyteller's nipples were also refreshing, so overall I don't get an excellent, but an above-average overall rating...


Hongkongský film z doby, kdy bylo toto město čerstvě navráceno "matičce Číně" mě postupným sledováním zaujal i přesto, že kvalita kopie byla špatná, což má u mnohých vliv i na hodnocení. Soustředil jse se hned od začátku a vnímal proletenec vztahů, kdy i prodejný kluk může zažít skutečnou lásku. Devizou snímku asi nejen pro mě je i to, že v hlavních rolích hrají nádherní herci a hrají výborně, Daniel, Stephen a překrásná Taiwanka Shu Qi, která hraje lesbičku. Rovněž vsuvky vypravěče příběhu byly osvěžením a tak mi celkem vychází ne vynikající, ale nadprůměrné celkové hodnocení ...

Read More

lindo

pensando sobre quão conectadas as pessoas podem estar entre si, como o amor perpassa de pessoa por pessoas e as coisas que ele nos força a fazer. tentar negar quem você é, é uma batalha que se perde mesmo antes de se começar a lutar. se torturar por achar que você não merece algo como o amor é um tipo de autoflagelo que ninguém deveria impor a si mesmo.

bishonen mostra como o mundo pode ser pequeno, mas quão grande pode ser o sentimento humano. estou meio hipnotizado como as relações e encontros humanos são demonstrados, como se tivesse de fato uma linha que está conectando tudo por onde ela passa. o formato como o filme é gravado nos aproxima dos personagens trazendo a sensação de que hora estou andando ao lado deles e outra estou espiando no canto de um cômodo ou observando do outro lado da rua. existe uma individualidade entre cada personagem que nos faz ter empatia por cada luta que eles estão travando, assim como um sentimento de esperança para que o encontro seja uma permanência. sinto que existe uma nuance em um amor comprado e um amor genuíno, e o fato desse amor não se agarrar somente ao romântico, é o que me fez vibrar tanto pelos personagens.

Read More