Bishonen (1998)

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 :)

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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!

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