Of the four semi-Chinese films that were in competition at Cannes, this was the one I least expected to pick up something. But Cannes was certainly odd this year, with all 20 competition films having directors that had been to Cannes before, and I guess anything could happen when in such a situation. One of Soldier Sortie’s (most popular tv drama in China in the past five years) cast members was in this film, and another cast member had cheered him on in his blog, saying that he was sure the film would take home a prize. I had thought that was stupid to say, but I guess he was right. It’s too bad that Ang Lee didn’t win the Palme d’Or for Taking Woodstock because then he would have taken home all the most prestigious film festival awards. Top prize instead went to Austria’s White Ribbon.
Too lazy to post up all the pictures (Shu Qi started looked happy towards the end of the festival!) but you can check it out at Sina’s Cannes site.
While I agree with Oj, and feel like a lot of Chinese movies in the past were directly marketed towards the west with “Banned in China” printed on their DVDs (Joan Chen comes to mind), I wouldn’t say Luo Ye falls into that category.
You’re right eleveneleven, I’m pretty happy Taiwan is stepping up in that area, because otherwise there wouldn’t be very much in the way of gay Chinese movies. China has gay characters, like the guy in If You Are the One, and the director in Ugly Wudi, but nothing that goes really deep.
I hope that there can be a Chinese movie that can have gay main characters, and acknowledges the discrimination they face in today’s society, but at the same time, not dwell on it for art’s sake. Something like Imagine Me and You, a British film with Piper Perabo and Lena Heady. That was such a good film that was more a love story than “a gay movie”.
“banned in China” is a great marketing strategy that guarantees attention and interest of westerners.
oh, sorry, i didn’t notice the link. thanks a lot for the info! :D
homosexuality is in dire need to be more accepted ‘openly’ in chinese society.
i’m not sure but it seems to be something that is present (or suggested) in areas of the entertainment circle but would unfortunately never be exposed or even acknowledged.
a popular movie or drama would help the lgbt community so much. it’s good to see that recent films from taiwan (drifting flowers, candy rain etc) have contributed positively.
In the previous post on Cannes I think I have a link to the Variety review which sums it up – gay affair, that leads to another gay affair.
I don’t know if it’s banned in China actually. I doubt anyone would really openly hate on something that an alumni of Soldier Sortie stars in, because everyone loves Soldier Sortie and this movie is in the news all the time at Sina and Sohu, etc. and you’ve got other Soldier Sortie alumni cheering it on.
What is banned is Luo Ye, for Summer Palace, because that was set around Tiananmen 89 and SARFT was reviewing it, and he submitted it to Cannes before they were done reviewing. So he couldn’t make movies for 5 years afterwards.
I haven’t heard of anything about their views towards him making this particular movie though.
It’s interesting…even though Summer Palace was supposed to be taboo, his actors became a lot more famous after that, so maybe Spring Fever’s actors will be more famous now too. I hope so – Qin Hao is really, really hot in that indie kind of way, and I liked the way he talked about playing someone gay when Sina interviewed him at Cannes.
Ang Lee does have a huge range when it comes to his art but it’s always such a pleasure to re-watch his earlier works like the wedding banquet. Sure, countless people want him to go back to that genre but..dunno…times have changed and he has changed.
I was just wondering, what is Spring Fever about and why is it banned in china?