YNOT at the Movies

Born in 1983, twins Mark and Alex Farley grew up as typical American boys in Montana, until they reach their early teens. Their lives became nothing but typical. The twins are devastated by the difficulties in accepting their sexuality and identity. Fast forward to today, Mark lives with his boyfriend in San Francisco, and Alex becomes Clair living in New York.

This fascinating and personal film reveals the troubled path that Mark and Clair have gone through, and the film tells the story of their struggle to be accepted for who they are after they figure out who they are.

It's a journey no one wants to take, but the twins somehow manage to reach the destination. It's almost like a miracle.

It's remarkable that the filmmakers are able to get the family and the twins to tell their intimate story in great details. Actually, Mark was filmmaker's housemate first, then they become close friends. I certainly appreciate the twins for sharing their sympathetic story with great courage and honesty.

This is a very good documentary that should not be missed.

"Spider Lilies (刺青)" tells a story about awakening old memories and love. Two main characters are seen in this film's posters everywhere. Jade, a 19 years old cheerful web cam girl, is trying to find her lost love when she was 9 years old. Takeko, reserved quiet tattoo artist has a spider lily tattoo on her left arm, which is also what Jade wants. However, Jade is not alone being obsessed with this spider lily tattoo. Takeko's brother is traumatized by the image of spider lilies after an earthquake, but that subplot never takes off the ground.

I know I am seeing a troubling film when those not very interesting subplots can get more attention from me than the main story. Although Jade's character almost makes me believe that she was indeed in love when she was 9 years old (really?), overall this film is not impressive. It needs more development in these character's emotional transitions, and clean up all the unnecessary subplots.

I am not inked myself, and I have lost love and memories as well. After the movie, I still don't think I want a tattoo on my body, it just looks really painful. Besides, I just don't get why the "spider lily" is so significant to these characters in the film except it brings back old memories.

Maybe I should get a tattoo to remember what happened in the film...

Nina returns to Glasgow (in Scotland, I didn't know before the film) after her father died. The family runs an Indian restaurant and she decides to take over and tp compete in a cooking competition. She not only found her childhood memory of her father's cooking, but also love.

This is a light brainless comedy/drama with curry flavor and Scottish accent. It uses cooking as the background for the plot, but the cooking on screen just doesn't cut it, especially if one has seen "Eat Drink Man Woman 饮食男女)." Ok, maybe I am partial on Indian food, they might taste good, but just not very pleasing to look at. Besides the filmmaker borrows the Iron Chef setup straightly into this film, can't the directory come up something original?

So the cooking part didn't quite work out. What to do? The filmmaker throws in queer element to this film. One of the characters is a flamboyant Indian dancer with his equally gay dance partners. The purpose of their existence? I guess so this film can be submitted to Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Ok, so this doesn't work out either to the film, then what about a lesbian screen romance? That might get more people from another group of audience?

I think this film is a mess, although it's definitely better looking than other low budget films. Therefore if one can enjoy the accent (and actually understand what they are saying) and don't mind the cheesy story, they might have a good time. If they watch it in a big theatre with many queer folks, they might just have a great time laughing out loud.

Korean queer drama "No Regret (후회하지 않아) (South Korea 2006, 114 min., shown at Frameline 31) is probably the first Korean film I have seen that exclusively focuses on gay relationship and romance. No, "The King and the Clown" ("왕의 남자") doesn't count.

However, this film doesn't hold up the hype.

In "No Regret," Su-min comes from an orphanage home and tries to survive juggling between jobs and school in Seoul. On the job, he meets a rich guy Jae-min who becomes obsessed with Su-min. But Su-min resents Jae-min's affection and took a job at a local gay brothel being a prostitute. Jae-min won't give up and follow Su-min around until they become love birds on the big screen.

Will they live happily ever after? Of course not! This is not giving you out any spoiler. Remember? This is a Korean drama! So the film goes on to add some twists and crises of their relationship to the story.

But, they just don't add up. Although the actors are quite pleasing on the (gay) eyes, the characters are all single dimensional and viewers will remember their cute faces more than their stories.

The film doesn't really explain why Su-min suddenly changes his heart and takes Jae-min in after his long stubborn refusal. Then Jae-min's behavior seems equally incomprehensible when he is under pressure from his family to get married. The characters in this film are not as innocent as in "Formula 17" ("17 歲的天空"), but just like "Formula 17," they need a dose of intelligence.

That being sad, I still enjoy the sweetness and charm of this film. It's important to see a queer themed film from South Korea to say the least.

Note: This is originally posted on Feb 19, 2007. Back then, I said:

"This film will be perfect for Frameline, and I bet every dollar to claim that it will be included in June at the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival."

And here we have it.

Yu Shou-heng (余守恒) is a hyper active boy who always caused trouble. His teacher pairs him with Kang Zheng-xing (康正行) hoping that he will get some positive influence from Kang Zheng-xing. They grow up together as best friends like shadow to each other, all the way through high school and into college. Gradually, Kang Zheng-xing's feeling for Yu Shou-heng goes beyond friendship, he has to hide his crush toward Yu Shou-heng. Meanwhile, Yu Shou-heng keeps his secret from Kang Zheng-xing as well for dating Hui-jia (惠嘉), a girl who used to date Kang Zheng-xing.

Confused with who is whom? Indeed. I had a hard time to remember who is Yu Shou-heng and who is Kang Zheng-xing when I was watching the film. The actors even sound similar so when a name is called, I don't even know who is calling whom. I would definitely change their names if I first read the script.

I believe many people, including myself, can identify with Kang Zheng-xing. We all fall in love with somebody at some point that we know we shouldn't. That hurts, a lot. But we can't do anything about it, except to endure the emotional torture of longing and disappointing.

Bryant Chang (张睿家) is fantastic playing the reserved Kang Zheng-xing. His expressive performance earned him the honor as the "Best New Performer" at the 43rd Golden Horse Award.

However, the real weakest link of this film is the plot. I think some changes in the adaptation from the original novel contribute to the flaws in the story and these characters.

"Eternal Summer" is directed and produced by a young Taiwanese filmmaker Chen Leste (陈正道), who will be 26 years old on March 3 this week. Hopefully this film's success at the box office will pave the road for him to maker more impressive and better work. I wish he had a better script before he shoot this one.

Note: This is originally posted on Feb 26, 2007

Like Kim's earlier film "The Isle," the story is unfold on a fishing boat in the middle of nowhere. We never see any land during the entire film. An old man lives on the boat raising a young girl since she was very small. He plans to marry her soon on her 17th birthday. They live peacefully and quietly, telling fortunes as a team in a unique way that involves a bow, both an instrument and a weapon. However, when a young man shows up on the boat one day, everything is changed, or is it?

Kim's sui generis elegant style shows all over this film. The color, the music, the cinematography, the performance, and the story just give me exquisite gratification. Once again, the main characters never speak a word, at least we didn't hear a word (they whisper into ears few times). However, words seem unnecessary. The complex relationship between the protagonists is vividly revealed through their eyes and their body language.

I have seen most Kim's film, such as "The Isle (섬)," "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (봄 여름 가을 겨울)," and "3-Iron (빈 집).") But I don't feel repetitive at all when I watch "The Bow (활)." I learn to watch Kim's with an open mind and not to expect where the story will take me, I will probably be wrong anyway. He always has the ability to tell an interesting story.

I am looking forward his next story.