Lan Yu
Strand Releasing | Release Date: July 26, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
9
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The GuardianRyan Gilbey
It remains among the strongest of the wave of gay-themed Chinese features from the late-20th and early-21st century (along with Fish and Elephant and East Palace, West Palace), elegantly interleaving its social and political commentary. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
This is a beautiful, moving picture about a love affair between two very different Chinese men. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyDavid Chute
The complex narrative counterpoint is anchored by a rock-solid performance by one of the world's great actors, the Beijing theater veteran Hu Jun. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Assured, vital and well wrought, the film is, arguably, the most accomplished work to date from Hong Kong's versatile Stanley Kwan. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
It's not often that Chinese cinema tackles same-sex relationships, and rarer still to see a film of such stark, muted emotion coming from mainland China. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
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. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
It's really just old- fashioned melodrama, dressed up with lustrous cinematography and a few nods to history. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Ray Conlogue
It's a good film. But its exotic allure may lead some to mistake it for a great one. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
What will really shock Western viewers are the luxurious trappings of Handong's world: The tailored suits, Mercedes Benz and expensive Japanese sushi bars have little to do with age-old perceptions of the PRC. Read full review
63
Chicago TribunePatrick Z. McGavin
Wong Kar-wai made a much more dynamic film, "Happy Together," five years ago. Lan Yu suffers by comparison. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The connection between Hu and Liu seems more scripted than real, founded on musty allegorical clichés about innocent country folk and corrupt city slickers. Read full review
60
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Lan Yu is 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. Read full review
60
Film ThreatChris Gore
This delicately observed story, deeply felt and masterfully stylized, is a triumph for its maverick director. Read full review
60
New Times (L.A.)Andy Klein
Filled with sharp observations and interesting, often subtle, bits of visual trickery, much of it evoking the technique of Douglas Sirk's American domestic melodramas. Still, the very simple story seems too simple and the working out of the plot almost arbitrary. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
Deserves high marks for political courage but barely gets by on its artistic merits. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
With its scenes of full-frontal nudity and its references to the Tiananmen Square protests, Lan Yu may be a breakthrough film for China, but it's well-trod territory for American viewers. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
This well-directed Hong Kong drama is at its best when it captures the casual affection that grows between the main characters. It also touches on important Chinese social and political themes, but Kwan understates these so sketchily that they build little psychological power. Read full review
50
VarietyDavid Stratton
Might spark controversy in mainland China, not only because it deals with a homosexual relationship between a member of the Chinese establishment and a peasant, but also because it touches on events such as the 1989 massacre in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. However, pic is unlikely to raise eyebrows anywhere else. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
For all of its careful realism, Lan Yu is constructed around clichés, plummeting toward a modestly heroic sacrifice and a tearjerking act of fate. But Kwan is a master of shadow, quietude, and room noise, and Lan Yu is a disarmingly lived-in movie. Read full review
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