HKLGFF 2008

It's over, finally. After a week's movie going, I can make a summary on the movies I've watched in the film festival, which I'm very satisfied with.

End of Love (HK) - free preview
A very disappointing movie. I understand the director has a lot of messages that he wants to share with the audiences, but just too much making the movie losing focus. Drug abuse? Family acceptance of being gay? Gay relationship? Gay prostitution? It seems everything's around the subject "gay", but the gay character is not the main point - it's about drug abuse, love relationship, prostitution, trust and understanding. GAY IS JUST NOT THE MAIN POINT IN THIS MOVIE.

Opening movie - Artemisia (Taiwan)
This is a female movie rather than a gay movie. The heroine - the mother Ai - is a very brave woman. Bringing up her 2 children all by herself, that one of them is gay (which is nothing wrong) and the other has an unmarried child (and it's nothing wrong too). The movie illustrates this brave woman faces the traditional Chinese society with two "not that ordinary" children and one innocent grand children with love.

Me ... Myself (Thailand)
I don't think the movie relates to gay or transvesites but so happened Tan is dumped by his lover who happens to be a married man, and he dances in a night club run by transvesites or transsexual people. His love with Oom is so ordinary and the movie is of main stream. I like it very much. BTW, "Tan" is quite a handsome Thai boy =)

Football Undercover (Germany)
It reveals the secret face of Iran's woman life. part of. You can never imagine they simply have no human rights there - they have to wear a hair scarf everywhere they go. I think the most ridiculous thing is football players have to wear long sleeves T-shirts and trousers (not pants) to play the game, even when there is no male in the stadium, not to mention all the political tricks people have played to stop this international friendship game. Girls, treasure your gift of having your say in the society - this is not a must, and at lease women would not supress women here. Thanks God~

Were The World Mine (USA)
What a musical~! I would not comment on the faces of the boys as they really are not my type (regardless they are gay or not), but Timothy (Tanner Cohen) really has a good voice. They portrait "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream" gayly and the result is very good.

Candy Rain (Taiwan)
This is an interesting movie. "One apartment, Four female couples, Eleven girls entangled" - this is the slogan of the movie. Indeed, the world of female love is always so tender while fightings would come in any form - runaway, "cold war", fist fighting ... and the injury it creates is something you cannot imagine. The casting of the movie is very good, especially the innocent U (who looks like Gigi Leung) who portraits a shy tomboy. But the part by Karena Lam is just so-so that I'm a bit disappointed.

Otto; or, Up with Dead People (Germany)
Don't know how to descrive this movie. Cult? Political? Whatever. Through the zombie Otto, I think director Bruce LaBruce wants to strive for ordinary rights for gay people, does he? This is a hilarious movie, a lot of fun scene, especially in one scene, a zomie tears off the body of a man and then that man becomes another zombie and there is a hole in his torn body, and ... that zombie fucked him in the hole of the body ... I couldn'd stop laughly ... loudly.

Closing Movie - I can't think straight (UK)
I rushed to the movie after class, and I was rewarded. Although the movie is kind of a "fairy tale" that the families and people around the 2 gorgeous girls can easily accept their sexual orientation, but the 2 girls are really ... charming. Tala is a very sexy woman and I'm sure even straight woman would easily fall for her. Leyla is a very talented shy girl but she turns out to be very truthful to her love - Tala. She is so brave to come out and fight for her love. I like this movie that it gave me a warm sweet dream~