Must-Watch Asian LGBTQ+ Movies For Lunar New Year
Entertainment
Being Asian and LGBTQ+ can be challenging, especially during Lunar (Chinese) New Year, when celebrating with traditional families. Although some parts of Asia, like Taiwan, are seeing greater LGBTQ+ progress, many queer people of Asian descent continue to hide their identity, to avoid scrutiny, suffering, and discrimination. Here are some must-watch movies that explore the struggles that many Asian LGBTQ+ people face around the world.
Saving Face (2004)
Saving Face is an early Asian-American classic, exploring the intersectionality of being a minority in a marginalized community. A Chinese American lesbian and her traditionalist mother are reluctant to go public about secret loves that clash against cultural expectations. Closeted Asian American surgeon Wil falls for openly gay ballerina Vivian, but their relationship is complicated when her widowed mother gets pregnant and kicked out from her own traditional parents' house. Alice Wu's GLAAD Award-nominated directorial debut was produced by Will Smith’s company.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
This groundbreaking 2022 movie is on the receiving end of dozens of award nominations this year, and for good reason. Blending genres of intense action, bizarre comedy, complex sci-fi and family-oriented drama, this film even has time to focus on coming out and associated stigma of shame attached to identifying as LGBTQ+ to older family members.
The story follows Evelyn Quan Yang (Michelle Yeoh) as an overworked, stressed mother who finds herself in a universe-bending scenario. But the heart of the story comes in the form of her relationship with queer daughter, Joy. A must-watch for fans of both action and queer drama.
Happy Together (1997)
In this Asian cinema classic, a Hong Kong couple head to Argentina seeking a better life and to mend their tumultuous relationship. It follows the turbulent relationship between Ho and Lai and their visit to Buenos Aires in search of the Iguazu Falls. Through a series of increasingly abusive breakups and reconciliations, Ho goes on his own personal journey, and the two men eventually drift apart, with Lai befriending another man, Chang. Ho and Lai struggle with their own demons far away from home in a series of quiet, beautifully shot scenes. Directed by Wong Kar Wai this dreamy and colorful film is one of the most well-known Asian LGBTQ+ movies.
Ethan Mao (2004)
Written and directed by Quentin Lee, this award-winning drama-thriller is about a gay Asian American teenager, Ethan Mao. The low-budget indie film focuses on Ethan, who turns to prostitution after being kicked out by his homophobic father. He returns to his family home on Thanksgiving with his partner-in-crime Remigio to steal his late mother’s necklace. But when they get caught by his disapproving family, Ethan takes his father, stepmother, and siblings hostage. The film is full of lots of humor, suspense, and a surprise ending.
Your Name Engraved Herein (2020)
Set during the end of martial law in 1980s in Taiwan, two male students – Jia Han and Wang Bo To (known as Birdy) – fall in love while dealing with the struggles of family pressure, homophobia, and social stigma during a time of social upheaval. This coming-of-age tale explores love, homophobia, and family pressures as their relationship develops. The movie is said to be the country’s top-grossing LGBTQ+-themed film in Taiwan’s history. It went on to receive five Golden Horse Award nominations and was a great tribute to Taiwan’s legalization of same-sex marriage, which happened less than a year before the film’s release.
The Handmaiden (2016)
Set in 1930s Korea, during the Japanese occupation, a young Korean woman named Sook-Hee is hired as a handmaiden for Lady Hideko, a Japanese heiress who lives a secluded life with her domineering uncle. Sook-Hee is secretly plotting with a conman under the alias Count Fujiwara who plans to seduce Lady Hideko, marry her for her inheritance, and then abandon her at an asylum for the mentally-disturbed. But Sook-Hee unexpectedly develops feelings toward Lady Hideko and the story takes an unexpected turn. Directed by Park Chan-wook, this erotic psychological thriller film is inspired by a 2002 novel Fingersmith, written by British author Sarah Waters.
The Wedding Banquet (1993)
Two Weddings and a Funeral (2012)
This rom-com tells the story of hospital doctors Min-soo and Hyo-jin, who are both in same-sex relationships. Min-soo is dating his partner Suk, while Hyo-jin and her partner of 10 years Seo-yeong, and both are dreaming of adopting a child together. Their solution? Help each other through a fake marriage by pretending to be a heterosexual couple to enjoy the benefits that supposed "normal" couples do, and ward off public scrutiny. Everything goes well at first, until Min-soo's parents begin to get suspicious of the four of them.
Fathers (2016)
This movie explores the realities of LGBTQ+ parents in Thailand. Phoon and Yuke, a same-sex couple, have been together for 13 years, are raising their adoptive child Butr, who was abandoned at birth. When Butr begins to attend school, he's made fun of by other children for not having a mother and this leads him to question his fathers. Butr begins acting out at school, only for the Children's Right Protection Organization to become involved with the family leading to tensions rising in the small family to do what's best for their son even if it costs them their happiness. Director Palatpol Mingpornpichit examines the legalities and complexities of what it’s like to be in a gay marriage and raising a child as an LGBTQ+ couple, in Thailand.
Twilight's Kiss/Suk Suk (2019)
Twilight's Kiss, or Suk Suk (Uncle Uncle), features the love affair of two closeted, respectable gay men in their twilight years. Unlike most LGBTQ+ films that feature a younger stars, struggling with their identity, Suk Suk centers around the lives of two elderly men. Pak, a 70-year-old taxi driver, and Hoi, a 65-year-old single father, have spent their lives hiding their true sexualities from their respective families. While they both yearn to love openly, they are proud of the children and families they have worked hard to build, and the film shows many touching moments between two men finding love in the last decades of their lives. The film, inspired by 2014's non-fiction book Oral History of Older Gay Men in Hong Kong, reflects on the societal pressures that queer individuals have to face in Asian societies, which often results in them having to hide their authentic selves to avoid scrutiny.
Blue Gate Crossing (2002)
Unlike most Taiwanese LGBTQ+-themed films, which largely focus on gay men, Blue Gate Crossing is a coming-of-age lesbian drama. Lin Yueh-chen wants to date an athlete on the swim team, but she’s too shy to talk to him. Her bolder friend, Meng Ke-rou, agrees to help set her up. The plan backfires into a love triangle when the boy asks Ke-rou out instead. Although she’s confused about her sexuality, Ke-rou goes along with the relationship, realizing that she’s actually in love with Yueh-chen. The film from Yee Chih-yen, who also directed LGBTQ+ movie Lonely Hearts Club, is another bitter-sweet story touching on adulthood, loneliness, and love.
Keep up to date with the latest myGnews
