East Palace, West Palace (1996) User Reviews

Interesting power struggle in Modern day China

[Havan_IronOak · 6/10 · 22 July 2001]

East Palace West Palace focuses on the nightlong interrogation of A Lan, a Chinese gay man `arrested' by Hu Jun, a policeman, in a park. In this case A Lan was picked up earlier in the day and let go by the officer. Unlike the others who have commented on this film, I think that the main plot point is that Hu Jun is attracted to A Lan from the very beginning and is trying to understand his own feelings as he asks his prisoner questions. As evidenced by the kiss that A Lan gives the officer when he is first let go, I think that the A Lan knows as well.

This movie moves slowly and is only really interesting if you buy into this psychological premise. I don't see the self-loathing that others seem to see in this film and was fascinated as the power struggle between the two men was waged. One had the full weight and power of the law on his side, the other had desire and sexual attraction.

Confessions of an Infatuated Gay Writer in Beijing

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 1 January 2008]

In Beijing, gays have hidden sexual encounters in a park during the night and are severely repressed by the police. The writer A Lan (Si Han) is arrested by the policeman Xiao Shi (Jun Hu) and along the whole night, he is interrogated, disclosing his hard life-story since he was a child and his crush on Xiao Shi.

"Dong Gong Xi Gong" could be called confessions of an infatuated gay writer in Beijing. This film is bald and in accordance with the information on the cover of the VHS, "it is the first Chinese movie assumed gay, success in whole world… forbidden in China". The theatrical story is well acted by Si Han and Jun Hu. In accordance with the opinion of some IMDb reviewers, this film would be a metaphor of the repressive situation in China, but is it? I do not agree with this intellectualized interpretation, and in my opinion, it is a simple and well acted gay romance, better and better than the famous "Broke Back Mountain". My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Outro Lado da Cidade Proibida" ("The Other Side of the Forbidden City")

Behind The Forbidden City

[lasttimeisaw · 6/10 · 15 March 2011]

It's my second time watching this film, the first time was almost 10 years ago. Still this gay- theme film remains to be shocking and controversial at the same times.

For the pros, I love its poetic atmosphere from its cinematography, lightning arrangement and the limited setting made it close to a play; and theme-aside, Yuan Zhang's directional abilities continue to surface from this film, the main scene is a small police office in Beijing where there is a fierce confrontation between a camp gay writer and a night-patrol policeman, which narrates the story of the life of the gay man. Usually I feel antipathetic against groups stereotyping as in this case, not every gay is campy, nevertheless in the film with its narrative novelty, it evolves into something could be perceive as some kind of funny performance art.

For the cons, the intrusions of Chinese opera are functionally essential but visually redundant. Judging from the conversations (especially from the policeman, a boring performance from Jun Hu), the director stands firmly as an outsider with some detectable mocking attitude, which damages the visceral influence to some extent.

A Chinese film explicit exploring of gay world in 1996 itself could be concluded as a both adventurous and smart strategy, although I don't like the film as a whole, it did help Yuan Zhang establish his status as an avant-garde Chinese director, who later films like GREEN TEA (2003), I Love You (2003) and Little Red Flowers (2006) are more mainstream and carry his own trademark, a superior feeling towards his objects (un unmarried master-degree female, the monomaniac struggle between a young married couple, the kindergarten children respectively).

P.S. - The film is adapted from a short story by the late Chinese novelist Xiaobo Wang, which I haven't read yet.

Check your labels in at the door, please.

[thisisavi · 5 June 2004]

'East Palace, West Palace' is a film that's immeasurably diminished, indeed misunderstood, if it's labeled a gay film.

Certainly, 'East Palace, West Palace' explores issues related to the gay experience. But that's the first, and indeed facile, layer. There are more.

In its context, it poses a society in transition. It explores the constructs of power, of state machinery, and how institutions and ideas past their prime can dehumanize both parties, victims as well as perpetrators.

The film has moments of lyrical and almost escapist beauty, leaving no room for the claustrophobia that the plot construct could easily have engendered. Visually and verbally, poetry in a police station makes for near-surreal surprises.

As it builds, the film undergoes sudden shifts, rising much above comment on the politics of desire. Instead, it begins to underline the politics of politics itself. The rights being debated in that one night in the police station have much more to do with the right to freedom, the right to self-expression, the right to identity, than to do with the right to cruise in parks.

In a lot of issue-based cinema, marginalization affects both parties equally. Both the person wielding the stick and the person encountering the stick get trapped in their predefined roles. Not so in 'East Palace, West Palace'. In the dialectic between the two protagonists, there can be no clear lines drawn between the powerful and the overpowered, the loving and the loved.

Intensely abstract, and, simultaneously, intensely personal. That's how 'East Palace, West Palace' succeeds for me.

As a gay man who'd expected to see yet another gay film, I should've checked my labels in at the door.

Artistic depiction of one gay man's life in 1990s China

[chong_an · 6/10 · 21 August 2022]

At a park where gays cruise for sex, police routinely harass them but can't actually charge them for a crime, even when confronted with "regulars". One is young writer A-Lan, who is picked up one night and spends until daybreak telling the sole policeman his life story. Interspersed with flashbacks, and also illustrations using Chinese opera (which I doubt is part of any actual opera). There is also a question as to how much of the story is true, and how much is his writer's imagination.

A-Lan keeps falling in love with handsome / taller / dominant men, and is happy to be sexually used and physically abused. It is not clear if any of his love objects actually self-identify as gay. However, A-Lan not only identifies as gay, but also has a gender fluidity with regards to those he loves, telling them to "treat me like a girl".

The Chinese opera depictions are interesting, but other things disappoint. It seems unlikely that a house with a suite of rooms is occupied by only one policeman, even overnight. Also, A-Lan's wife is mentioned but not explained.

This is a very unflattering depiction of one gay man's life in China, which could be generalized to all gay life in China of the period. Interestingly the film was banned in China for its gay subject matter, but China should have distributed it widely to warn against "going gay" by using this as a warning example.

DEMORALIZING ...somewhat disturbing and overall pointless

[JJ-Chi · 3/10 · 22 February 2021]

Just because this movie was banned in China does not mean it is something meaningful that needs to be seen. It is simply not very good. The main gay character was interesting and sympathetic in the beginning; then turns out to be a sad & pathetic basket case that I would want to stay far away from!! It went from Good to Bad to Worse.

I'm giving this movie some credit for "effort" but giving this film anything higher would be (I feel) an insult to many other good LGBT films. I found the portrayal of the gay character very offensive!! What was the point here? To imply that gay men are obsessed with seducing and corrupting their law-abiding hetero counterparts? Or that they have so little respect they will endure (almost welcome) abuse and humiliation at any cost simply to get some affection? ...like dog that is beaten and abused by his maser; he will still stay and try to please. JUST SAD!!

Since this is supposedly the first "gay" film out of China, and 25 years old ...I only hope this mess can be used to gauge/compare future films; to show how film making (and possibly Chinese society) has improved.

Fascinating and very well-made

[davidals · 8/10 · 8 July 2003]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

I was able to catch this on the Sundance channel in June and was very pleasantly surprised. The cinematography is often stunning - this is a gorgeous film, and I found the two primary characters to be fascinating.

My knowledge of gay culture and politics in China is only secondhand, but I did see this film as very allegorical - with the police officer (the official or institutional center of power and control) being confronted with the dignity and self-assurance of the gay man he is interrogating (who represents a cultural or generational shift that is inevitable, gradually emergent, and can no longer be ignored, abused or taken for granted). The gay character is well aware of the value in his own life, which gives him the upper hand emotionally, even (or especially) when he declares his love for his increasingly conflicted captor - the seemingly submissive character in subtle ways manages to control and ultimately hijack the dynamics in this relationship.

In this fashion EAST PALACE WEST PALACE appropriates gay stereotypes that are often exploited in a more regressive fashion, and uses them in subtle but subversive ways to make fascinating, progressive and quite radical (non-gay-specific) social commentary. A gorgeous, fascinating, complex film that deserves a wider audience.

Tortured gay life in China--hard to relate to

[alanjj · 4/10 · 3 January 2004]

East Palace, West Palace reminded me somewhat of The Detective, with Frank Sinatra in the role of the cop, and William Windom is the boy. It's a progressive film for China, I guess, but it also perpetuates myths about the femininity of gay men: much is made of Chinese myths in which men take on female roles. The movie focuses on an effeminate man who wants desperately to be dominated and hurt by a macho guy. He cruises the park without fear--he hopes to be taken into the stationhouse by the officer. And that in fact happens. Then he tells the officer his entire life story while being subjected to mild torture: made to squat for a period of time, handcuffed, slapped. This is what the gay man wants, and, implicitly, the gay man is challenging the cop's self-image as a manly man. The story's about the gay man's life (which include flashbacks) are tolerable, but when he starts describing old Chinese myths and dramatic works, the movie becomes unbearable. It becomes a cry of pity for China's gays, who only want to fulfill a traditional role in Chinese society. Sorry, I can't relate.

Taut Psychological Drama

[B24 · 10/10 · 15 July 2006]

For anyone who views understatement in cinema as dull, this is not the film to see. Every line, every angle, every event are introduced almost as if the viewer were in the same room with the actors, or at least on the edges looking in closely. Even its more melodramatic moments seem controlled, almost introspective.

The classical unities of stage drama hold sway here. Like the latter scenes in the film "Bent," there is a sexual tension that merges with a political theme. Ultimately that demonstrates freedom exercised in the face of tyranny. While I think it would be too limiting to emphasize either one or the other of these two elements, as some of the few comments here have stated or implied, any perceptive viewer is likely to come away with a feeling of frustration. And that is as it should be. It is a hallmark of any good story, cinematic or otherwise, to engage the imagination of a viewer or reader so as to elicit more questions than answers.

This is a movie that could just as well be a play acted in a small theater, a short story from the pages of a literary magazine, or a reality show played out before a psychology class. A small gem.

Momentarily intriguing

[Davalon-Davalon · 4/10 · 29 October 2018]

The setting, the music and the story weave together to create a slightly hypnotic film. There are only two characters to speak of, the police officer and the young man who trolls the park in search of connecting with others like him.

The officer arrests the young man fairly early in the story and takes him back to "headquarters," where, for the rest of the film, the young man tells his story about how he came to be who he is. This is sometimes done with flashbacks, most which seemed a bit awkward, obvious, forced or disturbing.

The film starts to bog down in the middle and both of the characters begin to wear down on the viewer. The police offers seems fascinated and revulsed by the young man and can only scream at him hysterically, rough him up, or stare at him with a mixture of brooding sexuality, curiosity, despair or some kind of hidden attraction. The young man, on the other hand, seems compelled to tell the police officer the story of his life, whether or not the police officer wants to hear it.

Then, only after the police officer forces the young man to dress up as a woman is he capable of allowing the young man to caress him. This all leads to some sort of hinted at sexual experience that does not seem to end well and the young man wanders off in the dawn, either tragically broken by the experience or soon to explore a new one, it's hard to tell.

The filmmaker tried to cover a lot of ground, and some of it can be appreciated. The main thing I took away from this is: why is it so difficult to allow same-sex people to love each other? When they are continually pushed to the edge of society, what do people think they'll do? They naturally seek each other out, desperate to make a human connection. And for that, they are unmercifully punished and arrested.

This is certainly one of the points the filmmaker wanted to make and he made it loud and clear. But I think he could have done so without resorting to what amounts to a bizarre BDSM/cross-dressing/tragic childhood memory device. But it may be that this experience is/was not so uncommon.

I really hope that now, more than 20 years after this film was made, gay people have more ease of meeting, connecting and establishing relationships. For the tortured young man in this movie and the deeply confused policeman, I don't think that ever happened; as such, one is left with a feeling of deep hopelessness after the end of the film. I will not be revisiting this, that is for sure.

the metaphor of subordination in East Palace West Palace

[singh · 10/10 · 8 May 1999]

East Palace West Palace is an excellent film for its subtle attention to the relation of power and subordination in modern China. Set in present day Bejing, it boldly shirks the trend of the "fifth-generation" Chinese directors to ignore contemporary issues. Among the more daring of those films, To Live and The Blue Kite presented us with the dehumanization on which China's current population was founded; EPWP explores the inhumanity it faces now.

The main characters evince the respective macrocosms of the subordinated Chinese civilian populace and its privileged oppressors. A Lan is a gay man, rounded up in a park near the Forbidden City by Xiao Shi, a police officer. The plot involves A Lan's night-long interrogation, involving flashbacks of his hard life. The film is not sympathetic to homosexuality, despite its casual screenings at gay festivals, exuberant to find identification in a foreign culture. Rather, it uses homosexuality as a portrayal of weakness and subordination, to a powerful end. The film's telling message resides in a philosophy I've explored in the writings of Gandhi and James Joyce--that a repressed society is always in someway responsible for its own domination. Xiao Shi finds A Lan's homosexuality reprehensible, but the detached, scrawny, weak A Lan eventually falls in "love" with him. In China, everyone is in some way a catamite of state power. As A Lan has been arrested for the night, so the Chinese have been ensnared in a dark age. As dawn approaches, the film builds to a confusing, frightful, bitter, and ultimately moving catharsis. It is not afraid to look forward, into the rising sun.

Powerful in meaning, gentle in tone

[anderzzz-1 · 9/10 · 18 November 2006]

This film uses very simple means to tell its powerful story. I am very found of films which do exactly this, that composes a story with emotions in a condensed way that does not preach to you, that does not tell you in bad taste how to feel, but that still moves you, not only in the theater, but also later on.

I am sure that this film can evoke mixed emotions. Because as a viewer we may want one of the characters to be the victim, we may want him to be the one at the bottom which should fight, take the battle and overcome his oppressor. But that is not how the story is told. For those of you who know Genet and have read Genet's stories, you will know the ambiguity that can be given to the oppressor/victim relation. And how full of meaning and emotions a single object or moment can be.

So if you have read Genet and liked it, you will like this film. But be warned, if you are expecting a story which delivers a story about poor gay men in less fortunate countries, you will be challenged, not to think the other way around, however, rather to view the world in more than one dimension.

rather surpirsed

[akon5 · 10/10 · 20 May 2003]

SPOILERS I was surpirsed to see not many liked this film for I personally really loved it. The directing was well done and the dialogs is excellent. The struggle within the police is evident. The movie is devided in three acts. First being an introduction and setting of premises. Second is a character study of the main character why showing secondary qualities of the police. Third is the struggle of this new understanding/knowledge and the conflict between the two characters. The script was written cleverly and reminds me sort of the script of the 'crying game'; with plenty of dialogs and tension. This film is a must see, but only if you have an open mind and a love to films.

Excruciatingly boring, dull

[harry-77 · 13 February 2000]

I understand this film was banned in China because it deals with homosexuality. I prefer to think that it was banned because it could bore its audiences to death. Basically the story of a frustrated and screwed-up little Chinese queen who falls for a policeman who arrests him for cruising the park, this attempt at a movie is badly directed, incredible badly edited, static to the point of being a series of still pictures at times, with actors who maintain a single expression and have little to make one feel sympathy for them. Good grief... I sat through it though my hand itched to fast-forward to the end of this dreary exercise in movie-making. Skip this one...

Better Than Brokeback Mountain

[arthur_tafero · 8/10 · 5 October 2018]

This haunting Chinese film is multi-texured. It is not just about being gay; it examines the very fabric of Chinese society in Beijing, which pretty much represents Chinese society in just about every city in China. It makes a strong political .statement without being political. It makes a strong social statement about those who are judgmental about gay men and their chosen lifestyle. And most of all; it humanizes a gay man. This man is far more in touch with his feelings than is his inquisitor. In my opinion, this film is better than Brokeback Mountain, but not quite as good as Philadephia and The Boys in the Band, the two best films ever made on gay lifestyles, and which humanize their protagonists, rather than sensationalize them. I can recommend this film as a unique cinematic experience.