Malaysia's first gay film is a ntroversial h | Film | The Guardian

Contents:

• 10 GREAT GAY FILMS OM EAST AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA
• MALAYSIA'S FIRST GAY FILM IS A NTROVERSIAL H
• MALAYSIA’S 1ST GAY FILM MAK PROF 5 DAYS
• MALAYSIA'S FIRST GAY MOVIE TO TT PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE

10 GREAT GAY FILMS OM EAST AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA

Both also turned to Taiwan, one of the most LGBTQ-iendly untri Asia, to release films that uld not be screened straight-laced Malaysia, where gay and transgenr activy rema taboo topics. Take a look at the bt gay films om Cha, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, the Philipp and Thailand. Gay rights, and reprentatn of gay men on screen, vary hugely om untry to untry, offerg a rich diversy of fascatg movi.

If east and south-east Asian films about gay men rarely make to DVD, films about lbians are rarer still. We hope that, wh classic lbian tl beg creasgly succsful, albe at a shamefully slow rate, a future list on gay female east Asian films will appear the future.

The bananas plot is pure mp: transvte performer Eddie (played by Peter, later the fool  Akira Kurosawa’s Ran (1985)) strik up a fierce rivalry wh another drag queen Shju Ni-chōme, Tokyo’s gay ghetto. Eddie tri to fet harrowg memori of killg his mother – and anyone who knows their Greek tragedy will send-gus the inty of the manager of a gay bar wh whom he then shacks up. A direct fluence on Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971), Funeral Para of Ros gleefully subverts all notn of rpectabily, givg the viewer an unashamed snapshot of 1960s Japane gay subculture on the way, as queers Tokyo speak their mds to the mera.

MALAYSIA'S FIRST GAY FILM IS A NTROVERSIAL H

Farewell My Concube (1993)The unrequed gay love story at the heart of Chen Kaige’s Palme d’Or-wng masterpiece is often overlooked, wh crics ncentratg their admiratn on the credibly amb spe of the film, takg over half a century of Che history.

East Palace, Wt Palace (1996)Power play is a major theme of this tense drama, which a gay man is apprehend while cisg a park and spends the night a police statn unr the stern eye of the arrtg officer.

When the officer releas the gay man om ctody, he ref to leave, and thgs tak turn for the twisted. Optg to e a gay man to symbolise ee spirs and a possibly homosexual guard to reprent Che thory was a risky move, plited by the former’s sado-masochistic claratn of love for his ptor. The tle is a reference to the parks flankg the Forbidn Cy, popular cisg grounds for Beijg’s gay men.

MALAYSIA’S 1ST GAY FILM MAK PROF 5 DAYS

Happy Together (1997)This is one of the olt gay films ever ma, a vivid and exhilaratg pictn of two men om Hong Kong – Lai (Tony Lng) and Ho (Llie Chng) – an tense on-aga-off-aga relatnship, who travel to Argenta to vis Iguazu Falls, but end up repeatg the cycle of fily and celty. After yet another break-up, Lai meets the handsome and possibly gay Chang, whose iendship jolts Lai to facg up to his rponsibili, and offers a chance of happs and remptn.

Gohatto (1999)‘Gohatto’ means ‘taboo’ Japane, and here the forbidn subject is homosexualy. Although homosexualy is forbidn, he immediately aro the attentn of his fellow warrrs, cludg the stern vice-manr (Takhi Kano). Unorthodox erotic obssn permeat the bt-known works of Nagisa Oshima, notably the ultra-ntroversial Ai no rrida (1976), wh s graphic scen of unsimulated sex, and the homoerotic atmosphere of the prison mp  Merry Christmas, Mr.

It’s unclear the story whether Hana is a cross-drsg gay man or a trans woman. Homosexual them suffe much of his work (Weerasethakul is gay himself), maniftg as out and out mp the outrageo The Adventure of Iron Psy (2003).

MALAYSIA'S FIRST GAY MOVIE TO TT PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE

But bt of all is Tropil Malady, one of the most mmerisg and surreal gay love stori ever told. The Blossomg of Maximo Oliveros (2005)A gay Filipo kid wh a penchant for drag is the subject of Auras Solo’s funny but grty g-of-age film.