Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageEast Palace, West Palace (1996)
Director: Zhang Yuan
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
The most daring and achieved of all the 'illegal' independent films made in China in the '90s - and quite probably the last, since it prompted the Film Bureau to formally outlaw unauthorised production and confiscate Zhang Yuan's passport. A-Lan, a young gay man, is arrested in a Beijing cruising park and held for overnight interrogation by Shi, a macho but latently ambivalent cop. As he describes his life since childhood and his sexual history, it becomes clear that his stories are actually expressions of his desire for the cop. This realisation makes Shi more aggressive. The film is an intense chamber drama with large resonances: its ultimate implication is that the bond between the people and the authorities in China is essentially a sado-masochist one. This is the closest cinema has ever come to the spirit of Jean Genet, closer even than Genet's own Chant d'amour.Author: TR
Cast & crew
Director: Zhang Yuan
Producer: Zhang Yuan
Cast: Hu Jun, Si Han, Liu Yuxiao, Lu Rong, Ma Wen, Wang Quan full cast
Duration: 94 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Guy Ritchie on ‘RocknRolla’
Wally Hammond talks to Guy Ritchie about his latest film, ‘RocknRolla’ which sees him safely back in his old manor among the familiar carnival of villains, scams and high-octane spills and thrills
Saul Dibb on ‘The Duchess’
Dave Calhoun discovers from director Saul Dibb that his latest, 'The Duchess’ is far from your typical aristos-in-love movie
Classic Film Club
For this new series, every week Tom Huddleston will watch a classic film that he's never seen before.
Opinion: Can George Lucas still make ‘small’ movies?
With the release of animated spin-off 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars', Tom Huddleston wonders whether George Lucas will ever return to his roots.
Marc Forster on the new Bond movie
Dave Calhoun catches up with Marc Forster, the director of ‘Quantum of Solace’, as, in a race against time worthy of his fictional subject, he strives to finish editing the latest in the 007 spy franchise
What do you think?
Post your review now