#taiwanese new cinema

[shihlun]

HOU Hsiao-hsien in Edward YANG's "Taipei Story" (1985)

[annoyingthemesong]

SUBLIME CINEMA #656 - YI YI

I've admired Edward Yang a long time for his haunting film 'The Terrorizers', but Yi Yi is even more refined, and a total masterpiece.

Beautifully rendered by Wei-Han Yang, Yang's cinematographer on the equally great 'Taipei Story'.

[firelise]

Film & TV I Think About A Lot » Your Name Engraved Herein (2020) dir. Kuang-Hui Liu

"Maybe more people would understand me in hell. Make it easy for me and help me go to hell."

[honeygleam]

that day, on the beach (1983) dir. edward yang

[thumblurmoviezzz]

The sun will rise again tomorrow. A lively soul is never stifled by a fart, right?

"And I'd rather go on hearing your lies than to go on living without you" - Are You Lonesome Tonight?

The thing about life is that no one taught you the right way to do it.

🎞 A Brighter Summer Day (1991)

🎬 Chang Hui-kung; Li Long-yu

[gifmovie]

[cinemaronin]

Growing Up (1983)

小畢的故事 Growing Up (1983) directed by Chen Kun-Hou

[astolfocinema]

Taipei Story (1985) --------------------- dir. Edward Yang cin. Yang Wei-han cou. Taiwan

[dgspeaks]

Sundance Film Festival: Asia 2024 Brings Global Talent to Taipei

The 2024 Sundance Film Festival: Asia is set to captivate audiences with an exciting lineup of films and shorts, showcasing a diverse range of stories from around the globe. Running from August 21 to 25 at SPOT-Huashan in Taipei, Taiwan, the festival promises a rich cinematic experience that highlights the innovative spirit of independent filmmaking. A Diverse Array of Films The festival will…

[notesonfilm1]

Thinking Aloud About Film: Out Of The Blue ((Chen Kun-Hou, Taiwan, 1983)

We continue our discussion of the GOLDEN DECADES: CINEMATIC MASTERS OF THE GOLDEN HORSE AWARDS with a chat on OUT OF THE BLUE (Chen Kun-Hou, Taiwan, 1983). OUT OF THE BLUE is a  fascinating film to discuss in relation to all our previous podcasts on Taiwanese Cinema and Hou Hsiao-hsien; a film directed by Chen Kun-hou, the cinematographer on Hou Hsiao-hsien’s early films such as THE GREEN, GREEN…

[waitmyturtles]

The new Billkin and PP Krit project, “The Red Envelope,” has been announced by studio GDH. It will be a Thai remake of the Taiwanese film “Marry My Dead Body” (which was awesome, btw):

Machine-translation as follows:

GDH announced that it joined hands with Billkin Entertainment and PP Krit Entertainment to launch Project Red, which was the first meeting on the screen of Bukin-Puttipong and PP-Krit until it received a lot of attention.

Leading to the first official movie title.

With 'The Red Envelope' (The Red Envelope), a remake of the popular Taiwanese movie 'Marry My Dead Body', which is highly successful in many countries around the world. which has bought the movie rights from Calendar Studios Company Limited

Which this time will be reinterpreted to be fun and different.

In the style of producer Tong-Banjong Pisanthanakul from P' Mak.. Phra Khanong and a skilled director like Moo-Chayonop Boonpraphap who used to leave his work in FRIEND ZONE, be careful.. End of the friend's way

Prepare to receive a red envelope of surprise along with 'Red Envelope with a ghost' early next year in the cinema.

[shihlun]

Edward Yang

- Taipei Story

1985

Kiyoshi Kurosawa

- License to Live

1999

[absolutebl]

Top 10 Best BLs on Gagaoolala

My Beautiful Man AKA Utsukushii Kare

Japan 2021

One of the most Japanese BLs to release in the last decade, as weird and as messed up as any 2000s yaoi: emo af and hella warped, entirely true to itself with no attempt made to modify its POV for modern sensibilities or current BL fandom. It used seriously old school problematic and kinky tropes, like whipping boy, for a truly uncompromising piece that also manages to hit up themes of communication, consent, and self acceptance. It’s a wonderful BL but uniquely dirty and harsh, in the best possible way - Japanese cinema, uncompromising.

I lost my ever loving mind over the ending. This show won the Grand Prix “My Best TV Award” at the 16th Galaxy Awards.

Minato's Laundromat AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry

Japan 2022

A classic age gap romance where a high school student pursues the man of his dreams (who runs a laundromat). This BL is so steeped in yaoi nostalgia, not to mention a classic romance arc, that it will overload some, but those of us who love this genre for its DNA will adore it. It made me very happy because it did everything I want a BL to do - there’s not much more I could ask of a show than this. It’s the closest Japan has come to perfect live action yaoi since Seven Days (and I never make that comparison lightly).

Squee watch-along here.

My Ride

Thai 2022

Thai BL grew up with this pulp (the first ever to make my end of year top 10). It’s a truly lovely and special little show featuring the extremely rare pairing of sunshine/sunshine (AKA a cinnamon roll couple) plus mature explorations of relationships using one of the softest, sweetest, and most innocent friends to lovers vehicles. Kindly, overworked doctor meets broken-hearted motorcycle taxi driver in an “other side of the tracks” slow burn romance. The support cast is excellent, making for great friendship groups and family dynamics. With honest queer rep that adds to, but doesn’t impede, the story, and genuine conversation about the nature of class, wealth, and classism, not to mention communication, honesty, and respect for boundaries, you can’t go wrong with this show. In other news, I am a sucker for a single dimple.

Takara & Amagi AKA Takara-kun to Amagi-kun

Japan 2022 I gnawed on my knuckles and squealed a lot with this BL. Reserved cool kid who must learn to communicate to keep the tiny disaster nugget he’s madly in love with. It is beyond charming: soft and gentle, packed with cuteness and high school angst, thirst, & yearning. Was there plot? Not really. Was it emotionally tense and paced well enough for me not to notice? Absolutely. Did I enjoy the hell out of it? Oh yes.

Kiseki: Dear to Me

Taiwan 2023

The plot is totally ridiculous and slightly unhinged, but that’s normal for Taiwan. It involves all the tropes under a very casual framework of gay mafia gangs + food = love. Absolutely every character is queer. There’s a gum-ball machine of cameos, elder gay rep, great chemistry from all pairs, and a KILLER side couple. As a result Kiseki is a poster child for Taiwanese BL, and I happen to love Taiwanese BL. Bonus? They also managed to END IT WELL, which we cannot expect from Taiwan.

My Personal Weatherman AKA Taikan Yoho

Japan 2023

This style of live action yaoi really only works from Japan. Basically: boys who fell in love in college end up living together but both are so repressed they actually don't realize they're in love. It's higher heat than we usually get from Japan's HEA stuff, and that part is also very well done, but it leaned into the "why don't they just talk for fuck's sake?" trope which is only exacerbated into undiluted frustration by the fact that they're already fucking. It's great, but watching requires more patience than usual, even for Japan.

Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku

Japan 2023

A lonely salaryman and talented cook gets accidentally adopted by a college kid and his little brother. I was always gonna love this show if they stuck to the manga (which is very dear to my heart). And they did, paralleling it almost exactly. It’s a quiet & cozy little parable of found family alleviating loneliness. Possibly too slow for some but definitely high up there for me as the best of what Japan can do with softness (like Restart After Come Back Home). It’s only flaw (if I dare say such a thing) is that it is not really “romantic.” Lovely & sweet but the romance beats are being used to build a family relationship, not just couple intimacy, but that's OK with me. This is a very safe show for anyone to watch.

Step By Step

Thai 2023

This was Thailand’s answer to The New Employee, and everything I loved about that show I loved about this one. This office romance between a stern boss and sweet subordinate felt more authentic to cubical work than previous Thai BLs of this ilk. That authenticity added tension to the narrative and its characters development (how novel). I also really enjoyed the charming side characters and the brothers' relationship to each other (although I could have done without that brother's side BL).

Long Time No See

Korea (Strongberry) 2017

Catfishing assassins on either side of a turf war who fall in love not knowing they are on opposite sides. Or do they? Suspenseful plot, good fight sequences, mature characters, hot sexitimes and even hotter beating the shit out of each other and kissing while covered in blog (this came from KOREA?), plus an HEA. One of the hidden gems of the BL genre.

About Youth

Taiwan 2022

A truly lovely little coming of age high school BL with a classic YA low drama but high angst and an earnest depth. I didn’t even mind the singing, and that’s saying a lot. A weak seme/uke dynamic but tons of BL tropes (both rare in a high school setting but common for Taiwan) makes this one feel both sweet and colored by real world authenticity and grit.

Some of these shows ALSO appeared on Viki or iQIYI, but these BLs will appear only once on these round up posts (here for Gaga), not on the other platforms top 10.

(source)

This list updated Spring 2024, not responsible for cool stuff that aired on Gaga (or was taken off the platform) after that date.

This is part of a series more here:

[dropthedemiurge]

On the topic of linguistic shenanigans - I spent this New Year at a party full of foreigners (based in Korea, 50% Koreans / 50% others). We had people from 6 countries speaking in 3-4 language mix and having lots of fun.

The funny moment happened about 1 hour into the party when we were still learning about each other and introducing ourselves. There was a Chinese guy so we all were like 'oh, I remember how to say this and that in Chinese', and I just know 'hello, thank you'. I tried to say 'My name is...' in Chinese but I forgot how it ends so I accidentally said 'alai na..? oh wait, that's Thai'–

– AND IMMEDIATELY LIKE THREE GIRLS ZEROED IN ON ME xD The next sentence spoken to me was smth like 'are you in any case also a connoisseur of some Thai dramas?~ You know, there are some great Chinese, Japanese and Korean dramas, and Taiwanese ones too?' joking. And suddenly, in only one second, all those unfamiliar people from different countries found they share the same hobby watching BLs xD

(Chinese guy was confused tho why the small group of CIS* people suddenly heard some Thai, yelled something in Russian and English and broke down in a mutual laughing fit)) Later someone explained about BL dramas to him... in Korean lol)

*CIS countries, not identity xD

Then one of us joked that in any company we could all be summoned by one phrase "Raikantopeni...", said in a perfect GMM opening parody voice, and I choked on my sprats sandwich :D

Needless to say, we started our 2025 year with 'IMINA SKYNANI!', discussing watching Time of Fever in cinema and yelling 'I came for FirstKhao but OH MY GOD HAVE YOU SEEN FADEL?? HAVE YOU SEEN HIM??' while hugging each other. Yes, I saw those people for the first time in my life, for only like a couple of hours, yet I outed myself to all Russian-speaking people in the room almost immediately because saying 'alai na?' in Thai was so addictive jsdhflaadsfa

P.S. We made a group chat called 'BL Heaven' and decided to go to any cinema BL screenings in Korea together xD Hooray!

[romanceyourdemons]

someone called my library at midnight asking for "lesbian Chinese cinema" so you can imagine why I'm here

happy to help! taiwan has much more lesbian cinema (that i’m aware of lol) compared to hong kong and mainland china, so if the patron considers taiwanese film to fall under the chinese film umbrella then they could watch spider lilies (2007), blue gate crossing (2002), three times (2005), what time is it there? (2001), or any number of other sapphic-themed taiwanese new wave films. if they’re just looking for mainland chinese or hong kong films the best i can think of are homoerotic films like peking opera blues (1986) or the big road (1934), since the vast majority of the mainland chinese and hong kong queer film i can think of is primarily or exclusively concerned with the experiences of gay and gnc men. if there are any specifically lesbian hong kong or mainland chinese films i’m not thinking of or not aware of i would love to learn about them!

[bl-bracket]

What would you recommend as the first bl to show someone just starting to watch bls/qls?

This is a really hard question tbh. Cause a lot depends on someone's personal tastes and what type of other shows they have watched before. And it's going to differ between countries. And also my recs are going to be limited to what I've actually seen or are familiar with.

For Thai bls, Bad Buddy is one that gets brought up a lot as a beginner. I also watched pretty early in my ql journey. I think it's a pretty good one for getting an idea of what Thai bls are like stylistically (as well as just being a pretty solid show). Another one I think really sets the tone would be Cherry Magic Thailand. Another solid show that doesn't veer too off the rails, while having a compelling romance, and also engaging stylistically with the genre.

Now if you're dealing with someone who isn't even ready to get a feel for the style of Thai bls, you just need to get them comfortable with the idea of bls in general, then something like I Told Sunset About You or Moonlight Chicken is probably better. Though these shows are very different tonaly so it's going to depend on the person's tastes which to recommend (itsay is more for people who enjoyed the vibes of Call Me By Your Name or other similar style).

For Korean bls, Semantic Error is a classic. It'll set you up good. It's good for beginners too since it's a solid plot that feels like a kbl, but isn't like super deep into the genre if that makes sense, The Eighth Sense is also brought up a lot as a beginner one, especially for folks more accustomed to western cinema. Another good one is Blueming, which has the artsy feel with still a strong kdrama feel.

For Japanese bls, the original Cherry Magic series is good. It definitely has the style and feel of a jdrama and sets up well the humor/fluff side of jbls. Old Fashion Cupcake is another good one for introducing more of the cozy food side of jbls. She Likes to Cook, She Likes to Eat is another well done cozy food jdrama, this time a gl. I think those all set the tone well of what to expect in those type of jbls. Now there's definitely a darker side to genre, but honestly I've still only dipped my toes into that side and it's probably not the best thing to start with someone just getting into the genre as a whole lol.

For Taiwanese bls, honestly See Your Love is like exactly the vibe you can expect from a Taiwanese bl. It'll teach a lot about this niche of the genre and give you a good idea for the style of a lot of the shows, while also landing well in all the most important parts. My Tooth Your Love is another one with a bit less crazy of a plot, but very much ticks the boxes of a Taiwanese bl and is a good watch!

When it comes to Chinese bls, there's so few currently available (hopefully soon that'll change) so it's hard to give recs without just listing every major title in the genre. Another barrier is that if you're not familiar with the wuxia or xianxia genres, you're going to have a pretty steep learning curve in any of those dramas you watch. (And if you're not watching wuxia/xianxia that leaves you with even fewer options). Honestly I don't think any Chinese bl is better suited than the others to give you a taste of the genre. Meet You at the Blossom is shorter and uncensored, but it's also some classic toxic stuff, which I don't know if you want to use as the introduction. The Untamed has a lot of fans independent of the bl fandom, or even just the censored chinese bl fandom, so that could be a good sign that's it's a good entry point, but it's also quite long and again, if you don't know what xianxia is, you're going to be confused a lot. Idk for Chinese bl, if you're new, just pick whichever plot sounds best to you and accept that you're not going to understand everything at first.