East Palace, West Palace Movie Review 1996

Bold and controversial examination of a shadow world in Chinese society. A-Lan (Han) is a young homosexual, cruising the park outside the Forbidden Palace in Beijing. He's detained in a roundup by a cop, Xiao Shi (Jun), who takes him to the park's police station for interrogation. A-Lan is unashamed of his lifestyle and the cop presses him to tell his life story. It soon becomes clear that the Xiao Shi, though outwardedly homophobic, is actually sexually intrigued by A-Lan's presence as the duo mentally and verbally dance around the charged situation. Chinese with subtitles.

Distribution

Strand Releasing, 1460 4th St., Ste. 302, Santa Monica, CA 90401, Phone: (310)395-5002, Fax: (310)395-2502, Email: strand@strandrel.com, URL: http://www.strandreleasing.com

Available on VHS
Running time 95 minutes.
Originally from Chinese.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Up All Night, The 3rd Degree, Gays, Cops, China

Screenplay

Zhang Yuan, Wang Xiaobo

Cast

Si Han, Hu Jun

Cinematography

Zheng Jian

Director

Zhang Yuan

Music

Xiang Min