From The Handmaiden to Ang Lee and Wong Kar-wai – 7 awesome Asian movies with LGBT storylines

Sep 30 , 2020

Kim Min-hee and Kim Tae-ri in The Handmaiden, one of the best Asian films featuring an LGBT storyline. Photo: CJ Entertainment

From Wong Kar-wai’s gritty indie Happy Together, starring Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, to Ang Lee’s pre-Brokeback Mountain drama The Wedding Banquet and Korean Old Boy auteur Park Chan-wook’s adaptation of The Handmaiden, more directors than you might think have broached the sometimes sensitive subject of same-sex love on screen in Asia

Earlier this year when Hong Kong director Ray Yeung spoke about his award-winning gay drama, Suk Suk , he lamented the fact that so few LGBTQ+ movies have been made in Hong Kong. Reminiscing about the time he’d worked with the Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, he remarked that some years it was tough to find any local films to showcase at all.

Although acceptance of LGBTQ+ rights remains spotty across East Asia, the situation has nevertheless improved in recent years. Taiwan in particular has taken a lead, passing legislation legalising same-sex marriage in May 2019. Hong Kong has also been making strides towards greater equality: in March this year, the High Court ruled against the government’s policy of denying legally-married, same-sex couples from applying for public housing.

Arguably, the success of Suk Suk is just further evidence that attitudes are slowly changing, despite Asia’s reputation for social conservatism. Here are seven great films that feature Asia’s LGBTQ+ community on the big screen.

Suk Suk

Ray Yeung’s drama was awarded best film at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards and has since picked up a number of awards elsewhere. The story is a rare one, focusing on the lives of two elderly men. Although both are homosexual, Suk Suk shows how they have spent their lives hiding this aspect of themselves, marrying women and constructing ordinary families. Now retired, and following a brief encounter, they consider the possibilities of a life together: the happiness it could bring as well as the scorn from others.

Blue Gate Crossing

A gentle Taiwanese drama from 2002, Blue Gate Crossing is a coming-of-age story about a young girl, named Meng who develops feelings for Lin, her female classmate. The drama unfolds in the shape of a love triangle as Lin asks Meng to pass a love letter to a boy that she likes – only for the boy to take a greater interest in Meng.

Happy Together

Probably the most well-known Asian LGBTQ+ movie is this, Wong Kar-wai’s 1997 drama for which he won best director at the Cannes Film Festival. In contrast to the gentle feel of both Blue Gate Crossing and Suk Suk, Happy Together is more spiky, punctuated with frequent arguments between Ho Po-Wing (Leslie Cheung) and Lai Yiu-fai (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) as their relationship disintegrates as they try repeatedly to move on from one another.