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"East Palace, West Palace " | 
 enlarge | Director: Yuan Zhang
Actors: Si Han, Jun Hu, Jing Ye, Wei Zhao
Studio: Strand Home Video
Category: Video
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $15.00
You Save: $14.99 (50%)
New (1) Used (6) from $9.75
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 60528
Format: Color, Subtitled, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 90
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
UPC: 712267982035
EAN: 0712267982035
ASIN: B00000K2SA
Theatrical Release Date: July 24, 1998
Release Date: May 16, 2000
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 A Surprising Look at China December 28, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
"East Palace, West Palace"
A Surprising Look at China
Amos Lassen
"East Palace, West Palace" (Strand Releasing) is the first film dealing with homosexuality to be made in China and for that alone it is important. It is important to note that while homosexuality is not illegal in China yet gay men are persecuted routinely and charged with "hooliganism". This is the basis of the film.
A-Lan, a young gay writer, who because of his attraction for a young policeman sets himself up to be arrested and questioned all night by the object of his desire. He relates his life story during the interrogation and it is, by and large, the story of the repression of Chinese society. As he weaves his story, Xiao Shi, the policeman changes his attitude toward his arrestee from one of revulsion to fascination and ultimately attraction.
This plot is interesting in purpose but is hard to sustain for a long period of time. It causes the movie to move slowly and if the viewer buys into the psychological premise, only then does it become interesting.
Actually the focus on gay issues is only one layer of the film and a flimsy one at that. What the film actually looks at is a society in transition as it explores the constructs of power, the machinery of the state and dehumanization by outmoded institutions. There is visual beauty here that at times is pure escapism and the film is full of surprises but only if you know to look at it on that level. The gay theme is no more than a metaphor for the larger society and must be regarded as such. As the film comes together there are looks at the politics of desire and then at the politics of politics themselves. What are debated in the interrogation are the right to freedom on a large scale and not just the right to sexual freedom. Included in the rights to freedom are the rights to self expression, the right to identity; to being oneself. In the dialog between A-Lan and the policeman we see no clear lines that are drawn between the oppressor and the oppressed or between the loving and the loved. Because the movie is so abstract, it also very personal.
"East Palace, West Palace" is powerful in its subtlety and the way it brings attention to the relation of power and subordination in what is supposed to be a modern country. The film is not sympathetic to the plight of the Chinese homosexual even with its references to it. The message of the film rests in a philosophy that a repressed society is in many ways responsible for its own domination. The film only uses homosexuality as a way to portray weakness and subordination. While Xiao Shi finds A-Lan's homosexuality reprehensive, he eventually falls in love with him. A-Lan's arrest also seems to me to be a metaphor for China living in an age of non-enlightenment. Yet as the new day breaks and the understanding between the two men become clearer, we see China also moving into a new direction. The use of gay stereotypes in subtle but subversive ways as a social commentary succeeds wonderfully and makes this a film that engenders great thought. Using a simple means to tell a powerful story was a stroke of genius by director Zhang Yuan.
Even with its strong message the film does not preach but it does move the viewer. It draws the viewer into the interrogation room as he looks closely at what transpires there as sexual tensions and politics merge and freedom in the face of tyranny is examined. We come away with a feeling of frustration as we should. We find we have more questions than we have answers and this is representative of cinema that makes the viewer reflect on what he has seen.
"East Palace, West Palace" was banned in China because; it is said, to deal with homosexuality. Nothing could be more untrue--it was banned because of the way it depicts Chinese society.
 Dark imagination July 21, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
"East Palace,West Palace" is a quite sordid insight into the fascination of beats but the romantic longings that flow over this movie are quite compelling.Quite a gripping drama with lots of poetic licence.This all contributes to the art of seduction that the plot follows from beginning to end.A lovely film out of China and hopefully more will follow.Perhaps a bit dark in many places that a lot of gay asian films now seem to take up to disguise the explicitness of many scenes or at least leaves it to the audiences imagination.One for beat lovers for sure.....
Interesting story of repression of gays in China December 19, 2003
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
"Dong gong xi gong (East Palace West Palace)" (1996; also released under the title "Behind the Forbidden City" in 1998) is a rather unique story about the overnight detention of a young gay Chinese man, A Lan, who was caught having sex with a man in a park near the Forbidden Palace in Beijing. Although homosexuality was not actually illegal during the time in which the film is set, gays in that country were routinely harrassed by the police, who could detain and arrest them for "hooliganism". The film unreels as A Lan tells his captor, a young park policeman named Xiao Shi, about his life, including his gradual realization that he was gay, and his experiences and yearnings. He reveals that he is married, which makes him a bit of an outcast among his other gay friends who gather at the park. His childhood recollections somewhat explain why he has a particular fascination to big, male authority figures who treat him badly, including his police captor. The policeman, who consistently called A Lan "disgusting" and worthy of shame, is also fighting his own fascination with the boy's story, and his growing attraction to him as well.
From what I have read in a couple of other reviews, the film has considerable political relevance in that it was the first Chinese film to criticize the government's hypocritical treatment of homosexuals. The film's director was reportedly arrested in 1997, and it is only because of friends' actions that the film was smuggled out of the country, where it was featured at the Cannes film festival. Obviously, I can't comment or judge based on political or cultural relevance, but the story itself is intriguing, the cinematography and direction excellent, and I was especially intrigued with Si Han, the young actor who played A Lan, who probably had constant, dramatic dialogue during 60 of the film's 94 minutes...
An excellent film March 20, 2003
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Beautifully made and mesmerizing film. Very sensuous, satisfying and somewhat poetic. Two leading actors are superb. In many ways, the film is a masterpiece.
 Where's the palace? August 27, 2000
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
Zhang Yuan's relationship with the Chinese authorities, never especially cordial, reached an all-time low with East Palace West Palace. The problem was the subject matter - homosexuality in Bejing. (The title refers to a meeting place for gays - public toilets in spitting distance of The Forbidden Palace.) When the film was selected for Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Festival, the director had his passport confiscated. No official reasons were given for this sanction, but in the West it was presumed that the had broken an unwritten law - homosexuality is still considered taboo in Chinese cinema. Inevitably, the controversy raised the film's profile. "I was astonished to find out that the Beijing homosexuals knew the parks where the best-looking police were," Zhang commented when asked to explain what inspired the film. "They like the uniforms: there's an incredibly direct connection between sex and power." The story concerns a young gay writer (Si Han) who has the temerity to confront a heterosexual cop (Hu Jun). At first, the cop, who arrests him, is disgusted by his antics, but when the couple spend an evening in each other's presence, the policeman becomes fascinated with his provocative young prisoner who goads him to behave ever more brutally. However much he tries to suppress it, the cop seems attracted to the writer. East Palace West Palace was made on a tight budget of around $260,000 (with support from The Hubert Bals Fund). Critics in Cannes and elsewhere were as impressed with Zhang's formal mastery as with his willingness to tackle uncompromising material. The consensus was that the film, which has also been produced as a play, showed a technical virtuosity which some of his earlier work had lacked. They also noted how the director successfully coaxed subtle but intense performances from his two leads. Zhang Yuan is already well-known to Rotterdam audiences (his 1995 effort Erzi (Sons) won a Tiger Award). East Palace, West Palace is likely to confirm his reputation as one of the most innovative and iconoclastic young directors working in Chinese cinema. I believe this movie is still banned in China, but the word must have spreaded around underground. If you are gay and anywhere related to Beijing, you must have heard of the "East Palace" and "West Palace", two famous gay cruising public WC near TianAnMen in Beijing. This movie borrowed the popular name, but is not about the life in the WC. It is about the obsessing and confusing between a gay and a policeman. It is the first gay movie out of mainland China, and is well received worldwide. The movie will be released in America late part of the year.
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