A Queer Story

Shortly before he is to be married, Law thinks back on his relationship with the young hairdresser Sonny. Should he really marry his childhood friend Chuen?
Law has been living together with Sonny for some time, but doesn't dare tell anyone that they've been having a relationship. Sonny, on the other hand, often goes to gay bars, and makes no secret of his sexual orientation. Law is being pressured by his father, who wants him to get married.
Homosexuality is not often dealt with in Hong Kong films. When it does appear, one may be certain that the depiction is prejudiced and stereotyped. As an example, consider the lesbian contract killer in ”Naked Killer” , who murders the heroin's husband using poisoned lipstick, and who, of course, receives her punishment in the end.
In ”A Queer Story” , director Shu Kei does his best to rectify this biased image and instead show a more realistic and well-rounded picture of Chinese homosexuality. Striving to be completely fair, he presents us with a veritable contact sheet covering of all the possible combinations and situations that a gay relationship can consist of.
Most of the film is told through flashbacks, where Law reflects on his life and why he has become a closet gay. Some-times Chuen gets to tell her side of things, how she first began to suspect that something wasn't quite right. Despite a certain predictability, ”A Queer Story” sometimes manages to hit you right in the gut. For example, it is both beautiful and moving when the boyfriend of a recently deceased professor attends the funeral against the wishes of the family, and lays flowers with the inscription, ''In my heart for ever.'' Perhaps that is also the story's problem: that one is more interested in the strong supporting roles than one is in the vacillating Law, who mostly seems to drift through life with no real sense of direction.
It is nonetheless quite a feat that Shu Kei has brought up a subject that, for Hong Kong at least, is so controversial. The fact that his film company also distributes ”High Heels” and ”Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown” , seems fitting.
Jakob Abrahamsson

Premiärstatus
Nordisk premiär: Medverkande
George Lam, Jordan Chan, Christine Ng: Producent
Clifton Ko Chi-Sum: Manus
Shu Kei, Abe Kwong Man-Wai: Foto
Wong Chung-Piu: Musik
Danny Chung: Talat språk
Cantonese with Cantonese/English subtitles