Blue Gate Crossing () is a 2002 Taiwanese film directed and written by Yee Chih-yen. It was screened at the Director's Fortnight section of the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for "Best Asian Film" at the 23rd Hong Kong Film Awards held in 2004. The film grossed over five million New Taiwan Dollars at the box office in Taiwan, which was a rare achievement for a Taiwanese film in the 2000s.
Cast.
The filming location for "Blue Gate Crossing" was the Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University Affiliated Senior High School in Taipei, and the three main characters in the story are also set to attend this school.
Gwei Lun-mei as Meng Kerou
Meng Kerou comes from a single-parent family and helps her family make a living by running a snack bar. She has a crush on Lin Yuezhen and agrees to help her deliver a love letter to Zhang Shihao, but Zhang Shihao misunderstands and thinks that Meng Kerou is the one expressing her own feelings for him.
Yolin Liang as Lin Yuezhen
Kerou's classmate who likes Zhang Shihao but is too shy to confess her feelings. She asks her friend Meng Kerou to help her express her love to Zhang Shihao, but she runs away at the last minute, causing Zhang Shihao to mistake Kerou as the one writing the letter.
Chen Bolin as Zhang Shihao
Scorpio with blood type O, Zhang Shihao participates in the guitar club and the swimming team. He is simple-minded, straightforward, and has a liking for Meng Kerou. His biggest wish, besides winning the swimming competition, is to become Kerou's boyfriend.
Joanna Chou as Mrs. Meng
Jay Shih (Cameo) as Pipi
Plot.
Meng Kerou and Lin Yuezhen were classmates in the same high school, and they were as close as sisters and talked about everything to each other. One day, Yuezhen told Kerou that she liked Zhang Shihao, the swimming team's ace, and asked Kerou to help her confess her feelings. When Kerou couldn't resist Yuezhen's pleading and went to express her friend's love to Shihao, Yuezhen ran away in shyness, causing Shihao to mistakenly believe that Kerou was the one who was shy and expressing her own feelings for him on behalf of her friend. Shihao was deeply attracted to Kerou and started pursuing her, but Kerou always avoided him. Shihao was deeply puzzled, and in the end, Kerou confided a secret to him, and they moved beyond being just friends.
Soundtrack.
Main Soundtrack: "Little Dance Steps".
Music and Lyrics Composer: Cheer Chen
Arrangement: Li Yu-huan
Performer: Cheer Chen
Reception.
The film has been well-received critically. Dennis Lim, in a review for the "Village Voice," observed the film's "meticulous framing and haunting use of repeated motifs" reflects the influence of Taiwanese New Wave directors Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang. The "Portland Mercury" described the film as "a modern-day Chinese lesbian twist on the old "Cyrano" story" that "treads new territory in the teen coming of age drama realm," praising Yee Chih-yen's "haiku-like directorial lyricism."
The New York Times film critic, Stephen Holden, praised "Blue Gate Crossing", Yee Chih-yen's sophomore film, as "little more than a vignette elongated into a feature-length movie. Moody and slow moving, it depends on the truthfulness of its performances to carry it." Holden also applauded Gwei Lun-mei's character, Meng Kerou, "the most developed character," as Holden pointed out, as a "carefully understated portrait of youthful determination and stoic suffering. Meng Kerou doesn't walk so much as she marches around the high school, suppressing her emotions while pondering her future."
Eighteen years after its initial release, "Blue Gate Crossing" continues to be celebrated by the international film circuits. Asian Movie Pulse.com writer, Oriana Virone, reported that, The Queer East Film Festival that took place from October 2020 to January 2021 "opened its first edition with a screening of the Taiwanese critically acclaimed film: "Blue Gate Crossing". Icing on the cake, it has been shown in 35 mm." To overcome the impact of COVID-19, the Queer East Film Festival screened the film with an extended pre-recorded introduction with Director Yee Chih-yen.
References.
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