Loading ...In the movie, Lam plays Ricky, a gay university guy who had just decided to come out of the closet. Hung plays Ricky’s friend Mark. When Ricky decided to announce to his family his sexual orientation he was warned by his fag hag Olivia (played by Carol Chan) not to. He still pushes through with his decision, not wanting to hide his true personality anymore. True to Olivia’s warnings, Ricky’s parents not only were displeased about his being gay. They could not accept having a gay son that they threw him out of the house shortly after his confession.
Ricky decides to stay at Mark’s place while waiting for things to cool down at his home. He moves in with Mark even if Mark’s girlfriend Mabel (played by Joyee Lam) does not approve of the arrangement. She doesn’t trust Ricky and is uncomfortable with his being gay. As the days go by, Ricky and Mark developed a deeper kind of friendship. Unbeknownst to Ricky, Mark is actually gay. At first Mark struggles with confiding to Ricky about his sexual orientation. He didn’t have Ricky’s confidence and self-assurance on being homosexual. After much internal debate, Mark eventually opened up to Ricky and confesses his feelings. That night, they decided to be together despite Mark not having broken up with Mabel yet. The movie’s ending straddles the line between being heartwarming and causing heartbreak as it deals with the feelings of all the characters.
The first thing that viewers will notice is that I Am Not What You Want does not contain any sex scenes that are common with gay movies nowadays. By removing that plot element, the movie pushes off the gay film stereotype. What it focuses on instead is that what matters is only “love” as there should be no distinction between “gay love” versus “straight love”.
This alternative inspection of love and sexuality also challenges the values and points of view taken mostly by heterosexuals especially in Hong Kong and China. Viewers will find the story tender, and the approach taken towards its subject matter as very compassionate. The portrayals of all the characters and their actions are realistic, which is one of the things that the movie is successful with. The only thing perhaps that makes this movie perfectly well made is that the cinematography can get a bit blurry. It is not evident if this effect is intentionally done by the director, so it can get distracting sometimes.
I Am Not What You Want is only 48 minutes long. Released in 2002, this is director’s Kit Hung second short film. It was presented at the International Festival of New Film in Split, Croatia, the Internationaal Speel Film Festival in Gent, Belgium, and other gay festivals in San Francisco, London, Bangkok, Tokyo, Melbourne and New York. I Am Not What You Want also won a Special Jury Award at the Golden Dragon film festival in Belgium.
Songs
- Flower and Glass, by Chet Lam
- Me and Instant Noodles, by Chet Lam
- Come Closer, by Chet Lam
- One vs Two, by Chet Lam, performed by Lam Yee Man
Festival Screenings
World Premiere:
- 2001 The Mix New York Lesbian and Gay film and video festival, United States
European Premiere:
- 2002 International film festival Rotterdam, Holland.
Other screenings includes:
- 2003 Broadway Cinematheque, Hong Kong
- 2003 Museum of Modern Art, Dallas, Taxes, United States
- 2003 Tokyo Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Japan
- 2003 Gay Asian Film Festival Amsterdam
- 2003 Institute of the Art Institute of Chicago Queer Film and Video Festival
- 2003 South Taiwan Film and Video Festival
- 2002 San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
- 2002 Out On Screen, Vancouver Queer Film + Video Festival
- 2002 Inside Out Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival of Toronto
- 2002 Bangkok International Gay and Lesbian film festival, Thailand
- 2002 Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
- 2002 Global Queers, Oriental Homos-Currents of Asian Queer Cinema, Seoul Queer Film Achieve, Korea
- 2002 Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Australia
- 2002 Hong Kong Gay and Lesbian film festival
- 2002 The independence film and video award, Hong Kong
- 2002 Q! Film Screening, Jakarta, Indonesia
- 2001 Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Florida, United States
- 2001 Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival, Taxes, United States
- 2001 Competition section, The International Festival of New Film, Split, Croatia
- 2001 Competition section, Internationaal Speelfilmfestival, “De Drake”, Gent, Belgium
Awards
- 2001 Special Jury Award, Internationaal Speelfilmfestival, “De Drake”, Gent, Belgium
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