Moneyboys

Fei is a young man from the countryside, making money in the big city by having sex with men. There are subplots of his colleagues, with one managing to save enough money to get out of the business, marry a woman and have a baby, and another managing to switching to busking to support his wife and children.

Going home, he has uncles who are not happy with his lifestyle, wanting him to get married and settle down. Instead, another young man from his village follows him back to the city, hoping to earn his fortune.

Produced and shot in Taiwan, the cities and locations mentioned squarely puts the action in mainland China. That makes me wonder how authentic the situation would be - is this the only alternative to life working in the factories making goods for export? Also, how fluid is their sexuality, that they can "switch teams" easily, or are they just "gay for pay"?

This is a beautiful movie which reflects amazingly the life of a taiwanese gay prostitute who is unsatisfied, sad and dehumanized.

It is a wonferful thing that this movie shows the contrast between the city, that represents the modern, the new ways of life, which sometimes dehumanize people, and the countryside, which reflects the tradition, the conservatism, and also, the hypocrisy about the homosexuality.

The film was wonderful to watch. It covers the topic of male prostitution in Taiwan/China, and the trauma that many gay/bisexual/MSM men face in society. A large part of this is due to the familial pressure to marry and have children, which is something many young people in Taiwan and China may relate to.

The film was deliberately slow paced. It relied on body language, situational context and reading between the lines. The story was dark, impactful and meaningful. The film shines light on the greater societal issues of sexualization, homophobia, and poverty. Not an easy topic to explore.

The cinematography was simple and beautiful.

After i watched the movie i feel its a good movie for youngsters, because the movie carries a nice message to the public more than an entertainer!

Empathic and leisurely vision of people in quite desperation and everything making one hard choice over another entails.

Filmed in a set of restrained long-takes, this just feels like regular life and that is where a lot of its power lies.

Neither romanticized, nor sensational. People just get on with boring old life where you do whatever work falls into your lap.

More episodic than plot-driven.

This director loves the gimmick of using captions that peak behind the dark screen.

It's hard to know what else to say; they did not over think or over complicate this. I suppose that's how you know it's close to the mark.