With his lean physique and clean-shaven, androgynous face, Lu Yulai could be mistaken for a matinee idol. His filmography, however, suggests otherwise.
Ever since his debut in 2005 in Gu Changwei's award-winning drama Peacock, the Sichuanese actor has mostly graced films which have found more success at film festivals than box offices.
'Auteur films are more personal compared to commercial productions,' says the 27-year-old. 'I enjoy doing those films because they offer more creative possibilities - I can express genuine feelings and not simply follow a winning formula to please the audience.'
Lu's latest outing is one of his most audacious roles yet. Not every actor would consent to locking lips with another man on screen - but that's what Lu does in Hong Kong indie director Kit Hung Wing-kit's Soundless Wind Chime, in which he plays a Beijing-born delivery boy, Ricky, whose passionate relationship with a rebellious Swiss expat named Pascal (played by Bernhard Bulling) is cut short when the latter dies in an accident.
Distressed, Ricky travels to Switzerland to mourn his lover, only to meet Ueli (also played by Bulling), who looks identical to Pascal but has a vastly different personality.
'I love challenging myself with roles that have true personal traits, characters who are of the quiet and intellectual type. You don't come across interesting characters very often,' he says. 'I immersed myself into the life of the character I played and I went deeper as the filming went on, to a point that I believed I was really him. When I finished filming, I was amazed by the new side of myself that I'd just unveiled.'