Taiwan’s top court made history this week by ruling in favour of same-sex marriage – the first Asian territory to do so. Taiwanese society has long been at ease with alternative sexuality, as reflected by these five great LGBT-themed films by Taiwanese directors. The Wedding Banquet (1993) Long before his modern classic Brokeback Mountain , Taiwanese-American filmmaker Ang Lee made his international breakthrough with this enthralling family dramedy, about a New York-based gay man who stages a sham marriage in order to please his conservative Chinese parents. The River (1997) A homoerotic undercurrent runs through this utterly bleak film by art-house icon Tsai Ming-liang. An award winner in Berlin, this surreal family drama – featuring a patriarch who frequents Taipei’s gay saunas – doubles as a symbolic portrait of the contaminated lives of urban dwellers. Blue Gate Crossing (2002) Teen romances don’t get more delicate than this coming-of-age movie, which launched both Gwei Lun-mei and Chen Bolin’s careers. An innocent love triangle complicated by ambiguous sexual orientations, this is one of Taiwan’s best-known films – LGBT-themed or otherwise. Eternal Summer (2006) Another love triangle among three high-school friends emerges in this sensual drama, which established Joseph Chang Hsiao-chuan’s heartthrob status. Chang and Blue Gate Crossing star Gwei were to cross paths in the 2012 film Girlfriend Boyfriend , again contemplating sexual preferences. Thanatos, Drunk (2015) A multiple-award winner at the Golden Horse Film Festival and the Taipei Film Festival, this sorrowful drama by Taiwanese auteur Chang Tso-chi is a slow-burning piece of poetic realism about a young Taipei man, his gay brother and their sexually ambiguous gigolo friend. Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook
