"Speechless" tries very hard to bring together the lives of a French exchange student in China and four other Chinese people. It does not strike me that any of the actors in this film are professional. It looks like they were told to react, respond and move very slowly, in hopes that their actions would be interpreted as "natural." As a result, the pacing of the film is extremely slow.
The story, such as it is, is described in the summary on the IMDB page, and it is accurate. The director has some ability and tries his best to give interesting camera angles and tries to make sure to get enough coverage so things can be viewed from different perspectives. That however, does not make a compelling story.
As with many gay films that come from Asia, there is often the element that one of the Asian men is involved with a woman, but then he meets another man and all bets are off. In this film, the French exchange student meets two men: the first is already involved with a woman, but after French kisses him, he's gay. The second one, a nurse's aide is closeted but is obviously interested in the French man. The nurse's aide has a policewoman who likes him, but instead of just telling her the truth, he evades her questions, as did the first man with his girlfriend. A lot of pain, anger, and arguing go on, all of which could be avoided if people were honest. But we still live in a world that has an issue with LGBTQ people.
The best part of this film is that it takes us into the heart of rural China. It is not pretty. It was made in 2012. Are things any different? I don't know. Everything looks grim, dark, broken, subpar, and poor quality. This gave the whole film a gritty, sad feeling.
The young leads were all attractive, male and female, and they all did their best. The director/writer did have some strong ideas going into the story, but I don't think they all worked.
I see that there are some cruel reviews about this film, and yes, it was extremely slow and no one seemed particularly bright. But still, I applaud the filmmaker for making a somewhat unusual film in the heart of China and trying to portray a unique but doomed gay relationship.
The story, such as it is, is described in the summary on the IMDB page, and it is accurate. The director has some ability and tries his best to give interesting camera angles and tries to make sure to get enough coverage so things can be viewed from different perspectives. That however, does not make a compelling story.
As with many gay films that come from Asia, there is often the element that one of the Asian men is involved with a woman, but then he meets another man and all bets are off. In this film, the French exchange student meets two men: the first is already involved with a woman, but after French kisses him, he's gay. The second one, a nurse's aide is closeted but is obviously interested in the French man. The nurse's aide has a policewoman who likes him, but instead of just telling her the truth, he evades her questions, as did the first man with his girlfriend. A lot of pain, anger, and arguing go on, all of which could be avoided if people were honest. But we still live in a world that has an issue with LGBTQ people.
The best part of this film is that it takes us into the heart of rural China. It is not pretty. It was made in 2012. Are things any different? I don't know. Everything looks grim, dark, broken, subpar, and poor quality. This gave the whole film a gritty, sad feeling.
The young leads were all attractive, male and female, and they all did their best. The director/writer did have some strong ideas going into the story, but I don't think they all worked.
I see that there are some cruel reviews about this film, and yes, it was extremely slow and no one seemed particularly bright. But still, I applaud the filmmaker for making a somewhat unusual film in the heart of China and trying to portray a unique but doomed gay relationship.