''Girlfriend, Boyfriend'' (also stylized as ''Gf*Bf'') is a 2012

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

ese

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by

Yang Ya-che Yang Ya-che (; born 17 July 1971) is a Taiwanese film and television director and screenwriter. He was nominated for the Taipei Golden Horse Awards for Best Director two times, for ''Girlfriend, Boyfriend'' ( 女朋友·男朋友) in 2012 and ' ...

. The film was released on August 3, 2012. Of the film, director Yang stated that while he did not intentionally set out to make a "gay movie, but a political one, one which happened to include a gay character"., he further stated that

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

and

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

"both in fact represent the theme of freedom".

Synopsis

In the 1980s, high school students Aaron, Mabel and Liam are best friends and also caught in a love triangle. As the three friends go through the turbulent times, when social revolution takes hold over martial law, their relationships go through many ups and downs.

Cast

Gwei Lun-mei Gwei Lun-mei (; born 25 December 1983) is a Taiwanese actress. She started her acting career in 2002, with the film '' Blue Gate Crossing''. Gwei then appeared in a few more films before achieving wide recognition for the film '' Secret'', dir ...

as Mabel *

Joseph Chang Joseph Chang Hsiao-chuan (, born 28 December 1983) is a Taiwanese actor. He is best known for his role in the critically acclaimed 2006 Taiwanese film '' Eternal Summer'', which earned him two Golden Horse Awards nominations for ''Best Support ...

as Liam *

Rhydian Vaughan Rhydian Vaughan (born 10 March 1988), also known by his stage name Feng Xiaoyue, is a Taiwanese-Welsh actor. He best known for his roles in the films '' Monga'' (2010), '' Girlfriend, Boyfriend'' (2012) and '' Winds of September'' (2008). Early ...

as Aaron *

Bryan Chang Bryan Chang or Chang Shu-hao (; born 22 October 1988) is a Taiwanese actor. He won the award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film at the Golden Bell Awards The Golden Bell Awards () is an annual Taiwanese television and radio ...

as Sean * Serena Fang as Hsiao-bao, Aaron's wife * Russell Tang as John Hsu, Liam's boyfriend *

Ding Ning Ding Ning (; born 20 June 1990) is a former Chinese table tennis player. She was the winner of 2011 World Table Tennis Championships – Women's singles, women's singles in the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships. At the 2015 World Table Ten ...

as Hanako, Mabel's mother * Nita Lei as Hsiao Yun * J.C. Lei as Hsiao Shu

Reception

Critical reception for ''Girlfriend, Boyfriend'' has been mixed to positive, with review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

giving the film a rating of 67%, based on 12 reviews. The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' cited the performance of Gwei Lun-mei as a highlight, saying that she was "by turns brazen and uncertain, fragile and steely". In comparison, the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' panned the film, stating that it " ailedto connect" and that it "can't balance its story lines of romance and societal change".

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{Golden Horse Award for Audience Choice 2012 films 2012 drama films Taiwanese drama films 2010s Mandarin-language films Taiwanese-language films Taiwanese LGBTQ-related films 2010s LGBTQ-related drama films Gay-related films 2012 LGBTQ-related films Films shot in Tainan