Wo Tsai Che Li Teng Ni (2024)

Love it and enjoyed it, amazing acting

Watched it in the cinema with friends on the first release day in Hong Kong and it was a pleasant experience. I love how good the actor's acting are when it comes to expressing all the detailed emotion. Especially when i had enough of BL drama full of sexual scenes, this movie certainly gave me a refreshing break. If you are hoping for some crazy hot and spicy love story, sorry but this is not one of those. But you are looking for beautiful scenery, music, people and subtle emotions, this is certainly a must watch. The lyrics in the theme song pretty much stated out the whole story line.

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Things could have been more obvious

I decided to watch this one on its release day to know what it is actually about among the queerbaiting news on media.

"Tian Yu, don't die. I'm here waiting for you"
"I'm here waiting for you"
"I'm still here waiting for you"

My first thought would be that the relationship between Tian Yu and A Xiang is completely vauge and yes, I totally feel they do have feelings toward each other. A Xiang has been guided by Tian Yu since childhood, which encouraged A Xiang to explore the world and break his own limit. What A Xiang did is all on purple since he knew all about Tian Yu from the first encounter. I surely bet A Xiang have more feelings toward Tian Yu while Tian Yu on the other hand, is kinda indecisive and unclear when it comes to express his feeling. Wished there should at least one more physical action to make things clear about them.

I can understand why people became completely frozen in shock because of the end. I was like paralyzed while seeing "cloned" character after their demise since I have witnessed what happened to them. I enjoyed a lot at the first half, but it got totally confusing and made me think a lot at the latter part. The movie did included some queer elements like Leslie Cheung and Nomad (I might be wrong since the red poster wrote Numad), Tian Yu did use Leslie's song lyrics so the Homoerotics Subtext tag here is relevant imo.

Otherwise, I appreciate the how good the cinematography goes to make the movie look poetic, nostalgic along with nice music and main OST, and the casts are top notch. Not mentioning how the crew and cast promoted this movie, I still consider this as a story about unfinished love relationship of two persons even though neither said love words. The plot is not really intense or highly twisted, and enjoyable overall. I would respect your view if you thought having no NC scenes or simply a real kiss is queerbaiting or brotherhood. Taiwanese movies have never been labeled as BL anyway.

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Context and interpretation

I am a fan of Leslie Cheung. Leslie Cheung is one of the key points in this A Balloon's Landing drama.

I haven’t read an official statement from the director clarifying whether this film is or isn’t a gay or BL (Boys' Love) story. All I've come across are headlines from people who were upset that the movie confirmed it’s not a BL, feeling that the promotion relied on queerbaiting. I did watch some promotional videos on YouTube, but I don’t really have a strong opinion on them.

Leslie Cheung, who tragically committed suicide in Hong Kong, never publicly confirmed his sexual orientation (though some people feel the need to know). I read his suicide note, which was published by the media, but it didn’t offer any clues. I used to think he was gay, but it’s no longer important since he chose not to share that part of his life with the public. I like to think the reason the director of A Balloon's Landing doesn’t confirm whether this movie is a BL could be because they wanted to go beyond labels and make something more universally relatable.

A Balloon's Landing is beautiful, but it’s not an "A" movie—it’s a "B" movie. The story feels complete by the end, with everything presented, including a key detail about one character's fear of the dark, which is explained in the final part of the movie.

I enjoy road movies because they often showcase landscapes and settings as integral parts of the story. A Balloon's Landing captures these landscapes well, but it doesn't quite do justice to small details—like how the two boys carry small bags, yet their clothes seem to change every day (is it like a magical pocket, a la Doraemon?).

Lastly, I was reminded of The Lake House (with Sandra Bullock), as the mailbox setup in A Balloon's Landing was similar. It helped me connect with the film's story in a more familiar way.

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Great film but left me mixed feelings

I just watched on Netflix after wanting to watch it for a long time, and it lived up to my expectations. I wanted a queer angst story with beautiful scenery kind of film. And it did give me that.
But it let me down with the ending and the plot twist, if it can be called like that?

I suffered throughout the last half of the movie, I didn’t like the way it turned out; it just wasn’t what I wanted from the storyline, it was a happy ending at least.

Tian Yu and Yi Xiang were both great characters, the acting and chemistry was outstanding and cute. Totally won my heart.

I would say that indeed, it’s not a BL movie like people were saying. But they definitely were gay for each other, that was pretty clear to me. Just nothing explicit.

Overall, it’s a great film, with good acting, visuals, and the music too. Not the best plot, but not bad either. I think you should give it a chance for sure.

SPOILER:
I NEED TO SAY THIS:
I WAS REALLY MAD ABOUT THE FESTIVAL, god I just wanted them to happily see the fireworks together. My heart was torn apart on that scene when Tian Yu was waiting for Yi Xiang and he was fighting for his life and wanted to go with him. <\3

And I just can’t stop thinking that yeah at the ending Tian Yu got Yi Xiang/ Jin Run Fa back but it wasn’t really his A Xiang, since he didn’t remember anything about him, that’s what I didn’t liked about the movie. Why he had to die? And then be replaced for another version of himself somehow… IT DIDNT FEEL RIGHT TO ME, IDK

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Amazing story with a little problem

This movie was great, the acting, the cinematography, the music, the subtle pacing, i know it has been accused of queerbating but actually i don't see it that way, to me it's the start of a cute relationship between the leads, they have feelings for each other and it's obvious even if it's not classified as a BL, people are just bitter because they assumed it was gonna be a love story from beginning to end and it was not, it's necessary to admire the art beyond the kisses and all that comes along with that. The problem i noticed is with the timeline changes in the story, like, how could he save him but still no having change his own experience at all?, the butterfly effect jus didn't affect him and logically speaking, it should have, but overall amazing movie, very cute.

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Sweet

The plot is sweet and all but I gotta admit it was a bit confusing. I wanted more tbh from them,more romance is what I wanted to say. They were just about to start the romance then boom he died. I am ashamed to say this but I was kinda waiting for an R-rated scenes the entire movie. Both the actors were so hot,so I expected that there will be one but alas. I wanted them to have a romantic relationship first. Not like the relationship they had before was not romantic but i wanted more, starting deeply in love in someone's eyes,date scenes,awkward silences. I feel like this would have been better as a series cause there is so much interesting plot to be given here. A movie just doesn't do it justice. But I still liked it. It's cute but I was expecting a little bit more.

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lyrical but a little confusing

On the south coast of Taiwan, Kenting's beaches are remarkably beautiful in this short and evocative film, so for those who love visuals the most of all, this will please. It is a romantic and sad love story (BL) although the two struggle with unequal levels of perception and understanding of their feelings, and it is a road movie although the real action happens via letters and books. The actors are excellent, it is not complicated action-wise and has a small vividly drawn cast of characters. Nevertheless those who lean more towards the judgemental and analytical may want to give it a miss. I was happy to be awash in perceptual bliss yet I really couldnt tell you what actually happened (and I probably dont care). A suicidal Hong Kong writer struggles with unjustified accusations of plagiarism and hies off to Taiwan to seek an imaginary beach described by a child he once exchanged letters with via two paired red wooden letterboxes, which are about the size of birdhouses. The most helpful thing I can say is that it is not uncommon in those who live a life based on the imagination to struggle with confusions between desires, reality and memory.

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