Moneyboys

2021

1 hr. 58 min.

Drama

List

92%

13 Reviews

Tomatometer

80%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

Fei makes a living in the big city working as a hustler. His world collapses when he realizes that his family accepts his money but not his homosexuality. Broken-hearted, Fei struggles to create a new beginning in his life.

Read More

Read Less

Alan W

Born in China but educated in Austria since 13, writer-director C.B. Yi's debut is a blend of East-meets-West influences, where, as he himself admits in the post-film Q&A, you'll find shadows of both Michael Haneke and Hsiao-Hsien Hou. The pacing here is best described as art-house, full of long shots and lingering silences, while his camera artfully frames with precision and deliberation. Taiwanese film-star Kai Ko (aka Chen-Tung Ko) plays Fei, a 'moneyboy' in an unnamed Chinese city where homosexuality is as illegal and shameful as prostitution. While he hustles to make money to send home to his family in a rural village, his path crosses first with more experienced moneyboy Max/Xiaolai and then Long, who followed Fei from their village to the big city. Being almost 2hrs long, this film can test one's patience, especially when it's easily trimmable by 20mins if all the moods are removed, but I find this atmospheric film ultimately to be more nuanced and thoughtful after initially feeling it might be too abstract for my taste. The handsome cast is believable and Ko's solid and watchable performance anchors the film well. Despite its arthouse tendencies, there's no shortage of substance or story in its screenplay. The first half of the film takes time to make poignant observations regarding life both as a sex-worker and a homosexual living under a repressive regime in China that occasionally turns a blind eye, especially when it's financially prudent to do so, though they're mostly forgotten later on as the film's focus lands on the central romance between the moneyboys, exploring their loneliness and the transient nature of love and sexuality for them, which has an air of Brokeback Mountain (or Happy Together) about it in its melancholic hopelessness, before the arrival of the obligatory ambiguous arthouse film ending.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/18/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

C.B. Yi

Director

C.B. Yi

Director

Yufan Bai

Long

Chen-Tung Ko

Fei

Zhexi Lin

Xiaolai

Chloé Maayan

Lulu

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

88%

67%

Disco Boy

TRAILER

for Disco Boy

96%

91%

Living

TRAILER

for Living

97%

88%

Riceboy Sleeps

100%

39%

The World After Us

76%

64%

Streamline

TRAILER

for Streamline

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Javier Ocaña

El Pais (Spain)

A bit tedious at its core though not enough to disenchant, Moneyboys reaches its best moments when it focuses on family issues... [Full review in Spanish]

Jul 8, 2022

Full Review

Jordi Batlle Caminal

Fotogramas

The most outstanding feature of Moneyboys is its esthetic: elegant mise en scène, beautiful frames, a splendid use of space and scope reminiscent of Nicholas Ray that captures and scrutinizes the protagonist to the bone. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 4/5

Jul 7, 2022

Full Review

Miguel Ángel Romero

Cinemanía (Spain)

An effective exercise of homosexual visibility. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 3/5

Jul 6, 2022

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

One of the slickest dramatic features at Frameline this year, write-director C.B. Yi’s Taiwan-made, mainland China-set debut is like a more emotionally and stylistically cool version of the Filipino call-boy melodramas Lino Brocka popularized.

Jun 28, 2022

Full Review

Juan Pablo Russo

EscribiendoCine

Moneyboys broaches the subject of prostitution in China, choosing to suggest more than show. Only the character's existential journey though guilt, desire, and heartache is explicit. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 8/10

Jun 16, 2022

Full Review

Diego Batlle

Otroscines.com

Boasts an undoubtedly strong narrative and visual landscape – a debut film full of risk and courage. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 3/5

Jun 9, 2022

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Fei makes a living in the big city working as a hustler. His world collapses when he realizes that his family accepts his money but not his homosexuality. Broken-hearted, Fei struggles to create a new beginning in his life.

Director: C.B. Yi, C.B. Yi
Screenwriter: C.B. Yi, C.B. Yi
Production Co: Flash Forward Entertainment, KGP Filmproduktion, La Compagnie Cinématographique, Panache Productions, ZORBA production
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Chinese
Aspect Ratio: Digital 2.39:1