LouHomey
From my favorite movies..
Konterr
Brilliant and touching
Micah Lloyd
Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.
Frances Chung
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Gordon-11
This film tells the story of a closeted Chinese American teenager, who is discovered by his step-mother that he is in possession of a gay magazine. His father throws him out and disowns him, and he has to turn to desperate measures just to survive.I am impressed by "Ethan Mao" because it is different from other gay films. First, it explores the cultural shackles of being gay in a Chinese family, which is really touching. Secondly, it is almost a gay crime thriller which is very unusual! Third, sex is not needed to sell this film. There is only one kissing scene in the whole film, and that is it! The film is intense and touching, and I cried at the end. I really enjoyed watching "Ethan Mao".
Gi C
it will kind of fly out of your expectation when you hold the idea at the beginning that this is a "gay" movie. it is more about family actually. All different kinds of relationship in an Asian-culturally-related family. The father and the son, the brother and the brother from the same parents, the brother and the brother from different mothers, the step-mother and son, the husband and the wife... they are all melted together here. not wild gay sex, not lots of dick, prepare for something else mentally before you put the disc into the player. And you should give urself a bit of patience the day when you decide to watch it. It is not that catchy at the first part of the movie. cheap-production, that is what i thought, however it will grow into more.
andrefiora
original. moving. wonderful. powerful... sweet & tender. you've got to see it, absolutely! i don't have already realized if the inexperience of the protagonists (ethan & remigio) is a defect, or something that made me appreciate the movie more! but i guess i would opt for the second say, since i cried so much at the end! and i also appreciated the role of the little brother even if i would have liked him...more gay! congratulations to the director who prevented the protagonists to kiss for the whole movie...i was there saying: come on ethan, touch him, kiss him...but at the end I realized where he wanted to go! last scene: the best kiss i've ever seen on a screen. don't miss it!
steve gray
I would say this is one of the best gay, Asian love stories ever made, but it isn't. It's just a great film whose lead characters happen to be gay hustlers. As their families have abandoned them, they have to use whatever is at hand to survive. At first, there seems to be no reason for their relationship, and the whole self sacrificing nature of Romeo seem too over the top. Only it soon becomes clear what is really going on. But the great strength of the film is it is about the effect parents violence and coldness affects children, often manifesting itself in dangerous and self destructive ways. At the end, realizing what a beautiful film the director had crafted, I would have to say it is one of the best independent gay American films ever made. But I have always been a sucker for a romance in disguise