I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen any film, gay or straight, that focused on senior romance. There is a lot of ageism in the gay scene,” says Yeung.Īnd he’s right. “Investors don’t see the marketability and commercial value of old bodies, especially in the context of gay films. Relationships between older people are a topic rarely examined in the youth-oriented genre of LGBTQ+ films. It is Yeung’s best film yet, a meaningful and refreshing portrayal of the inconveniences of ageing and romance, starring two older, closeted gay men. Twilight’s Kiss was first introduced as Suk Suk – Cantonese for “uncle”, both in the familial sense and as an honorific for older men – at the 24th Busan International Film Festival.
He says, “We wouldn’t be where we are today without what these men have gone through. “Their sadness and shame” are the story Yeung wants to tell. Still, we purposefully leave behind our forebears to carry their trauma alone.
This idea of hiding one’s identity might seem like a distant memory to today’s self-actualised youth. Gay men lived in the shadows of society, maintaining their veneer of heteronormative stability by marrying straight women at great cost to themselves and their families. Even before the Aids pandemic, social stigma led to the pathologisation and criminalisation of the global community. “To survive, they’ve had to ignore who they are,” says director Ray Yeung about the older gay men of Hong Kong, the subject of his latest film, Twilight’s Kiss.įor a long time, the future was inconceivable for gay men.