Front Cover

Front Cover is a 2015 drama romance film written and directed by Ray Yeung. The story follows Ryan Fu, a gay Chinese American fashion stylist (Jake Choi), who rejects his ethnic heritage, who is assigned to style Ning (James Chen), an ostensibly heterosexual patriotic actor from Beijing. Front Cover received mixed critical reviews and received awards from festivals such as San Diego Outfest, Boston Asian American Film Festival, and Outflix Film Festival.[1]

Front Cover
Directed byRay Yeung
Produced byKaer Vanice, Chowee Leow, Stan Guingon
Screenplay byRay Yeung
StarringJake Choi, James Chen, Elizabeth Sung, Jennifer Neals Page, Sonia Villani, Li Jun Li, Ming Lee, Benjamin Thys, Tom Ligon
Music byPaul Turner, Darren Morze
CinematographyEun-ah Lee
Edited byJoseph Gutowski
Distributed byStrand Releasing
Release date
  • May 28, 2015 (2015-05-28) (Seattle International Film Festival)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States

Plot

Front Cover tells the story of Ryan Fu, a gay Chinese American who rejects his Asian heritage and has learnt to suppress it to climb up the social ladder. Through talent and hard work he has attained his dream job as an assistant to Francesca, a celebrity fashion stylist. One day Francesca assigns Ryan to style Ning, an actor who has just arrived from Beijing, for a top magazine photo shoot. Ning dismisses Ryan's initial Western styling and demands Ryan creates an image for him which represents the power of the new China. Their opinions clash resulting in a strained working relationship.

Over the following days, they socialize whilst working together and discover not only do they share a lot in common, a mutual attraction begins to develop. As they get closer Ryan reveals that he detests his Chinese heritage because he is ashamed of his impoverished upbringing. Ning also opens up and confesses that he is closeted. As they fall in love, a Chinese tabloid magazine exposes Ning as gay. Terrified of the impact it will have on his career, Ning begs Ryan to lie for him at a press conference. Ryan must now decide whether to help Ning or stay true to himself.[2]

Cast

Release

Front Cover premiered in 2015 at the Seattle International Film Festival.[3] in the Catalyst Competition section, and was again in Competition at the 2015 Chicago International Film Festival.[1] It was the closing film for the Asian American International Film Festival in New York in 2016,[4] as well as for the 2016 Sacramento Asian Pacific Film Festival,[5] and the Poland LGBT Film Festival.[6]

Strand Releasing[7] and Edko Films Ltd.[8] acquired USA and Hong Kong distribution rights. It was released in the US in August 2016 and in Hong Kong in October 2016. Sahamongkolfilm International Co, Ltd. released the movie in Bangkok, Thailand in August 2016.[9]

Reception

Front Cover holds an 82% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[10] Godfrey Cheshire of RogerEbert.com describes it as, "A skillfully written and acted gay love story about two young men of Chinese ancestry...The transition from distrust to wary friendship to something more passionate in a movie like this depends a lot on the writing, and Yeung’s is subtle and assured, tracing an emotional arc that’s believably nuanced."[11] Robyn Bahr of the Village Voice described it as a "sexy, ambitious queer rom-com(ish) drama."[12] Jeannette Catsoulis reviewed the movie for the New York Times and called the film a "sensitive, decorous and buffed by Eun-ah Lee’s warm photography."[13]

Accolades

Awards
  • Winner Best Screenplay at the FilmOut San Diego Film Festival 2016 [14]
  • Winner Jury Award Best Domestic Feature Outflix Film Festival Memphis 2016 [15]
  • Winner Audience Award for Best Narrative Film at the Boston Asian American Film Festival 2016 [16]
  • Winner Best Full Feature at Serile Filmului Gay International Film Festival Romania 2016 [17]
  • Winner Best Actor (to James Chen) at Australia Golden Koala Chinese Film Festival 2017 [18]

Nominations
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References
  1. "FRONT COVER WILL COMPETE AT THE CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL". Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  2. Cheshire, Godfrey. "Front Cover movie review & film summary (2016)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  3. "SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES AUDIENCE & COMPETITION AWARDS". siff.net. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  4. "AAIFF16 Closing Night Premiere of Front Cover Carpet Arrivals". filmfestivals.com. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  5. "2016 Sacramento Asian Pacific Film Festival Program". Sacramento Asian Pacific Film Festival. 2016-05-28.
  6. "FRONT COVER PREMIERES AS THE CLOSING FILM AT THE POLAND LGBT FILM FESTIVAL". Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  7. "TIFF: Ray Yeung's 'Front Cover' Goes to Strand Releasing". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  8. Frater, Patrick; Frater, Patrick (2015-10-03). "Busan: Edko Films Snags 'Cover' Rights". Variety. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  9. "Front Cover". Sahamongkolfilm. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  10. Front Cover (2016), retrieved 2019-11-07
  11. Cheshire, Godfrey. "Front Cover movie review & film summary (2016) | Roger Ebert". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  12. "Queer Rom-Com(ish) Drama 'Front Cover' Is an Ambitious Breakthrough". The Village Voice. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
  13. Catsoulis, Jeannette (2016-08-04). "Review: In 'Front Cover,' Struggling for Self-Acceptance". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  14. "FilmOut San Diego Sponsors". filmoutsandiego.com. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  15. OUTMemphis (2016-09-16). "Outflix 2016 Award Winners!". OUTMemphis. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  16. "Boston Asian American Film Festival (2016)". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  17. "Serile Filmului Gay International Film Festival, Romania (2016)". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  18. "Golden Koala Chinese Film Festival 2017". Concrete Playground. Retrieved 2018-12-04.
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