East Palace, West Palace

The title of this film is slang for the public bathrooms that flank the old imperial palace in the center of Beijing. Here's where gay Chinese men go cruising, a risk almost anywhere (ask George Michael), but especially so in a nation still without a public face to its gay community. Most of Zhang Yuan's stunning movie is set in a nearby police station, where over a long night a cop interrogates a young writer rousted during one of the periodic "palace" raids. The cop (Hu Jun) is a decent guy, intent on teaching A-Lan (Si Han) the error of his ways. But A-Lan will have no part of it. In a scenario worthy of Fassbinder or Genet, the captive turns captor, forcing the policeman to see thwarted desire as real, not deviant.

The film's roots as a stage play do show. But Zhang self-consciously uses the ornate, mirrored police station as a stage where the sultry A-Lan can spin his web. The camera surveys the pair from above, as they circle each other, circle the station itself, reach out in fury and desire. Xiang Min's dissonant music haunts the hothouse.

Zhang is already a thorn to Chinese cultural authorities, and like many of his films, East Palace, West Palace has been acclaimed internationally without being shown at home. Each time it reaches an audience, the movie's point is made twice. Passion -- artistic or sexual -- cannot be forced underground. At the Museum of Fine Arts next Thursday, May 28.

-- Scott Heller