Star Appeal

By: Amos Lassen

"Star Appeal"

A Visitor from Outer Space

Amos Lassen

New from WaterBearer Films is "Star Appeal" or "What Do You Say to a Naked Alien", a delightful new film from China directed by Cui Zi'en ("Feeding Boys", "Ayaya").
A naked Martian comes to earth and Xiao Bo adopts him and takes him home. He wants to teach him about his world and tries to educate him in personal grooming, geography and sports. Xiao Bo names him E.T. and he discovers that E.T. has come to earth to learn about human physical interaction and it seems he has found the perfect place or a better family. Xiao Bo is bisexual and he has a boyfriend and a girlfriend both of whom feel threatened by E.T. Xiao's girlfriend even tries to have a baby with E.T. but the alien lapses into a coma and the only way to bring him around is for Xiao to say "I love you" to him. E.T. cannot leave and return home until he learns and understands earthly love and Xiao, in a moment of passion, teaches it to him.
I realize that the entire premise of the film sounds preposterous. This is a movie that justice to it cannot be found in a review. It is pure escapism and just plain fun and there is nothing wrong with either. Pop some popcorn, put the film on and have a good time.

By: CJS

This is by no means a great movie, or really even a good one. The storytelling is drawn out and slow, the characters aren't terribly interesting, and technically, the picture quality is excruciatingly bad. But there are two redeeming factors: one, it's by Cui Zien, who is China's premier gay director (and is always worth supporting ... when's the box set coming??); and two, to be blunt, the male nudity, which is plentiful. Not only is the alien fully nude throughout much of the film, but the other main characters (and one or two characters) have their unclothed moments too. One star for the director, and one star for the attractive and not-so-bashful actors.