By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Yang Zhang
Starring: Ge Gao | Haiying Sun | Joan Chen | Wang Haidi | Zhang Fan
Original language title: Xiang ri kui
Country: china, hong_kong, netherlands
Year: 2007
Running time: 129
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401808/
Michael says: “SUNFLOWER is Chinese director Zhang Yang’s autobiographical look at the relationship between a father and son across three turbulent decades in China. Xiangyang is born in 1967 during the Cultural Revolution. As an infant, his father, Gengnian, is taken away to a reform camp, and for the first six years he is raised by his mother. When his father does return, Xiangyang resents this authority figure and the two clash for the rest of their lives. Xiangyang’s father was a painter whose hands were injured during his time at the reform camp. He views Xiangyang as his second chance, and when the boy shows a talent for drawing, he pushes his son relentlessly in that direction. Resentments build throughout the years until Gengnian begins to soften his stubbornness in his old age. When Xiangyang finally becomes a father himself, he may finally begin to understand his father better.
“I haven’t seen SHOWER, Zhang’s first and best-known film in America, but I loved that film’s follow-up, QUITTING,
which was also a biography of sorts, this time of the actor Hongshen, who plays himself. Family plays a very important role in this film as well. He has had another film since SUNFLOWER, the more comedic GETTING HOME. 4 cats”