Sous la chaleur du soleil

Before watching In the heart of the sun, I have not seen Jiang Wen's film less. Today I want to use this movie to talk about the influence that Jiang Wen has brought to me. This movie is not too late to watch, it is more like keeping a precious to watch. After all, the previous works that I seen of Director Jiang gave me too much shock, so his " Virgin works" must be kept for the final to watch. I have tried to write some film reviews of his works before, but most of them have been holding back for a long time. I don't know how write these film reviews. I only have those key words, exaggerated performances, rich rhythmic images, and black humor? For future works, these are indeed all. But Virgo is different. This is the first work of fresh blood entering the film industry. Talent and spirit are the most abundant time, and ignorant works must be very interesting.

The film is called In heart of the sun, but I think it should be called Jiang Wen's heart of the sun. The background of the story is Beijing during the Cultural Revolution. It is the time when Jiang Wen lived where he grew. The story takes place in the place where he grew up, and the actors are more like his childhood. People in memory. There are a few buddies who are crazy every day, the girls who like, and the "fools" who are lingering in my memory. In the context of the times, the Cultural Revolution was not an era that was shining in the sun, but aside from the background, we returned to the little people. In that era when there were no mobile phones and naive ideas, these children who grew up in the compound brought the audience to a perfect experience from the films. A different experience. In this group of small groups, they all live happily and freely, as if they are isolated from the outside world. They do what they like, have their own dreams, have girls they like, and have countless troubles. At first glance, it seems to be no different from the children nowadays, isn't it just a bunch of kids running wild. Yes, this group of children presents the last sunshine under the political wall for a generation. Sometimes I am quite envious of children of this age, carefree, without mobile phones or computers, without any external fragmented information interference, and it can be regarded as a pure world. Jiang Wen photographed a era when he was a child, and photographed the best aspect that audiovisual language can present to the audience. His audiovisual creative talents made me fascinated by the rhythmic sense of his movies, not only the shock brought by the rhythm of the music, but also the feeling of matching the music and the picture.

In any case, from the memory in the bones of a generation of people in the siege to the memory being processed into art products, his films always bring surprises and inspiration to me.

I have many classemates that come from Jun Qv Da Yuan(military region), who act exactly as those in the film. In those days(since 1972), there wasnt so much on concern in our mind, hence fighting against the children from other section in the military region became the only extracurriculum activity. Here Id like to express my admire for Jiang Wen, who shot this movie successfully from the first point of view. Thanks!

The cultural revolution was a tumultuous time in China, to put it lightly. A sort of IRL hunger games that saw famine, deadly skirmishes, and violent unrest throughout the country, especially among the youth. The gratuitous violence was only touched upon in the film. The chaos of the cultural revolution was a distant backdrop for what is essentially a coming-of-age story. After reading the wiki, I found out that it is based on a book (an author's scattered recollections of the time) in which the kids belong to a sort of privileged class that was somewhat insulated from the aforementioned chaos.

So, with that said, it is really a movie about first love, lust, jealousy, trying to belong, discovering one's self, and the adolescent awkwardness that pervades it all. In that respect, the film is a triumph. It is superbly acted (especially from the lead) who's emotive stumbling through puberty is sure to elicit uncomfortable emotions from your own teenage years. Add to that the atmospheric and thoughtful camerawork, and you have a unique and memorable film.

This is, by all means, one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen.

In spite of the generational gap between us who were born in the 80s and the director who went through their puberty in the 60s, it's a portrait and poem of memory and childhood, regardless of age matters. It is physically impossible to be absolutely honest and draw back memories in the exact realistic way. So we all start telling our own stories mixed with both facts and imaginations.

This film actually reminds me of Giuseppe Tornatore's masterpiece Malèna. The beginning of puberty desire for females, become the fundamental essence of both movies. Both boys had their final releases, with endings filled with both bitterness and sweetness. I believe that every single male audience who watched these two films can recall their dim but lively memory of the curiosity for girls at that age. Amazing...as a Chinese myself, I did find myself more involved with Jiang Wen's piece though.

The cinematography, from Gu Changwei, who's also known for his Berlin Silver Bear winning direction of Peacock, simply stands in the realm of perfection. The yellowish and blurring photographic construction of scenarios generates the nostalgic theme of the movie, and helps the story become more beautiful as it has already been.

The black&white ending, FANTASTIC. A truly imaginative and creative conclusion. Apart from the ironic contrast of the hierarchical statuses among the 'gang' members comparing to their old days, the final line shot by the retarded guy actually made me think. We are becoming materially and intellectually richer and cleverer as we grows, but should those childishness and innocently pure emotions from our childhood be cherished? Days 'in the heat of the sun' has not only symbolize memory, but also speak for the pureness and simple innocence. We are all 'fools', as we enter the kingdom of adulthood, we will inevitably lose our naive characteristics.

Life is always about gaining and losing at the same time, isn't it?

Politically and culturally speaking, Jian Wen did not focus much of his storytelling on the miseries and depressions resulted from Mao's Cultural Revolution. Again, this is not a realistic representation of the concrete historical notion, it's a artistic craft tributing to memories. My parents, who shared the similar historical experience with Jiang Wen, did not acknowledge this film as a proper description of their childhood when they saw it. "It's too romantic to be true." as they said to me. However, they both admitted that the film did reflect their own fantasies of an ideal past. Every time I ask them about what happened with their childhood, they can only give me a vague framework. A lot of the times, the recalling always come with a particular item, like shoes, football, soy sauce, Mao's red book...

"Sometimes, maybe a kind of sound and a stream of smell, can bring you back to the truth." as Jiang Wen said in the voice-over in the film. It's not only for people grew up in the 60s, but also for everybody. Funny as it is, memories can cheat on you and rationalize you in the same filed.

A Time to Live in Dream, this Beach Boy classic accidentally pops into my head. "The child's joyous tear, with innocence he has no fear, now I know what love really is..." Days with brightly shining and heating sun conspire to create a time to live in dream, what a marvel!

This film is an excellent depiction of how people construct narratives of their own past. They take what they like, exaggerate those aspects, try to fit it into a coherent story. They try to construct stories that depict them as who they want to be. People may tell these constructed stories to others, but they also try to convince themselves of the veracity of their constructed stories. This movie explores these ideas in a very powerful way, through the viewpoint of a boy growing up. I found it especially meaningful because I can personally relate to it. I'm not going to spoil the best scenes for you by telling you the way in which the ideas are presented.