Xiang ri kui

I was born in 80'S in China but love displayed in this film still moved me for the same experience of my past when I grew in my aunt's family and there something gap between me and my relatives. So it's a better reflection of real life even than the zenith sort of film.

Joan isn't dealt with Hollywood's A-budget films for her independent film spirits. And here Joan is precisely show her talent of acting for this mother's features even with her whole body and every organ sensitively though it's little pity her scenes are not that many.

It's too bad for me that I could not comment on it with words, and as Chinese I appreciate Joan Chen.I hope I can see more and more good films for us.

To every son,father plays an important role in his life. To every father,son is his hope and imagine. When the father lost his own dream of drawing,he placed the unfinished dream to his son,with the faith that it's good for the son.However,the son didn't understand the father's doing.He was prevented from playing with his young fellow,and since then,it's hard to drop the hateness to the force from his father.

The huge changes of the China society is clearly expressed throughout the movie.Every Chinese family was developing contemporarily.The father and the son were growing up as well.But the relationship between the father and his son,is still complicated.The love is always companioned with pain.Maybe everybody has a similar experience with this.

It is said that the inspiration of the movie at first come from a letter from the director's father.The letter used to make the director and all the crew cry.Watching the movie,I could appreciate the sincere heart of the director,especially during the portray of the childhood.

The movie was both opened and ended with sunflowers,which,I think ,may mean the forever beautiful bless from the father to his son,his blood-linked imagine.The feeling of watching the movie,is just like that of browsing old pictures in a family album. Those memories are sweet as well as sad.When everybody understand each other,the parents' hair has become white,and the old architecture has been broken up.

Sunflower is everything a first-rate film experience can be. It is a moving and wonderful story and beautiful to watch. It engaged me in every moment. The music is perfect, the casting and acting uniformly outstanding, the technical and aesthetic skills and intuitive choices of the writer, director and crew all add up to a superior artistic and emotional experience.

The story of the struggle between a son and his father is universal, (but not always limited to sons). The historical, familial and societal structure in which the action takes place are uniquely Chinese. It is a multi-leveled experience to watch; the deeply personal, the historical/societal and the universal. To one degree or another, we can all relate to or have engaged in behaviors that take place in the context of this story, with friends as well as family.

It is food for lingering thought and conversations about families, China, and how we are affected by the rapidly changing societies we live in.

It is, as the person who sat behind said on his way down the aisle, "Well, that's one of the best movies I'll ever see." I agree.

There are two scenes in Sunflower, a rare Chinese gem of a film, that genuinely made me feel that 'choke' you get when you're seeing something in a film that you know emotionally affects you in some way. The scenes are simple and seemingly unexciting on paper: a girl ice-skating as a male admirer sketches her and an apparent stray cat 'returning' to where it once lived. But to have two scenes that are indeed so simple on paper work so well in a film and be able to get that reaction, is a great achievement. Part of the reason you get this reaction is because of what Sunflower does in the preceding events leading up to these scenes.

I think to say this is the Chinese 'Forrest Gump' is a little too incorrect but immediately coming away from this film, it would be easy to label it so. Whereas Forrest Gump had a certain 'lack' of a father figure, it is the father figure that plays an important role in this film – mostly in the opening third but it has an effect on events thereafter. Sunflower splits its narrative up into three chapters; something it borrows from American cinema, for sure, but it has that theme of 'authority' running through it throughout. Often this authority is channelled toward Xiangyang (who is portrayed by three actors at different ages) but the mother will also exercise her anger and authority when the family are turned down a flat for themselves and the father in question spends several months away at a Communist run camp in the 1960s – a place where authority is rife and anger is taken out on its inhabitants. It is also because of this camp visit that makes the father so authoritarian toward his son as his artist 'living' is ruined and thus; wants his son to go down the route instead.

It would not surprise me if the film was loosely based on some real experiences that the screenwriter might have gone through. The opening chapter takes place in 1967 where the film revolves around a nine year old Xiangyang and his struggling relationship with his father. During this segment, Xiangyang experiences an earthquake; a military coup following the death of a communist leader and an actual gathering in the town square featuring all the kids as they watch a film projected onto a makeshift screen. Such authenticity, especially the last example, and attention to detail as we have the world in which these character inhabit pointed out to us –earthquakes and how they affect characters; the end of regimes and how the consequences of the celebrations can impact on them.

With these three segments set during different years, we really get the feeling that time has passed because with the attention to detail such as the examples above, the atmosphere that various different things happen at various different times that do not further the plot help in the progression of character relationships. The second segment happens in 1976 and sees the greatest progression in its characters. The ice-skating scene is, as I've mentioned, one of the more beautiful scenes in the film for a number of reasons. Firstly, there is the framing which gets closer and closer to the figure as they skate and Xiangyang draws – he is getting each detail he wants as we systematically see her in a closer fashion. What's more, the framing does not suggest he is watching her in a manner that represents the 'gaze' because it is impossible for a human being to see an item at one distance and then at a closer distance without physically moving – something Xiangyang doesn't do. The music and poetic movement of the skater aids in the effectiveness of the scene.

One of the more remarkable things about Sunflower is that it feels epic and this is without any cheap gimmicks or special effects. If the film has any sort of flaw, it is that the final chapter revolves around a domestic situation that is whether or not the couple that is Xiangyang and Xiuqing (Chen) should have a baby. This plot path feels a little familiar but it is supported very well by its constant theme of authority when the parents would like them to have a child. But, the disturbing undercurrent here is that they obviously are not able to realise their son is old enough to make decisions for himself. But the final third opens the eyes for other reasons: we are allowed out of the boundaries of the neighbourhood; we get glimpses of the big city and all the mise-en-scene that accompanies it such as motorways, skyscrapers and Xiangyang suddenly driving around in a jeep. It seems his artistic creativity has been furthered and a leak in a pipe adds to the series of outside agency events interfering with the character's lives. Sunflower is not your typical Far East production that relies on martial arts and beautiful cinematography like a Yimou Zhang film might – nor does it resemble a John Woo film. Instead, Yang Zhang directs a touching and straightforward film that touches and captivates whilst remaining entertaining.

It is so easy to see this film as a glimpse of China during a period of upheaval. We see the events of the era, notably Mao's death, the Gang of Four and their downfall, up to the era of small- and later large-scale capitalism. Focusing on changes in society and the impact on families, particularly one, in a small village causes us to lose sight of what this film is really about.

Torn from his family and sent to a reeducation camp, Gengnian is determined to make up for the time he lost (six years) as a father. Like many fathers, and I include my own among them, he feels the need to be firm and instill discipline in his son; to guide him in the direction he "should" go. In this case, it is painting. You see so many American fathers in Gengnian, especially those who are children of the depression. You also see those fathers that live vicariously though their children and push them to excel even without asking if this is what they really want.

The film gives us a glimpse of a changing China, but we also see family interaction in a way that we are not familiar with, and that alone makes it worthwhile. But, it is not a documentary; we should focus on our relationships with our fathers and sons, and we certainly will if we allow ourselves to be drawn into the film.

Yang Zhang has given us something to really think about. With brilliant cinematography by Jong Lin (Bend it Like Beckham, Eat drink Man Woman), and an amazingly good performance by Joan Chen as the materialistic mother, it was a real treat.