Sunflower (Xiang ri kui) (2005)

69% of critics liked it
(13 reviews)
76% of users liked it
(634 ratings)

The tumultuous relationship between a father returning home after years in a labor camp and the nine-year-old son who doesn't quite know what to make of this new man in his life lies at the heart of director Zhang Yang's heartfelt drama addressing the nature of change and the importance of family in… More The tumultuous relationship between a father returning home after years in a labor camp and the nine-year-old son who doesn't quite know what to make of this new man in his life lies at the heart of director Zhang Yang's heartfelt drama addressing the nature of change and the importance of family in Chinese culture. Chairman Mao has died and the Gang of Four have fallen, leaving former painter Gengnian (Sun Haiying) to return home to his wife, Xiuqing (Joan Chen), and the pair's nine-year-old son Xiangyang (Zhang Fan). His hands permanently damaged by the ravages of hard labor, Gengnian cannot return to painting, though his young son has shown an abundance of artistic promise. Troubled by the sudden presence of a father he has never known and rebelling against the path laid before him, Xiangyang ignites a firecracker in his hand in hopes that it may derail his artistic career. In the years that follow, Xiangyang's reputation as a talented artist grows while his relationship with his father remains forever troubled. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 9 min.
Directed By: Yang Zhang
Written By: Cai Shangjun, Huo Xin, Zhang Yang
Genres: Drama, Romance, Art House & International

In Theaters: Aug 17, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Jun 10, 2008
Studio: Seville Pictures/New Yorker Films

Critic Reviews

Jason Anderson, Globe and Mail
Sunflower succeeds as both a moving family drama and a microcosm of China's social history since the 1970s.
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
Although filled with a plethora of dramatic events, including earthquakes and floods, the film never achieves real dramatic momentum, due in large part to its needlessly sluggish pacing.
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
Like Douglas Sirk without the throw pillows, Sunflower is a shamelessly old-fashioned melodrama performed with such sincerity that resistance is futile.
Jan Stuart, Newsday
Paging John O'Hara. One would have to reach back to those melodramatic family potboilers of the '50s to find such an unfettered blast of guilt-tripping and misdirected love.
Julia Wallace, Village Voice
Sunflower plays less like the epic it aspires to be than an episode of Full House: Beijing.
Derek Elley, Variety
The most conventional, but paradoxically the deepest felt and most emotionally affecting, of mainland Chinese helmer Zhang Yang's four pics.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
An odd combination of sociopolitical metaphor and conventional melodrama, Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yang's Sunflower has moments of keen insight and power touching on the ways in which human character and personality are shaped by historical experience.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
An odd combination of sociopolitical metaphor and conventional melodrama, Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yang's Sunflower has moments of keen insight and power touching on the ways in which human character and personality are shaped by historical experience.
Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times
The film's father-son friction grows occasionally repetitious, but it springs from a sensitive, well-written melodrama that earns its emotions with tender sincerity.
Liz Braun, Jam! Movies
There is so much going on in Sunflower that you may want to see it more than once.
Eric Monder, Film Journal International
Whatever the movie lacks in sociopolitical insight, it makes up for with moving storytelling.
Rob Humanick, Slant Magazine
A much better film in theory than in practice.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
A fascinating portrait of 30 years in a turbulent relationship between a domineering Chinese father and his stubborn son.
Adam Nayman, eye WEEKLY
This film marks a return to more accessible fare for Chinese director Zhang Yang.

Read all 14 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Panta O

[b][size=5][color=brown]向日葵 - SUNFLOWER (SUNCOKRET) (2005)[/color] [/size] [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/94/Sunflower_Poster.jpg/200px-Sunflower_Poster.jpg[/img] [color=red][i]Ova drama iz Kine u režiji Zhang Yang-a (SHOWER)… More
[b][size=5][color=brown]向日葵 - SUNFLOWER (SUNCOKRET) (2005)[/color] [/size] [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/94/Sunflower_Poster.jpg/200px-Sunflower_Poster.jpg[/img] [color=red][i]Ova drama iz Kine u režiji Zhang Yang-a (SHOWER) ide u detalje analizirajući život kineske porodice u vreme kulturne revolucije i prvog dela XX veka. [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1185558/photo_02_hires.jpg[/img] Odrastanje dečaka koji ima problema prihvatiti oca koji se vraća sa odsluženja kazne je tema koja polako prelazi u odrastanje i shvatanje okoline veoma talentovanog tinejdžera koji ne želi ići stopama svoga oca. Ali sudbina je ipak ona koja odlučuje kuda dalje... [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1185558/photo_01_hires.jpg[/img] Suncokret (na kineskom 向日葵; i na pinyin: Xiàng rì kúi) je četvrti film režisera Zhang Yang-a i rađen je u ko-produkciji sa Ming Productions, Beijing Film Studio i Hong Kongškim predstavništvom holandske kompanije Fortissimo Films. [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1185558/photo_03_hires.jpg[/img] Film je podeljen u tri glavna dela, prvi se dešava 1976 godine sa povratkom umetnika Gengniana svojoj porodici ; drugi deo se dešava 1987 kada Xiangyang (to bi trebalo značiti "suncokret" koliko sam ja razumeo) ima 19 godina i treći deo se dešava 1999 godine, kada je dečaku već 30 godina. [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1185558/photo_05_hires.jpg[/img] Glavne zvezde filma su Sun Haiying i Joan Chen kao muž i žena, a uloge sina u raznim godištima (fiml se bavi razdobljem od 30 godina) tumače glumci Zhang Fan, Gao Ge i Wang Haidi. Veoma lepo umetničko delo koje posebnu pažnju posvećuje ljubavi i nemogućnosti da se ona jasno izrazi u datim trenucima. Moja je ocena 7/10 i rado preporučujem ovaj film svim generacijama.[/i][/color][/b]
Lesley N

Chinese drama about a father, returned from 6 years in a work camp, and his son, who's going to be an artist like dad whether he likes it or not. Interesting, and no doubt fully approved by the Chinese government.