Product Details

• Actors: Joan Chen, Zhang Yu, Sun Haiyung, Liang Jing Dong, Liu Zi Feng
• Directors: Zhang Yang
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Surround Sound
• Language: English, Mandarin Chinese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: New Yorker Video
• DVD Release Date: July 1, 2008
• Run Time: 129 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0015TJGHS
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #79,932 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Sunflower" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Explores the tension between tradition and modernity with insight and intimacy. --Jeannette Catsoulis, THE NEW YORK TIMES

Product Description

Sunflower is the story of the Zhang family in Beijing father, mother and son across three decades, centering on the tensions and misunderstandings between father and son. Nine-year-old Xiangyang is having the time of his life, free of adult supervision until the day he meets the father he can hardly remember. Having spent years away, he returns with strong ideas about his son learning to draw. But Xiangyang chafes under his father's constant rules and soon stages his own revolution against the lessons enforced.

Years later, despite his rebellion, Xiangyang has become an accomplished draughtsman. But he still dreams of escaping his father's clutches, having no idea how far his father will go to control his life.

Married and with a burgeoning career as a painter, the worst-ever conflict erupts as Xiangyang informs his parents that they have decided to abort their child. Suddenly, Xiangyang's father disappears. A frantic search finds a message: The time has come to do something for himself.

- Featurette: The Making of Sunflower
- Theatrical trailer
- Optional English subtitles
- Enhanced for 16x9 Tvs
- 5.1 Soundtrack
- Scene selections

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars poignant and remarkable, May 14, 2009

By	Robert D. Harmon "bobnbob3" (Mill Valley, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The film speaks to universal emotions, those of family, conflict between generations, parental yearnings, aging, a sense of a familiar world vanishing into modernity. This film captures all of that, and needs little translating. I know I felt moved, and that doesn't happen easily.

Cinematically it's a remarkable triumph. The director uses color themes in a vivid and coherent way, one I can only compare to that of French director Jean Renoir. The settings capture the old courtyards of Beijing at a time when they're rapidly going under demolition, something the film uses. The story covers a tumultuous period but keeps it coherent, breaking it in three episodes: 1976, a time of political and real earthquakes; 1987, as a new Chinese way of life is emerging; 1999, in a modern Beijing that seems so unfamiliar to those who experienced the older period -- including, to some extent, this film's audience.

The director has also elicited marvelous performances from a talented cast, notably Joan Chen and Haiying Sun as mother and father, who mature -- visually and emotionally -- convincingly. He also got a strong performance out of the actors playing the son at ages 9, 19 and 32. That, and an evocative musical score, makes for an emotional experience. The viewer will come to care for these people.

The "making of" extra feature is sparse but has some good insights by the director and producer. The scenes where the director -- who lived through the 1970s -- is showing his modern child actors how to play in the old manner, is something for the film students to admire.

It's a pity this film didn't have a wider theater release, but the DVD is now on hand and deserves a wide audience.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Slice of Chinese Culture and History Wrapped in a Wonderfully Engaging Drama, July 23, 2008

By	David Crumm "Editor of www.ReadTheSpirit.com" (Canton, Michigan) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In China, there still are deep wounds from the Cultural Revolution that turned entire families topsy turvy. This was the turbulent era in the final years of Mao's life when family and friends were pushed to denounce each other and many of China's brightest and best were tortured and exiled into the countryside to perform manual labor. As families have tried to reassemble themselves in the decades since that violence, however, even traditional ideas about "home" are vanishing.

I know from my own work as a journalist reporting from Asia that, in the absence of other deeper religious practices, the basic commitment to family remains a tap root of spiritual values. But even this tap root winds up severed in these waves of cultural and social change.

That's the context of "Sunflower," a bittersweet drama that runs just over two hours. It's a gorgeously photographed and deeply engaging story starting with the drama of a plucky little boy who has been running wild in the streets of his traditional maze-like neighborhood -- until his stern father suddenly reappears. The boy doesn't realize that his father, once a great artist, has had his dreams dashed by a long exile in the Cultural Revolution. He can't understand why his father's love for him is expressed in an obsessive desire for the little boy to develop his artistic talents.

The first half of the film is this kind of compelling, wonderfully written family drama. Then, director Zhang Yang suddenly jumps forward so that we see this boy as a young man -- falling in love with a beautiful Chinese ice skater. If your heart isn't made of stone, you'll quickly soften to this part of the story, again beautifully photographed -- as we see the young skater through the eyes of this budding artist.

The film's final scenes take us even further into the saga of this scarred, yet spiritually resilient family. I won't spoil the end, but you'll find yourself -- just as I am doing here -- urging friends to see "Sunflower."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gem, June 21, 2009

By	R. de Aquino (Brazil) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I saw this beautiful film on cable TV last night and was blown over by its deeply felt emotional core and seamless artistry. This is a psychologically dense story told through the simplest, most direct means. Breathtaking. The actors are something to behold: their performances are fresh, truly convincing. I finally realized, to my shame, how beautiful and talented Joan Chen is. Too bad the DVD is no longer available. I would love to have it in my collection.