SUNFLOWER (XIANGRIKUI) Asian New Classics

Riding the new wave of Chinese cinema, Zhang Yang’s (QUITTING, SHOWER) latest film is an ode to change and an engaging analysis of the importance of the family as social unit in Chinese culture. SUNFLOWER centers on the hardship and conflicts of a father/son relationship.

It is 1976 and the death of Chairman Mao has brought an end to the tyranny of the Gang of Four. Painter Gengnian (Sun Haiying) has spent years in a labor comp where his hands were permanently damaged. He returns home to his beloved wife Xiuqing (Joan Chen) and his nine-year-old son Xiangyang (Zhang Fan), who, besides not recognizing him, is also deeply disturbed by the imposition of this new presence in his life.

Mature and luminous, SUNFLOWER glows with an interior light that seems to settle like a sunbeam – shining with particles of memory-over visions of a China forever lost in the frenzy of modernization.