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| Sunflower | 
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| Director: Zhang Yang
Actors: Joan Chen, Zhang Yu, Sun Haiyung, Liang Jing Dong, Liu Zi Feng
Studio: New Yorker Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $26.99
You Save: $2.96 (10%)
Buy New/Used from $12.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  (1 reviews)
Sales Rank: 39933
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc, Subtitled, Surround Sound
Languages: English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), Mandarin Chinese (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD
Running Time: 129 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: D112508D
UPC: 717119112547
EAN: 0717119112547
ASIN: B0015TJGHS
Release Date: July 1, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
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
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| Customer Reviews:
A Slice of Chinese Culture and History Wrapped in a Wonderfully Engaging Drama July 24, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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."
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