Best movie of this year hands down!

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Such a frustrating disappointment

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The key scene of this wonderful film about a father-son relationship happens towards the end. The father, a former painter whose life and career were crushed by the political troubles of the Cultural Revolution that China went through four decades ago visits the newly opened exhibition of his son's paintings. He walks through the paintings which like in a time travel bring back the emotions of his son uneasy growing up. Then he stops in front of one work, representing the double portrait of child with blurred features and huge deep hunting and hunted eyes near the portrait of a man whose traits are hard to distinguish, hidden like by fog. The two portraits seem unrelated, but yet we feel that the boy's uneasiness is related to the man's portrait absence of clarity. The visiting father sits on a bench. Then his son joins him. Without a word the father extends his hand to his son as a sign of congratulation. It's almost the only sign of father to son tenderness in the whole film.As many good movies 'Sunflower' can be read and interpreted at multiple levels. It is the story of a relationship between a father that is taken away from the child to find him back nine years later, a father who tends to dominate and control his son's life beyond 'normal' father to son care, in an attempt to realize through his son's talent and artistic training the destiny that was refused to him because of the convulsions of history. At this level the film is wonderfully helped by a team of actors were Bin Li and Joan Chen have the leading roles of the parents, and three different actors represent the phases of development of the boy, with Wang Haidi playing the key mature period. Another reading goes beyond the immediate dialogs and makes us reflect to the relation between individual and history in a country which underwent such profound transformations as China did in the last half century. History and politics play all the time a role in the film, they are present in the background even if politics are not openly discussed. A radio or TV set seem to be permanently open, family relations or lodging depend on low scale policies, and the very premises of the film are derived from a huge political event. On this perspective the relation between father and son may become a symbol of the relation between the older and newer generations of China, a country were new ways find their place and replace the older methods in economy and in the life of its citizens. In a country and tradition were elders are respected and order is the supreme governing principle, the story of a rebellious son has a stronger connotation. The title itself can be interpreted in multiple ways - the presence of sunflowers in the action is paralleled by a picturesque resemblance of the flowers brought on screen with the famous sunflowers painted by Van Gogh, the supreme master of art rebellion.At the end the father disappears completely from the life of his son, making him absent at the childbirth of his grandson in what seems to be a gesture of supreme sacrifice knowing his obsession with the life of his son continuing ans repairing his own life and the destiny of the previous generations. Yet, sunflowers are present, and we feel that in the life and spirit of the new generations there is a lot of what the elders induced. An almost Confucianist conclusion to the story of the relation between father and a rebellious son.

Life has all the answers; sometimes, unfortunately, they're not the answers we were hoping for; but the Truth will out, in the end. The suffering chronicled in SUNFLOWER is absolutely Universal in nature- take it from someone who knows first hand-, but so, too, is the depth of feeling and the ties one feels to the past (whether a place or a period of time). I'm reminded, for some reason, of a quote from Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN (it may just be the season, but the quote's a good one): "Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction." It certainly seems that way, more often than not, and, the older I get, the more convinced I become that that quote needs to be carved in stone somewhere.

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.

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.