Looking back - but not necessarily in anger - is currently the theme of choice in the art-house film scene. Take Wang Xiaoshuai's Shanghai Dreams or Peng Xiaolian's Shanghai Story for instance. Both films concern the impact of the past on the present – especially that most troubled of decades from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s. In Sunflower, Beijing-based director Zhang Yang looks back (for 130 minutes) at a family in his home town. The story centers on Xiangyang, whose father, a painter, is sent to the countryside in 1969. When he returns seven years later, Xiangyang doesn't recognize him, or his parental authority. Yet slowly the father regains his influence and eventually leads his son to a successful painting career in the late 1990s. Zhang injects a personal note in the father-and-son conflict; his own father, Zhang Huaxun, was a successful filmmaker from the 1970s. As a result, this is personal filmmaking at its best, providing thoughtful analysis and psychological insight.This RMB 12 million film is one with which audiences can identify; the father-son relationship parallels the transformation of society as a whole, as evidenced in the radical shift from the traditional siheyuan to modern multi-story buildings. Still, the underlying sense of nostalgia is balanced by hope for the future.
Fortissimo Films/Ming Productions

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue