Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

qiuchen Love from father is not so obvious as compared to that from mother.The 60s-90s scene background always makes me to remember my own childhood and the days with my father.We could experience the love from father in each common day, but those days with summer sunlights would never return.As father in the heaven, would never come to my side any more.I do miss you , Dad. And I'll be a man and be strong.I really can't help tearing when the film ends with the word "To all the fathers".Thanks to the director and the actors/actresses for such an excellent film.

battlefield1944 reason 1, no one like this man ,he is too fast to become a artist.he learn from his father,we do not know his father's level.no process,no exercise ,there's nothing to explain.we just know he always want to play.finally,he succeed.reason 2,XiangYang's first lover.they are fall in love for no reason.like reason 1.they have seen each other,then they love each other,just because she find out XiangYang sketch her.soon she help him escape from the police.that's impossible in 1987's china,even in the near future.reason 3,the whole film is empty of ideal.Xiang Yang's father give him a ideal,he hate it.he just want money and women.what a pity!no ideal,is this what ZhangYang want to tell us?I was born in 1982.My elder brother was born in 1976.the director make believe the situation in Beijing during the Tangshan earthquake.in a word,the film tell us so many things,but no one explain clear.

heyunzhi1983 I was born in 80'S in China but love displayed in this film still moved me for the same experience of my past when I grew in my aunt's family and there something gap between me and my relatives. So it's a better reflection of real life even than the zenith sort of film.Joan isn't dealt with Hollywood's A-budget films for her independent film spirits. And here Joan is precisely show her talent of acting for this mother's features even with her whole body and every organ sensitively though it's little pity her scenes are not that many.It's too bad for me that I could not comment on it with words, and as Chinese I appreciate Joan Chen.I hope I can see more and more good films for us.

Jamester The English Name for this movie is Sunflower. I saw this at the Toronto Film Festival.This was a thoughtful piece of work and is definitely worth a look for an insightful dramatic tale in a Chinese setting -- with both family and society as key themes. I hope more movies like this get made!The story takes us through the life of an urban Chinese family -- the father becomes the art teacher and disciplinarian for his 'want-to-have-fun-with-the-town-kids' son. In broad strokes, we see the clash of father-son wills as each tries to get his own way. But the conflict is born out of an emotional pain as father's hands were crushed purposefully during the cultural revolution -- to prevent him from drawing anymore. How much more awful can you get? As the movie fast-forwards through time, we see the broad strokes transform as both son and father grow and continue their journey through life -- more conflict, more of an interesting view on the life they're going through. The artwork in this movie speaks volumes. The Sunflower imagery is moving. I'm choking up as I write this.FAMILY: The director was present and commented how society is based on family, and hence how looking at family relationships really allows you to examine society. For some reason, the close-up look at a family worked really well for me. Very nuanced writing and direction.EVOCATIVE OF REALITY: The timing of the key story events rooted in recent history made this story really come alive for me. As society influenced the characters, the characters reacted to society. This really gave the story a fresh dose of reality and gave me what really felt like a true insider's perspective on a set of experiences growing up in China.For me, this story made me reflect on my own family, my own life, and force me to examine some choices I've made in my past. It was a tad long, but still worth the time.