The Sun Also Rises (film)

Infobox Chinese Film
name = The Sun Also Rises


image_size =
caption = Movie poster for "The Sun Also Rises"
director = Jiang Wen
producer = Jiang Wen
Albert Lee
writer = Jiang Wen
Shu Ping
Guo Shixing
Ye Mi (novel)
narrator =
starring = Jaycee Chan
Joan Chen
Jiang Wen
Anthony Wong
Zhou Yun
music = Joe Hisaishi
cinematography = Pin Bing Lee
Yang Tao
Zhao Fei
editing = Zhang Yifan
distributor =
released = Venice:
3 September 2007
China:
21 September 2007
runtime =
country = China
language = Mandarin
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
imdb_id = 0769507
amg_id = 1:415855
jianti = 太阳照常升起
fanti = 太陽照常升起
pinyin = tài yáng zhào cháng shēng qǐ
website = http://thesunalsorises.emp.hk/

"The Sun Also Rises" (Simplified Chinese: 太阳照常升起; pinyin: tài yáng zhào cháng shēng qǐ) is a 2007 film directed by Chinese director Jiang Wen starring Joan Chen, Anthony Wong, Jaycee Chan, and Jiang Wen himself. This movie is the polyptych of interconnected stories in different time-zones, shifting between a Yunnan village, a campus, and the Gobi Desert. This movie was screened in competition at the Venice International Film Festival and nominated for Golden Lion but lost to Ang Lee's historical thriller "Lust, Caution". [cite web|title=The Sun Also Rises| work="Sun Also Rises" an eye-catching China fantasy |url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070905/review_nm/film_sun_dc|accessdate=5 September|accessyear=2007] This film is also premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival on September 9.cite web|title=TIFF| work="Sun Also Rises" at TIFF |url=http://www.tiff07.ca/filmsandschedules/filmdetails.aspx?id=705302250021386 |accessdate=2 September|accessyear=2007]

Plot

The movie details four interconnected stories.

In the first story, madness and mischief as a single mother (Zhuo Yun) drives her devoted son (Jaycee Chan) to distraction with her daredevil antics in pursuit of tranquility. The agile mom climbs tall trees and stands perilously astride a small earthen raft on the river. She treasures a beautiful pair of slippers that she is forever losing, and the son fears that, one day, the footwear will remain while his mother disappears.

In the second story, on a college campus, two old friends find their friendship tested by rivalry over a woman. Doctor Lin (Joan Chen) is the mistress of Old Tang (Jiang Wen), but she finds herself drawn to teacher Liang (Anthony Wong), who is catnip to beautiful women. When Liang is accused of groping women at a campus gathering, Lin offers her rear end behind a curtain to determine whose was the guilty hand.

Old Tang, who is a hunter, has a young wife (Kong Wei) who begins a relationship with the madwoman's son. One day, Tang overhears their noises of passion and his wife whispering that her husband says her belly is like velvet. He determines to shoot the young man but is given pause when the boy asks him, "What is velvet?"

The final episode involves all the characters in a dreamlike sequence that brings their lives full circle. Three cinematographers -- Zhao Fei, Mark Ping-bin Lee and Yang Tao -- worked on the project, and they make the most of some gorgeous scenery, the lush production design of Cao Jiuping and Zhang Jianqun and Xu Jianshu's lovely costumes. [cite web|title=IMDB| work=The Sun Also Rises|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0769507/synopsis|accessdate=23 September|accessyear=2007]

Cast

*Jiang Wen as ... Old Tang
*Joan Chen as ... Doctor Lin
*Zhou Yun as ... Mad Mother
*Jaycee Chan as ... The Son
*Anthony Wong as ... Teacher Liang
*Kong Wei as ... Tang's Wife

Reviews

So far, the film has received positive reviews from critics and "Toronto Review" states that "a new aesthetic of magical realism, Jiang deftly defies the gravity of linear storytelling to produce sheer visual poetry. This gallery of lavishly composed frames may seem to follow an irrational logic but, in the end, the imagery is as rare and precious as velvet was scarce in the isolated China the film so vividly depicts." "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote "Fluid motion and glorious colors provide a visual treat in Jiang Wen's sumptuous romantic fantasy... besides being wonderful to look at, "The Sun Also Rises" is great fun, with sure-handed performances." [cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/imdb/reviews/article_display.jsp?rid=9723&vnu_special_account_code=thrsiteimdbpro|title=The Sun Also Rises (Taiyang zhaocheng shengqi)|publisher="The Hollywood Reporter"|date=2007-09-05] Moreover, this film was rumored to be China's official entries to the 2008 Oscars bidding with "Lust, Caution" and "The Warlords". [cite web|title=China' Oscar Entry| work=3 Chinese films set to vie for Oscars
url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/14/content_6723180.htm|accessdate=14 September|accessyear=2007]

References

External links

*
* [http://www.tiff07.ca/filmsandschedules/filmdetails.aspx?id=705302250021386 Toronto International Film Festival official site - The Sun Also Rises Entry]