Artivels Undescribable Perfection

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

lihans0518 it reminds us of the first love we had long ago, and nothing can restrain the passion of those young with full of confusion and possibilities. We are always amazed by those colorful characters formed under the certain political time. This film has successfully reached to the part that all human beings share with no matter what political conditions. Although the specific time is long gone and would never come back to China, those old, pure and simplified memories would never fate away. It will always be part of the history and part of us. It is not that simple to tag that time as wrong or right, it was just there, always there, with some smell some colours we never want to leave behind.

Ge Wang This is, by all means, one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. In spite of the generational gap between us who were born in the 80s and the director who went through their puberty in the 60s, it's a portrait and poem of memory and childhood, regardless of age matters. It is physically impossible to be absolutely honest and draw back memories in the exact realistic way. So we all start telling our own stories mixed with both facts and imaginations. This film actually reminds me of Giuseppe Tornatore's masterpiece Malèna. The beginning of puberty desire for females, become the fundamental essence of both movies. Both boys had their final releases, with endings filled with both bitterness and sweetness. I believe that every single male audience who watched these two films can recall their dim but lively memory of the curiosity for girls at that age. Amazing...as a Chinese myself, I did find myself more involved with Jiang Wen's piece though. The cinematography, from Gu Changwei, who's also known for his Berlin Silver Bear winning direction of Peacock, simply stands in the realm of perfection. The yellowish and blurring photographic construction of scenarios generates the nostalgic theme of the movie, and helps the story become more beautiful as it has already been. The black&white ending, FANTASTIC. A truly imaginative and creative conclusion. Apart from the ironic contrast of the hierarchical statuses among the 'gang' members comparing to their old days, the final line shot by the retarded guy actually made me think. We are becoming materially and intellectually richer and cleverer as we grows, but should those childishness and innocently pure emotions from our childhood be cherished? Days 'in the heat of the sun' has not only symbolize memory, but also speak for the pureness and simple innocence. We are all 'fools', as we enter the kingdom of adulthood, we will inevitably lose our naive characteristics. Life is always about gaining and losing at the same time, isn't it? Politically and culturally speaking, Jian Wen did not focus much of his storytelling on the miseries and depressions resulted from Mao's Cultural Revolution. Again, this is not a realistic representation of the concrete historical notion, it's a artistic craft tributing to memories. My parents, who shared the similar historical experience with Jiang Wen, did not acknowledge this film as a proper description of their childhood when they saw it. "It's too romantic to be true." as they said to me. However, they both admitted that the film did reflect their own fantasies of an ideal past. Every time I ask them about what happened with their childhood, they can only give me a vague framework. A lot of the times, the recalling always come with a particular item, like shoes, football, soy sauce, Mao's red book... "Sometimes, maybe a kind of sound and a stream of smell, can bring you back to the truth." as Jiang Wen said in the voice-over in the film. It's not only for people grew up in the 60s, but also for everybody. Funny as it is, memories can cheat on you and rationalize you in the same filed.A Time to Live in Dream, this Beach Boy classic accidentally pops into my head. "The child's joyous tear, with innocence he has no fear, now I know what love really is..." Days with brightly shining and heating sun conspire to create a time to live in dream, what a marvel!

jkchang The "5th Generation" of Chinese cinema produced films about the Cultural Revolution and its tragic impact on the lives of all Chinese. The most famous of these films, "To Live" (Huozhe), "Blue Kite" (Lan feng zheng), and "Farewell My Concubine" (Ba wang bie ji) all relentlessly emphasized the terror, hopelessness, and death of the Chinese people living during Cultural Revolution. However, "In the Heat of the Sun" does something entirely different."In the Heat of the Sun" (alternatively translated as "The Day the Sun Shone Brightly") is among the first "6th generation" mainland Chinese films. Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of Mao Ze Dong's drastic cultural changes, Jiang Wen looks at these years through the eyes of the children growing up through the turmoil. Instead of watching adults face their worlds collapsing, we watch a gang of boys struggle to survive mature, and goof-off without any supervision whatsoever.The narrator/main character reflects on these years as the high time of his life, when he and his friends lived for each other and would die for each other. As a boy, the main character is simply searching for fun, for love, for anything to entertain himself. Such frivolous pursuits amidst the eerie emptiness of Beijing can come across as unseemly to those who will never forget the grief and sorrow caused by the Cultural Revolution.Cinematically, the film is shot very well, and the story is more complex than it might at first seem. Though, in my opinion, it is not on par with the aforementioned 5th Gen films, it is certainly unique and brings a fresh approach to coping with a sensitive subject material.Semi-SPOILER The director takes the plot and turns it in a manner that I have never seen in Western films. Perhaps the final irony of the film requires a Chinese mindset to fully appreciate, but I at least found the ending of the film to be frustratingly brilliant.

eagletc I have many classemates that come from Jun Qv Da Yuan(military region), who act exactly as those in the film. In those days(since 1972), there wasnt so much on concern in our mind, hence fighting against the children from other section in the military region became the only extracurriculum activity. Here Id like to express my admire for Jiang Wen, who shot this movie successfully from the first point of view. Thanks!