''The Sun Also Rises'' () is a 2007 film directed, produced and co-written by Chinese director

Jiang Wen Jiang Wen (born 5 January 1963) is a Chinese actor, screenwriter, and director. As a director, he is sometimes grouped with the "Sixth Generation" that emerged in the 1990s. Jiang is also well known internationally as an actor, having starred wit ...

starring

Joan Chen Joan Chen (born April 26, 1961) is a Chinese-American actress and film director. In China, she performed in the 1979 film and came to the attention of American audiences for her performance in the 1987 film ''The Last Emperor''. She is also ...

, Anthony Wong,

Jaycee Chan Jaycee Joming Chan (, born 3 December 1982), known professionally as Jaycee Chan, is an American singer and actor. In 2004, he released his first Mandarin CD album in Hong Kong. He later went to Taiwan to continue his music career. He is the son o ...

, and Jiang Wen himself. This movie is the

polyptych A polyptych ( ; Greek: ''poly-'' "many" and ''ptychē'' "fold") is a painting (usually panel painting) which is divided into sections, or panels. Specifically, a "diptych" is a two-part work of art; a "triptych" is a three-part work; a tetrapty ...

of interconnected stories in different time-zones, shifting between a

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

village, a campus, and the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world. Geography The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast an ...

. This movie was screened in competition at the

Venice International Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

and nominated for

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

but lost to

Ang Lee Ang Lee (; born October 23, 1954) is a Taiwanese filmmaker. Born in Pingtung County of southern Taiwan, Lee was educated in Taiwan and later in the United States. During his filmmaking career, he has received international critical and popula ...

's historical thriller ''

Lust, Caution ''Lust, Caution'' () is a 2007 erotic period espionage mystery romance film directed by Ang Lee, based on the 1979 novella by Eileen Chang. ''Lust, Caution'' is set in Hong Kong in 1938 and in Shanghai in 1942, when the city was occupied by t ...

''. This film also premiered at the

2007 Toronto International Film Festival The 2007 Toronto International Film Festival was a 32nd annual film festival held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It ran from September 6, 2007 to September 15, 2007. The lineup consisted of 349 films from 55 countries, selected from 4156 submissio ...

on September 9, and was nominated for Achievement in Cinematography at the 2007

Asia Pacific Screen Awards The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures th ...

Plot

The movie details four interconnected stories. In the first story, madness and mischief as a single mother (

Zhou Yun Zhou Yun (; born 17 December 1978) is a Chinese actress. Zhou is noted for her roles as Hua Jie and Shu Man in the film and television series ''Let the Bullets Fly'' and ''Golden Marriage 2'' respectively. Life Early life Zhou was born in a m ...

) drives her devoted son (

) 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 (

) is the mistress of Old Tang (

), but she finds herself drawn to a teacher named Liang ( Anthony Wong). 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 Weave details visible on a purple-colored velvet fabric Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed, with a short pile, giving it a distinctive soft feel. By extension, the word ''velvety'' means ...

. 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.

Cast

as Old Tang *

as Doctor Lin *

as Mad Mother *

as The Son * Anthony Wong as Teacher Liang * Kong Wei as Tang's Wife

Reviews

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, despite its lukewarm commercial reception. Writers at the

mentioned "a new aesthetic of

magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...

, 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." Ray Bennett of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' 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." Moreover, the film was rumored to be China's official entries to the 2008 Oscars bidding with ''

'' and ''

The Warlords ''The Warlords'' (), previously known as ''The Blood Brothers'', is a 2007 epic action war drama film directed by Peter Chan and starring Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Xu Jinglei. The film was released on 13 December 2007 simultaneo ...

''. Critic and filmmaker

Bilge Ebiri Bilge Ebiri (; born 1973) is an English-born American journalist and filmmaker. His first feature film, a comedy thriller entitled ''New Guy'', was released in 2004. Early life and education Ebiri studied film at Yale University where his thesis ...

, however, described it as perhaps "one of the strangest pictures I've ever seen" and found it increasingly "more frenetic and absurd", despite acknowledging a "stylish delirium" near the end. Writing in ''Muse'' Magazine, Perry Lam also gave a negative review, criticizing "Jiang's timidity and the small-mindedness of his new movie."

References

External links

* *
Toronto International Film Festival official site - The Sun Also Rises Entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sun Also Rises 2007 films 2000s Mandarin-language films Films based on Chinese novels 2000s fantasy drama films Films scored by Joe Hisaishi Films directed by Jiang Wen Magic realism films Chinese fantasy drama films 2007 drama films