Dong Bowen, Ning Yuanyuan, Chen Manyuan, Zhao Rui, Li Xiaofeng

LITTLE RED FLOWERS

Qiang is a four-year-old boy who, in the People's Republic of China of 1949, is sent to one of Beijing's best schools by parents too busy with work to care for him. Qiang has to cope with community living, for him too harshly regulated by his educators. From inconsolable crying he quickly moves on to active disobedience, abetted by a girl his same age. When he manages to convince all his classmates that their teacher is actually a monster in women's guise the situation gets complicated.

the filmmaker

 

Zhang Yuan uses the nuclear family or outsiders to recount contemporary reality. In Mother (1990) he told the story of an unwed mother raising her mentally challenged son in contemporary Beijing. In the Beijing Bastards (1992), the first independent film in the history of the People's Republic of China cinema, he portrayed troubled youth prey to existential angst. In Sons (1995) he dealt with the experiences of a family destroyed by alcoholism and a father's madness. In East Palace, West Palace (1996) he filmed a psychological drama focusing on a Beijing policeman's interrogation of a homosexual. For Seventeen Years (1999), a tale of homecoming after 17 years in prison, he won the prize for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival.

Torna su