Institute History
Description
Director John Zhang is one of a growing group of Asian filmmakers trained in the United States who have welded American technique onto a distinctly Asian aesthetic. Consuming Sun is the tale of Mai Kebo, a Chinese writer and photographer schooled In Tokyo, who years later meets Sukeo, a Japanese military-school classmate, in Indonesia while fleeing occupation forces. Sukeo conscripts Mal Kebo as a translator for the military police. Thrust into a role that creates a painful inner struggle between his love of Japanese culture and his hatred of collaborating, he must confront his oppressors as well as himself To add to his psychological turmoil, his old love is now Sukeo's mistress.
This finely crafted historical melodrama avoids the customary pitfall of being too simplistic, Beautifully written and often intricately structured, Consuming Sun moves us from plot entanglements to personal introspection.
As a first feature, the film, Inspired by the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the literary giant Yu Dafu at the end of World War H, is most impressive Winner of a special critics' prize at the Montreal Film Festival, it is a harbinger of great things to come from Zhang.
Tuesday Jan 2S 4:20 pm
Holiday Village Cinema II
Thursday Jan 27 8:00 pm
Sundance Screening Room
Saturday Jan 29 6:00 pm
Prospector Square Theatre
$7.00