In the Heat of the Sun

In the Heat of the Sun is a 1994 Chinese film directed and written by Jiang Wen. The film is based loosely on author Wang Shuo's novel Wild Beast. Jiang Wen, known as one of China’s best actors and seen in numerous films such as Red Sorghum (1988), Hibiscus Town (1987), The Imperial Eunuch (1991), and Letter from An Unknown Woman (2004), is also a very successful filmmaker and director. In the Heat of the Sun was Jiang Wen's first foray into directing after years as a leading actor. In the film, Jiang Wen utilized eroticism to restructure the discourse of Maoist China. The romantic and nostalgic representation of history is evident through the sensual narrative as well as the sexual experience of the film’s characters at the height of the Cultural Revolution. Synopsis The film is set in the early 1970s in Beijing, during the Cultural Revolution. It is told from the perspective of Ma Xiaojun, a teenage boy nicknamed "Monkey" (played by Xia Yu, some of Monkey's experiences mimic director Jiang's during the Revolution), Monkey and his friends are free to roam the streets of Beijing day and night because the local school system is non-functional and the Cultural Revolution has caused their parents to be either busy or away. Most of the story happens during the summer and revolves around Monkey's dalliances, his friendship with a group of roguish boys, and his subsequent angst-filled crush on an older girl, Mi Lan (Ning Jing).