Kan shang qu hen mei (2006) User Reviews

Intriguing.

[danfrango · 8/10 · 10 August 2007]

I'm disappointed by all of the previous comments on this film. This film seemed to me to be far more deeply layered and textured than previous writers have given it credit for.

Having studied Chinese film (particulary the work of the 5th generation, which this film isn't part of), it's my understanding that Chinese films can't be 'read' in the same way as Western films. Due to censorship in China Chinese directors find different ways of telling stories, more often than not by dressing them up as something else. Therefore I don't believe that this film can be taken at face value. I don't believe this is a film about a small boy being sent to a kindergarten by his father and trying to earn Little Red Flowers. I think an important thing to notice is the way the boy changes. He starts off hating the regime of the school but wanting to fit in, wanting to earn a red flower, but he never does, so he deliberately alienates himself. There are many scenes where he sets himself apart from the group, and he becomes a rebel - he stirs up unrest amongst the other children. He challenges the authority. This seems to me to be deeply allegorical.

I was hoping to read some comments here that would help me understand this film, because I'm finding it puzzling. I found it a very hard film to watch, and I can't say I really enjoyed it. I found it slow and repetitive with far too much emphasis on 'peeing and pooping'. However, I'm finding it a very interesting film to think about and try to decipher. I would very much like to read other readers comments on this. What, for example, is the significance of the hospital? And the children's names? There are many many questions to be answered, and many more to be asked. By my own admission I'm not very good at reading films, but I am aware of what needs to be read!

Revolt on a small scale

[cne_16-1 · 7/10 · 2 August 2006]

This is the story of a young boy making a little revolt of his own against his teachers. The plot (if you can call it that) unfolds slowly as we get to follow the kids in their day to day life at the school. The interaction between the kids is great and feels very authentic. Another thing worth mentioning is the photo and the way the camera is always placed in the kids point of view, so the audience always see the adults from below. On the minus side is that many scenes are very predictable and the lack of an actual plot makes it a bit too slow at times. But it's never boring and the heart-warming interaction between the kids as they go their own way makes this a film well worth seeing.

A lyrical film about childhood in Mao's China

[kjruk · 7/10 · 1 August 2010]

I just watched this film on UK TV. I wasn't sure what to make of it at first but it did capture my attention - not least because I'm not familiar with the setting in a Mao generation kindergarten boarding school. I've no idea if any of the details are factual but it reminded me of a rather Dickensian idea of bringing up children - though kinder and more humane.

This is a "foreign film" and therefore there are no car chases, no murders and no serial killers. It's about real human beings - infants in this case. If anyone is upset about seeing little kids bottoms it's because you have had your mind poisoned by Anglo-Saxon attitudes and obsession with pedophiles. Obviously you must never have been around infants - toilet training is a big part of the day! Infants are basically sweet and innocent and these kids are mostly seen in that way. The approach in this film is affectionate and realistic - kids also have their evil little ways! I think the core message is that there is not much difference between the children's Kindergarten school routines and the adult society in Mao's China. The attitudes of the children will harden in the controlled society that exists outside when the games become real. The teachers, the educators will be replaced by other kinds of educators and wrong behaviour will be punished by re-education.When you watch the last 5 minutes you will see why I came to that conclusion (could be wrong!). Natural instincts become perverted by too much control. People are so regimented that they even have to poo and pee at he same time in a line in the same place!Something like that.

You have a delightful journey getting to that point. As stated elsewhere the children's performances are completely believable. Of course, it is fiction and some dramatic license is taken in regard to the freedom of movement the little boy protagonist has.

an allegory for individualism opposing conformity

[[e-mail] · 25 October 2007]

This film is an allegory for the communist state vs the individual, and for the universal human tale of wanting something then realising its not what it seems. The school is the state, the teachers its agents, and the little boy a free thinking individual who wants to be part of society, but then realises that that particular society has faults that he finds insurmountable. He seeks to set up his own society, of like minded people, hence his relationship with one distinct little girl. The hospital is a place he is drawn to because it is a place where people (psychiatric patients) are treated with the care and consideration he doesn't receive from the teachers at his school, or from his mother, who is another agent of the state (away working for "the ministry" in another city). The hospital, being apparently a psychiatric hospital, is also symbolically a place where people are free to behave differently without being held to account (Note the juxtaposition of the hospital with the regimented troops being made to salute over and over again).

Charming and well played drama chronicling a young boy's descent through a school's system, cloaking a powerful tale of the exasperated plight of conformity.

[johnnyboyz · 7/10 · 6 March 2011]

Little Red Flowers is rather-a bright and breezy film on the surface, a film coated with a light and somewhat fluffy exterior about a young boy's mishaps at school and rather quaint friendship he strikes up with another girl that overall masks what rather disturbing substance lies beneath; a film featuring young children looking cute and doing all manner of rather childish things which we may find quite sweet but much more importantly exploring ideas of power, control and the reactions those go through when exposed to these items. Chinese director Yuan Zhang distills, through very young children occupying a live-in nursery, a human-being's reaction to imperialistic and strict attitudes towards life and functioning which lead's to many seemingly happily abiding but one overtly reacting to the taking away of their freedom and their choice as to whether or not to live under the inferred state's imposed sanctions. The film is on one level a whimsical enough comedy about a child fumbling and bumbling their way through a locale with others his age whom get in on the act far quicker than he does, deeper still it is a quite frightening plight of one person's struggle against overwhelming odds which will eventually lead to attempted revolution and proposed violence when the way of living isn't inclined enough towards one's own choice.

The film begins with the lead, a four year old Fang Qiangqiang played by child actor Bowen Dong, in the process of being delivered to a boarding nursery school for both genders by his father in late-1940's China. The father is kept anonymous, cut off from around the knees upwards leaving the audience solely to be able to focus on that of both the disillusioned Fang and the headteacher Miss Li (Rui). Fang is very much an outcast to this play school nursery zone, the other children have already long since been moulded into a unit of kids whom go along with the teachers' wishes and do what they're told. The film enjoys its mise-en-scene of a somewhat militarian nature at the school, the trooping around of the playground by the teachers echoing the activity to that of guards at a kind of establishment as well as the sleeping quarters of the children shrouded together as if in an army barracks, It is a place Fang is delivered to in the middle of winter, the climbing-frames and roundabouts lying dormant and forlorn outside as they sit there drenched in heavy snow. Inside, regimental set ups dominate the way of operation with rewards distributed by the establishment in the form of the titular little red flowers as children go through with the basic life-skills more inclined towards the hygiene required in life.

Fang is initially unable to compete; he's left there to cry an awful lot, appears in different clothing to that of the others and dislikes both the regime and system. At first it's inclined it may be down to home-sickness, but as things transpire the consequent reactions to the school's set up infer that it is fear and sadness born out of how things are run. There is a wide shot during his tenure as the cygnet amidst the swans which encompasses the sheer menagerie of other youngsters within the locale encapsulating his alienation, as he is greeted into the imminent scenario by a sternly face teacher and then forced into changing into his day clothes, despite knowledge all round that he is unable to do so, in front of everybody. There is a temptation to read Little Red Flowers on an initial level linked more broadly to that of it being a straight forward depiction of a school for children doing what they're told since, how else are they supposed to live? On another level, the film's clear distinction between ruler and ruled twinned with the fact it has been produced by a nation no-less than China along with the fact director Zhang strikes me, from reading of his past-work, to be a too accomplished-a filmmaker to produce a straight up film depicting such a scenario without allegory.

One of the starker moments in his film actually occurs outside of the boarding kindergarten, a short walk around local sites or what-not resulting in the children venturing past a small squad of Chinese soldiers out and about going through drills for whatever purpose; the placing of them in the background as our children occupy the foreground effectively competing in the same action foreshadowing generational jumps from regimental circumstances unto further ways of living of similar distinction. While there is nothing particularly sordid or necessarily evil about the school, exemplified in a song it has everybody sing about the sharing of an apple and upholding positive characteristics, it is a rather engaging look into how a working system of such an assimilated nature can affect those of which are processed through it; more broadly, how imagery and particular methods in bringing somebody up or bringing somebody around to be of a particular 'type' can have ill affects on those undergoing said process, the majority of it culminating in a really smartly played drama tackling some interesting themes.

in China you must conform

[leoncreaney · 7/10 · 7 December 2010]

This movie is a slow burner. I couldn't watch it all in one go, because of the lack of a 'plot' in the Western sense of the word. It really fascinated me, and afterwards I was racking my brains for days to figure it out. The film obviously is metaphorical and has a hidden meaning.

The boy is a non-conformist in a communist state. He is punished repeatedly for acting as an individual. In the end he is left completely alone, he loses the 'war' against the higher powers. The director is preaching communist values - unless you conform and obey, you will be left out in the cold.

Gratuitous child nudity????...

[gabestoian · 9/10 · 22 December 2013]

I've watched this film a couple of times and when you think about it, it would be very hard to make such a film and I congratulate the film makers for this effort. But to give it 1 star because it contains "gratuitous child nudity"? is sick. I am referring to a review further up here who talks about child nudity and sick people who "enjoy" that sort of thing.. You know, since you're pointing all these things out maybe you are one of those people, in denial.. One of those that also have issues with women breast-feeding in public.. I didn't even notice "child nudity".. What i saw is a film about little human beings in a boarding school. It was filmed through the eyes of a little child where everything is natural, including nakedness and bodily functions. I was like that back in Eastern Europe, slightly older, but in a similar situation and it kind of brings back some funny memories. It is this kind of righteous moralistic polemic that stirs me right up.. It is you who is troubled by this "child nudity" so stop projecting your perversity on others PLEASE! This is a great 'little' film.

Full of charm and innocence.

[MOscarbradley · 7/10 · 23 November 2015]

If Yuan Zhang's "Little Red Flowers" isn't quite in the same class as Nicolas Philibert's masterpiece "Etre et avoir" it is still one of the best films ever made about small children in a school environment but whereas the Philibert film was a documentary this is fiction and at times the performances or 'non-performances' Zhang draws from the children are nothing short of miraculous. The setting is a boarding kindergarten in post-Revolutionary China and the central character is Fang Qiangqiang, a disruptive four year old desperate to fit in.

There's no real plot to speak of and Zhang films it as if it were a documentary with perhaps more of an emphasis on the children's toiletry habits than some people might like. Although the film is perfectly innocent and full of charm, repetitive shots of our little hero and his friends in the altogether could prove problematic to Western audiences. (The Chinese, or is it just Zhang, seem obsessed with peeing, pooping and farting). Look beyond that, however, and this is a lovely account of one little boy's need for acceptance. The title refers to the little red flowers the children are rewarded for good behavior.

definitely worth seeing

[Iliyana · 8/10 · 11 October 2007]

We are watching the world unfold through the eyes of a child and within minutes we are immersed in his reality as if in our own. What an amazing movie! It's one of those films that not only provokes you to start asking questions but also makes you try to think and find some answers.

And what incredible actors these little children are! They can surely teach a lesson in mastership certain "Hollywood stars". And as for the director Yuan Zhang - well, he had created a truly inspiring film!

So if you are looking for an interesting, deeply moving and allegorical story, this film is definitely worth seeing!

I'd give it a bronze star if they took out some stuff

[GiraffeDoor · 6/10 · 30 December 2019]

Admittedly fairly intriguing story that is blatantly an allegory for something. Presumably oppression in some country. But which one...

My enduring memory of this movie is bodily functions. A lot of lavatorial stuff and some prepubescent nudity. I'm weirded out by the teachers that take even discrete flatulence very personally.

I'm not convinced that this had anything to say beyond that oppression is exists and that its bad but I still respect how this movie waves the flag for vulgarity and raises a juvenile middle finger the authority figures that think they're so different to those they're oppressing.

It's whimsical good fun that's on the right side at least even if it falls short of being the profound statement at least one of the producers must have thought it was.

Good child actors and a sweet sense of color and composition.

pretty normal in China

[qqml · 5/10 · 21 November 2020]

But those excessive nudity is NOT necessary. Could have been filmed better.

How ever so confusing

[spammeble · 10/10 · 22 May 2007]

****Contain Minor Spoilers**** In my option a good movie, it portrayed several kids journey trough a camp of children. The movie did a good job describing the feelings of the kids, one could almost feel how long i must have felt for them.

Also there was several scenes where it was hard to tell dream from reality, like the mind of a child. The end of the movie was the most unexpected i have seen in a long time. Bam. Credits.

There is a scene where one of the parents come to pick up one of the child's, he is a important man, when he sees that his son has not been given as many points as he expected the personal of the camp adds some flowers and says something like: Oh, we have not give him the flowers yet. They do really try.

If you like children's play and a movie without the classical drama. Little Red Flowers is for the win.

Kindergarten it ain't

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 22 April 2007]

At least none that a western audience could connect to. But that shouldn't be a part of your/mine judgement of the movie. And I do think that although I was appalled by this institute, it did elevate the movie.

Or better the story of the movie. You have a little boy, who is left at this kindergarten by his father. The father of course only having the best in mind for his child. Because he wants him to learn discipline.

When people say don't work with animals or kids (in movies, because it's just to difficult), how must they felt here, where they had so many kids ... But they achieved their goal and I think they made a pretty decent movie. But the ending bumped me off (in a bad way) or else I would've given this movie a higher rating!

The consequence of communism on the little children

[Reno-Rangan · 9/10 · 21 October 2013]

People must understand something before complaining anything about the movie. Possibly the lifestyle and cultural differences makes audience to have the wrong opinion about it. That too the story sets in China in the 1940s, almost 60 years ago. There are lot be changed by now and all the above it a was based on the semi-autobiographical novel by a man who remembered his life in kindergarten.

The movie tells the tale of a 4 year-old boy Fang Qiangqiang. In the beginning of the story the Fang's father leaves him in a kindergarten boarding school. Where kids to be taught good behaviours like self dressing, bathing, feeding, playing and helping each others like all the basic knowledge. For a good behaviour student will get a red paper flower each day and also be taken away if they are not behaving. So our protagonist Fang struggles at the initial stage to adopt the new environment. Giving a best shot to get his first red flower which terribly ends. The struggle drags to days and weeks without making any progress. One day, frustrated teacher forces him to undress and dress again in front of the whole class but it only makes Fang turn into a different person. Fang was a unique visioned kid, needed to be specially taken care but for the common rule for all he becomes a degraded.

It had a bit strong nudity than usual in a children's movie. Yeah, that might upset some people especially the family audience. Even I was shocked to see the raw presentation, some scenes could adjusted with different camera angles. It makes me think like was China like this once? Initially I was hesitated to accept it as a good movie but later something changed my mind. There are many movies like 'City of Life and Death' and others which are based on the II world war which tells nothing but a truth one can hard to digest. The life in the firs half of the 20th century was difficult so no exception for this movie as well which happens in post-revolutionary China. Definitely the people who have no idea about communism will learn something from the movie.

There were not much dialogue in the movie. The camera angles were also good, kept under children's stature. I am a big fan of the children's movies and I liked 'Little Red Flowers' very much despite nudity. The main reason was it was someone's real story than some fictional one. But the ending was a bit disappointed, it won't denotes in which way it concludes. I am warning this movie is for a selected audience, you could be end in displeasure because of the presentation, not for the story or the cast.

9/10

charming little rebel in a Chinese kindergarten

[ethanoel · 8/10 · 31 March 2014]

this is a film that you can easily watch with your little kids, because they can relate themselves to this little hero's rebellion against (totalitarian) adults and their unjust world. the protagonist in this case is a stubborn rascal but he has his own logic in behaving as he does, so take him seriously or otherwise... it is a charming little movie about children's life in post-revolutionary china, a small gem. and on general level it also is a perennial study of a child's inability to understand or accept all the strange things adults do or not do to keep their sometimes questionable authority. a nice addition to Asian kid movies which are usually more of a Japanese or a south korean field of quality cinema.

Gratuitous Child Nudity

[truthfulchatting · 1/10 · 25 June 2013]

I watch a lot of Japanese and Chinese movies because I used to live in Taiwan and Japan. However, as I seen the movies I seen movies like this that just make me sick. It makes me wonder why these countries focus on the sexualization or exploitation of children.

First, these are not infants as such one reviewer wrote. They are four and five year olds, which many at that age are potty trained already.

Second, many times the focus is on the genitals of both the boys and the girls (mainly the boys which is highly visible, the girls there are glimpses).The boy also pull down the girls panties just to see her nude a few times.

I know in the US it is legal for nudity but majority of the time after they get a certain age usually after three you wouldn't be see full nudity of children because producers want to avoid backlash.

I know the Asian reviewers and the European reviewers and the few sick American reviewers enjoy looking at children's genitals but I surely don't.

Note to IMDb, you need to update the section for nudity. All you have on here is that it is foul language. This movie has gratuitous child nudity. Note: There is no US rating because it would at least get an R rating.

No fog lights required

[scarletpumpernickel · 10/10 · 19 April 2014]

...Will explain that anon. But first let me say this film has all the earmarks of a classic.., and a knowledge of china is nice but not essential to appreciate it.

As for the fog lights, this film (IMHO happily) leads you by the nose, more or less in the same modest egalitarian spirit as portrayed by the film. Filmsnobs may not appreciate this fact.

Apart from amazing development and, call it directing, I was blown away by the perfect marriage between what I believe was experienced by the children as reality and the scene making/engineering which the film required - that is, between spontaneity and craft.

I too on first viewing thought the end was abrupt, but I think I just wanted more. And btw, I did not recoil or even pause to ruminate over any "abuse", as I accepted the time and place and political climate.

As for the issue of conformity, to those who might suggest that American schools were/are less inclined toward conformity, I would disagree. It's just that instead of conformity to a social and cultural template -(one that evidently works fairly well and produces more or less admirable people) - American students are led to conform to peers and popular culture.., often with dubious results.

If you enjoyed this gem, you might like The Recipe (free IW at Netflix).

A VERY GOOD WATCH !!

[postsenthil · 8/10 · 27 October 2019]

The movie begins with a cute four year old boy - Fan Qiang Qiang - being admitted by his father in a boarding kindergarten since both the parents are working at different places and are not in a position to care for him.

The kindergaten is strict in enforcing discipline and expects all students to comply with a set of regulations which extend to an extensive gamut of activities from dressing/undressing by oneself, cleanliness, cordial communciaton to others, respect to elders, maintaining order and even to timely pooping (not to forget the washing of hands thereafter). Every successful compliance by the students is rewarded with the titular little red flower which are diplayed on a scoreboard against their names and any subversion results in forfeit of a flower earned earlier.

Qiang is a free spirit by nature and finds it difficult to comply with the strict routines of the school. He is unable to dress/undress himself and does not play with other children. He is also unable to get over the habit of wetting his bed which results in him being ridiculed as "the king of bedwetting" by other students. Consequently, he is unable to earn any little red flower which is so coveted. When his repeated attempts to conform and fit into his desginated role & behaviour fail, Qiang feels enormous frustration which pushes him down the road of being an aggressive rebel. The rest of the movie narrates how this conflict between a rebellious Qiang and the disciplinarian kindergarten unfolds.

This is a simple movie which, on the face of it, successfully captures the lives of the tiny tots in a rich canvas sparkling with laughter, fun, frolic, tensions, frustrations, helplesness, sadness as experienced by these cute little toddlers. At a deeper and not-so-subtle level, this movie represents a metaphor for the state of Chinese society under the Communist regime. It portrays the simmering conflict in the society between the innate tendency of every citizen to seek to establish their individuality and the efforts of a seemingly kind, yet oppressive state, which tries to micro-monitor as well as manage the affairs of individuals, through a defined regimen, for what it feels is for a loftier goal of collective order and resultant peace. In the process, any expressions of individuality are construed as a subversion of the carefully engineered public order and is brutally subjugated & crushed.

Through the struggles of his charming little protaganist, Qiang, the director, Zhang Yuan, has successfully captured this continuing conflict between conformity and individuality which permeats the Chinese society. He must also be commended for eliciting such authentic and believable performances (if one can call them so, for they appear so natural) from his cute little cast, especially the adorable and expressive Dong Bowen who plays the young Qiang.

The open-ended finale of the movie is apt for it throws several unanswered questions at the protaganist as well as the viewer and initaites a train of thought on the central conflict portrayed in the movie.

Clocking just about ninety minutes, this movie is short, subtle, highly engaging and raises several questions for the viewer on the merits of conformity, group mentality, need for individuality, the conflict between a society steeped on confirmity & group mentality when faced with expressions of individual freedom as well as the effects of such conflicts on individual members of such society.