Red Sorghum

In a remote countryside, a leper who runs a sorghum winery dies, leaving behind his widow Jiu'er, who was bought by the leper, and her lover known only as my Grandpa. They take over the vineyard and weave a self ordained community under Jiu'er's leadership, a quasi matriarchy thick with romance and survival. As Japanese soldiers sweep through the region during their occupation, they order the fields cut to make way for a road. The community resists and tends the sorghum as it regrows, turning the landscape into a symbol of resilience. Its visuals fuse vast fields with intimate moments, wind moving through the stalks, and the couple steering a fragile, fiercely free household. Its atmosphere lingers long after.

Released in 1988, the film was directed by Zhang Yimou and adapted from Mo Yan's novel Red Sorghum. It helped launch Gong Li as a defining figure of Chinese cinema and marked a bold breakthrough for the director's career, worldwide.

Box office performance was modest, with a limited international release and no widely publicized worldwide gross. Box office amounts were not heavily documented in the era of international co productions, leaving financial success largely inferred from festival impact and legacy.

The movie is often cited as a landmark of China's fifth generation cinema, blending stark rural imagery with melodrama. Gong Li's fearless performance became an enduring emblem of Chinese film, inspiring generations of actors and influencing visual storytelling in period pieces. Its grain fields and harvest rituals linger in memory.

Critics praised its bold fusion of romance, history, and national identity while noting its exacting visual craft and strong central dynamic. The story explores resilience in the face of invasion, shifting power within a close knit community, and the personal costs of survival under pressure. Its themes still resonate today.