There is relentlessness to Under the Burning Sun.
Perhaps it is the unremitting bleakness of the Mad-Max-like wasteland that the characters inhabit, with violence and cruelty around every turn of the steering wheel. Perhaps it is the drive of Mowanza (Stephanie Pardi), like a shark needing to constantly be on the move towards her destination. Perhaps it is the constant and stomach-churning reminders of the ways that power structures are designed to sublimate the choices of women, particularly in the present moment. None of this necessarily makes Yun Xie’s bold feature debut an easy watch, but its impeccable performances, sweeping cinematography, and moments of rare beauty make it an incredibly compelling one.
In her post-screening Q&A following the film’s international premiere at the Oldenburg Film Festival, Yun Xie told a story about her mother. Due to the one child policy in China, her mother was going to be forced to have a hysterectomy and asked her daughter whether she would still be a woman without a uterus. Attempting to comfort her mother, Xie just told her not to worry and that she no longer needed it, and that it was no big deal. Years later, no longer able to speak to her mother about it, she reflected on this missed opportunity for a conversation between mother and daughter about womanhood and motherhood, and as a result Under the Burning Sun came about as an attempt to have the conversation over. It’s a useful bit of context for understanding quite how Xie is able to mine a brutal storyline set in a harsh dystopian landscape for moments of such tenderness and connection.
Under the Burning Sun begins with the aforementioned Mowanza in a gas station rest room, furious at the result of a pregnancy test. The blackened water in the toilet bowl, the grime on the walls, the character’s patched up clothing, convey to the audience that we’re not in a hospitable environment. As quickly becomes evident, this is a world of tomorrow paying the price for our choices today – a bottle of water costs nearly $10, sustenance of any kind is rare. It’s a vision of a world that’s on the road to becoming the place of Mad Max: Fury Road – where a jar of ice cubes is a rare treat, water is a prized commodity, and Mowanza’s request for an abortion sees her screamed at and driven out of a women’s health clinic.
And so, she goes on a road trip in search of semi-mythical land named Iropus – a named whispered in hushed tones by the those who condemn its loose morals and godlessness. As Mowanza travels from rest stop to mechanics shop to gas station, she meets various women as she goes, each in their own way abused or abandoned by those they love. From a young girl abandoned on the roadside by her parents, and longing for family; to Mavis (Steve Kincheloe) a bruised wife to a violent husband, with whom Mowanza shares a night of fleeting gentleness and intimacy. Throughout all of this, Xie chooses never to fully show the face of any of the men – leaving them to represent more abstractly the patriarchal power structures that bring Mowanza and the other women low, even out in the back of beyond.
Shot in deserts in California and China, Xie and her cinematographer Tianyi Wang craft an impressive expanse on which these lives precariously sit. The visuals employ the sandy washed-out quality of many desert set movies, but here the dystopian oppressiveness can also lift and the film, in a few moments, feels more skin to something like Nomadland. Particularly in the sequences in which Mowanza connects, albeit briefly, with Mavis and the little girl. These moments also give us a chance to see Stephanie Pardi’s range. It’s a powerhouse of a performance throughout, but one in which Pardi’s brown is furrowed and her jaw clenched with determination and anger. In the few moments where she is taken aback, or indeed even smiles, the audience sees the person she might be outside of these circumstances.
The road for Mowanza is hard, and she is equally hard in return. As a result, Under the Burning Sun will not be for everyone and there are one or two moments that viewers might need to look away from with squeamishness, but the blood and brutality are part of the point. Life is tough for Mowanza and the Xie evidently wants to explore the cycles of control that inform this dystopia, and encourage audiences to do the same in the world around them.
Director, screenplay: Yun Xie
Cast: Stephanie Pardi, Stevie Kincheloe, Amy Copsey, Martyna Frankow
Producers: Johnson Cheng, Jera Wang, Aaron Yu
Cinematography: Tianyi Wang
Editing: Christopher Ma, Bowei Yu
Sound: Sam Fan
Music: Stevie Kincheloe, Steve McKellar
Costume designer: Nan Zhou
Production companies: Narval Films (USA)
Venue: Oldenburg Film Festival (Independent)
In English
75 minutes
