[1] 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.
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).
"[3] Daniel Vukovich, author of China and Orientalism: Western Knowledge Production and the PRC, wrote that the film version makes its characters "a small group of male friends, plus one female "comrade"" instead of being "violent hooligans".
They are Chen Kaige's Bawang bieji (Farewell My Concubine) (1993), Tian Zhuangzhuang's Lan fengzheng (The Blue Kite) (1992), Zhang Yimou's Huozhe (To Live) (1994), Xie Jin's Tianyunshan chuanqi (Legend of Tianyun Mountain) (1980), Mu ma ren (The Herdsman) (1982) and Furong zhen (Hibiscus Town) (1986).
[7] Jean Louis Piel offered to help Jiang Wen's crew with the funds for mixing, light distribution, copy suppression after watching the initial cut of the film.
[8] The film approved domestic distribution after making five changes: mainly altering some of the dialogue, censoring passages where the protagonist is sexually aroused, and weakening the music "L'Internationale" during the alley fights with enhancing strong action sound effects.
[14] Their parents worked for the Communist Party in military, political and scientific fields, so Jiang Wen and Wang Shuo lived in one of the more luxurious courtyards — and much like their characters — were known as the Most Privileged Young People of New China.
[16] Director Jiang Wen asked the photographer not to be a spectator but to be a role in the film, which posed a great challenge to the choice of viewpoints.
[16] The sexual frankness in the shower scene with the boys and the topless shot of actress Ning Jing paved the way for mainland China films.
[16] The Chinese version of the Soviet song "Moscow Nights" features prominently in the film, as does Pietro Mascagni's music for his opera Cavalleria Rusticana.
Pietro Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo” is often used as an independent symphony repertoire and as the soundtrack of famous movies, such as The Godfather III (1990) and Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull (1980).
[27] For instance, “scar literature” writer Feng Jicai criticized the film as “indiscriminate nostalgia”, saying that he “regret[s] that the Cultural Revolution [In the Heat of the Sun] represents has nothing in common with [his].
[27] Vukovich stated that in Western countries "the film has been subjected to an all too familiar coding as yet another secretly subversive, dissenting critique of Maoist and Cultural Revolution totalitarianism",[27] with the exceptions being the analyses of Chen Xiaoming from Mainland China and Wendy Larson.
[27] Immediately after the film's release, major critics praised it as the most important work in Chinese cinema since Zhang Yimou's Hong gaoliang (Red Sorghum) (1987).
In the Heat of the Sun resonates with Zhang's film not only in reinventing cinematic language but also in retelling a key moment in China's history.
[31] The film was a domestic box office hit in 1995, beating Hollywood blockbusters like The True Lies, Lion King and Forrest Gump.