Black Sunflowers

Black Sunflowers immerses us in the lives of twentysomething Ukrainians as they come of age during wartime. The film embodies a youthful spirit as it shifts between eclectic settings, from an underground dance club to a frontline barracks to a countryside swimming hole. We get to experience this generation in all its complexity as people grapple with tragedy, duty, disillusionment, and yearning for a better future.

“These soldiers never wanted to be soldiers,” says Nikoletta, a 21-year-old who had to switch her photography studies from nature to combat. She’s one of several distinctive figures in this mosaic. Another is Vania, a soldier, whose hobby is the illicit car sport of “drifting”: that is, screeching down city streets like a Grand Prix racer. His fellow drifter Zhenia has so far avoided the military, but feels the pressures of the compulsory draft age set at 25.

The American filmmaker James Marcus Haney teams with an esteemed crew of Ukrainian producers including Volodymyr Yatsenko (behind last year’s TIFF Platform winner To the Victory!). Haney is a gifted visualist known for working with musicians such as Mumford & Sons, Elton John, and Coldplay. He first visited Ukraine to film for an NGO. “I was surprised to see how much normal life carried on, despite the war,” he wrote in a director’s statement. “I couldn’t help but think that mainstream media is missing half of the story.”

Wartime films can often feel didactic or of the moment. Black Sunflowers strives to be more tiered and timeless.

THOM POWERS