Like his fellow Sixth-Generation filmmaker Jia Zhangke, Wang Xiaoshuai (Beijing Bicycle; Shanghai Dreams) has learned much from Taiwanese master Edward Yang, whose work frequently places intimate family stories within a politically charged historical framework. Brimming with youthful energy and featuring lovingly detailed evocations of a specific time and place, 11 Flowers demonstrates Wang's deep engagement with mainland China's complex cultural history. Set in a riverside community in southwest China in 1975, the film follows a young boy who negotiates the onset of puberty while trying to decipher the anxious whispering around him-of Red Guards clashing with conservatives, and of a killer running loose in the woods.