X
  • 2009
  • Not Rated
  • Lorber HT Digital
  • 1 h 50 m
  • 2009
  • Not Rated
  • Lorber HT Digital
  • 1 h 50 m
The Sun

Summary In the summer of 1945, with Tokyo under siege by American forces, Japanese Emperor Hirohito remains in seclusion from the world in an underground bunker. Held by his people as a deity, the incarnation of the Sun God, Hirohito is sheltered from the devastation that surrounds him as he is waited on hand and foot by his servants. After th...

Directed By: Aleksandr Sokurov

Written By: Yuriy Arabov, Jeremy Noble

  • 2009
  • Not Rated
  • Lorber HT Digital
  • 1 h 50 m
  • 2009
  • Not Rated
  • Lorber HT Digital
  • 1 h 50 m

The Sun

Metascore Universal Acclaim Based on 12 Critic Reviews
85
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary In the summer of 1945, with Tokyo under siege by American forces, Japanese Emperor Hirohito remains in seclusion from the world in an underground bunker. Held by his people as a deity, the incarnation of the Sun God, Hirohito is sheltered from the devastation that surrounds him as he is waited on hand and foot by his servants. After th...

Directed By: Aleksandr Sokurov

Written By: Yuriy Arabov, Jeremy Noble

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 12 Critic Reviews
85
92% Positive
11 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
8% Negative
1 Review

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 12 Critic Reviews
85
92% Positive
11 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
8% Negative
1 Review

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
100
The Sun sheds only so much literal light on its chosen subject; it's a film of shadows and silence, the calm before and after the storm. But everything you see and hear carries weight and an eerie poetic undercurrent.
By Michael Phillips FULL REVIEW
100
The result is not to make the emperor sympathetic so much as it is to tug at the mask of despotic glory. In the end, he is only a man.
By Sam Adams FULL REVIEW
100
Sokurov, who also acted as director of photography, films the character and his surroundings with the eye of a newly arrived visitor to another world.
By Keith Uhlich FULL REVIEW
90
Though he successfully humanizes Hirohito, who is shown happily shedding his divinity, Sokurov doesn't entirely exonerate him. He contrives a shock ending that, as measured as everything else in this engrossing, supremely assured movie, acknowledges one last blood sacrifice on the emperor's altar.
By J. Hoberman FULL REVIEW
88
This emperor verges on dementia, having no apparent clue how to function.
By Wesley Morris FULL REVIEW
70
The setting, largely confined to the laboratory building and underground bunker of the otherwise bombed-out Imperial Palace, makes for somewhat claustrophobic viewing but effectively enhances the hermetically sealed feeling of Hirohito's royal life.
FULL REVIEW
30
Reflecting on Sokurov’s other recent work – like “Russian Arc” for example – The Sun is a giant step down. It’s an outrageously long-winded drama that’s awfully directed with the skill of a high school play.
FULL REVIEW

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Details

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Production Company Nikola Film, Proline Film, Downtown Pictures, MACT Productions, Riforma Films, Russian Federation of Cinematography, Rai Cinema, Istituto Luce, Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC), Cinema & Television Company (CTC), Lenfilm Studio
Release Date Nov 20, 2009
Duration 1 h 50 m
Rating Not Rated
Genres
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Awards

Russian Guild of Film Critics
• 3 Wins & 6 Nominations
Nika Awards
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
Village Voice Film Poll
• 2 Nominations

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