Solntse (The Sun) (2005)

92% of critics liked it
(37 reviews)
74% of users liked it
(900 ratings)

The events surrounding Japanese emperor Hirohito's August 1945 call for a complete cease fire among his troops serves as the subject of Alexander Sokurov's thought-provoking historical drama. In the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Emperor Hirohito (Issey Ogata) announces to the world that Japan… More The events surrounding Japanese emperor Hirohito's August 1945 call for a complete cease fire among his troops serves as the subject of Alexander Sokurov's thought-provoking historical drama. In the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Emperor Hirohito (Issey Ogata) announces to the world that Japan will surrender unconditionally. His declaration was broadcast over the radio on August 15, 1945, and stunned the Japanese people. In this film, Sokurov details not only the events surrounding the emperor's declaration of surrender, but his renunciation of divine status as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 50 min.
Directed By: Aleksandr Sokurov
Written By: Yuri Arabov
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Jan 1, 2005 Wide
On DVD: Jun 1, 2010
Studio: Lorber Films

Critic Reviews

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Working from Yuri Arabov and Jeremy Noble's script, Sokurov has a wonderful time not simply with Hirohito and history, but with his filmmaking, which can be oblique to the point of being stultifying. Here he plays with scale.
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle
Alexander Sokurov's The Sun demands and rewards patience.
Manohla Dargis, New York Times
First shown at the Berlin Film Festival four years ago, The Sun is finally receiving its welcome American theatrical release, which means that one of the best movies of 2005 is now also one of the best of 2009.
J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Though he successfully humanizes Hirohito, who is shown happily shedding his divinity, Sokurov doesn't entirely exonerate him.
Leslie Felperin, Variety
As usual, Sokurov's unhurried pacing will test the patience of more fidgety viewers, although the script is more accessible than some of his recent efforts.
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star
While The Sun staunchly refuses to pass judgement on a figure considered by many to be a war criminal, it does essay a vivid portrait of the utter experiential vacuum that attends the stupefyingly powerful: the Emperor has no clue.
Sean Axmaker, Seanax.com
... not a conventional biographical portrait by any definition, but rather a reflection in the inner life of the Emperor, a man who was considered a god by his people and treated as such.
Janos Gereben, San Francisco Examiner
Alexander Sokurov's "The Sun," arriving in the U.S. five years after its release in Europe, is a stunning film, fascinating to some, probably sleep-inducing to others.
Rob Thomas, Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Those with the patience to stick with Sokurov's stately pacing will find an engrossing character study in "The Sun," that of a very odd, polite man who also happened to lead a nation at war during World War II.
Janos Gereben, Entertainment Insiders
It's been called maddeningly meditative and a vision of life shrouded in dust and cobwebs
Kelly Vance, East Bay Express
Sokurov takes a few steps back and observes Hirohito and MacArthur with something like amused equanimity.
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix
Sokurov doesn't answer MacArthur's disingenuous question, but ... he suggests why no one else can either.
Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews
...a fine historical biography of man, little known to most of the world, but one who held the Pacific Rim and China in his hands (and almost won it) nearly 70 years ago.
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
...Aleksandr Sokurov films the first half of his movie as if underwater, a sinking ship as it were, with slightly tilted angles, the sound of groaning metal, and staircases spiraling down to an underground bunker.
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
Finds beauty, madness and outright bizarreness in the sight of a lost, slightly freakish man attempting to understand his altering reality.
Gabe Leibowitz, Film and Felt
The early portions of The Sun are almost nightmarish in their cold shots of Hirohito trudging slowly through bleak hallways, coiffed to a sterile perfection.
Sam Adams, AV Club
The Sun took four years to reach American theaters, but the long delay hasn't diminished the force of Sokurov's experimentation.
Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru
Boasts stylish cinematography and a well-nuanced, gentle performance by Issey Ogata, but it often drags and fails to be truly captivating and engrossing as a character study.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A grippingly disturbing film that presents a new perspective on the Emperor than the usual one ladled out in most American school history courses.

Read all 19 critic reviews

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Walter M

"The Sun" is a surprisingly lightweight movie, considering its setting at the end of World War II. The tone is deeply ironic, wondering how Emperor Hirohito(Issei Ogata) could allow the atrocities of an inhuman war to be fought in his name if he was so cultured, educated… More
"The Sun" is a surprisingly lightweight movie, considering its setting at the end of World War II. The tone is deeply ironic, wondering how Emperor Hirohito(Issei Ogata) could allow the atrocities of an inhuman war to be fought in his name if he was so cultured, educated and interested in the sciences which clashes with the divinity forced upon him.(Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't Hirohito just a figurehead?) In fact, his palace design owes more to Western than Japanese ideas. Upon his desk are the busts of Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin and Napoleon.(Well, the last one did not turn out so well.) In fact, Hirohito seems positively hurt at American anti-immigration legislation, partially blaming that for the war. And as General Douglas MacArthur(Robert Dawson) meets with Hirohito and does not find the devil he was expecting, the emperor discovers a world devastated just outside of his door that he was hardly aware of since most of his learning comes from books and tutors.