As Japan nears defeat at the end of World War II, Emperor Hirohito starts his day in a bunker underneath the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. A servant reads to him a list of activities for the day, including a meeting with his ministers, marine biology research, and writing his son. Hirohito muses about the impact on such schedules when the Americans arrive but is told that as long as there is a solitary Japanese person living, the Americans will not reach The Emperor. Hirohito rep... (Full plot summary below)
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As Japan nears defeat at the end of World War II, Emperor Hirohito starts his day in a bunker underneath the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. A servant reads to him a list of activities for the day, including a meeting with his ministers, marine biology research, and writing his son. Hirohito muses about the impact on such schedules when the Americans arrive but is told that as long as there is a solitary Japanese person living, the Americans will not reach The Emperor. Hirohito replies that he at times feels like he himself will be the last Japanese person left alive. The servant reminds him that he is a deity, not a person, but Hirohito points out that he has a body just like any other man. He later reflects on the causes of the war when dictating observations about a hermit crab, and then about the peace to come when composing a letter to his son. Soon enough General Douglas MacArthur's personal car is sent to bring him through the ruins of Tokyo for a meeting with the supreme commander of the victorious occupying forces. Underlying all the conversation that follows is the question of Hirohito's future, either as Emperor or a war criminal. The two very different men strangely bond after sharing dinner and Havana cigars, and Hirohito leaves, renounces his divine nature, and is re-united with his family in the palace to face a new life to help re-build his war-ravaged country as a constitutional monarch.
Leave your thoughts about The Sun.
| Slant MagazineKeith UhlichSokurov reveals a man trying desperately, though honorably, to avoid an inevitable turn of the tide. |
| San Francisco ChronicleWalter V. AddiegoAlexander Sokurov's The Sun demands and rewards patience. |
| East Bay ExpressKelly VanceSokurov takes a few steps back and observes Hirohito and MacArthur with something like amused equanimity. |
| VarietyLeslie FelperinAs 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. |
| Film ThreatMichael FerraroIt's an outrageously long-winded drama that's awfully directed with the skill of a high school play. |
| Combustible CelluloidJeffrey M. AndersonSince this is a man more or less stripped of emotion, it's like watching a newborn fawn, violently ripped from its safety and learning its way in the world. |
| AV ClubSam AdamsThe Sun took four years to reach American theaters, but the long delay hasn't diminished the force of Sokurov's experimentation. |
| Globe and MailLiam LaceyThe Sun may be a kind of cinematic masterpiece, it's just not a morally defensible one. |
| Film4Anton BitelFinely observed, exquisitely shot and immaculately performed, The Sun portrays a tormented leader redeemed by his own adaptability. |
| Film and FeltGabe LeibowitzThe early portions of The Sun are almost nightmarish in their cold shots of Hirohito trudging slowly through bleak hallways, coiffed to a sterile perfection. |
