Solntse (2005)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Aleksandr Sokurov

Writers:

Yuri Arabov (writer)
Jeremy Noble (writer)

Release Date:

8 April 2005 (Estonia)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

Third part in Aleksandr Sokurov's tetrology, following "Moloch" and "Taurus", focuses on Japanese Emperor Hirohito and Japan's defeat in World War II when he is finally confronted by Gen. Douglas MacArthur who offers him to accept a diplomatic defeat for survival.

Plot Keywords:

Emperor | Defeat | Japanese | Douglas Macarthur | Japan

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Issei Ogata	...	Shouwa-Tennou Hirohito
Robert Dawson	...	General Douglas MacArthur (as Robert Dawson)
Kaori Momoi	...	Empress Kojun
Shirô Sano	...	The chamberlain
Shinmei Tsuji	...	Old servant
Taijiro Tamura	...	Scientist
Georgi Pitskhelauri	...	McArthur's warrant officer
Hiroya Morita	...	Suzuki, Prime Minister
Toshiaki Nishizawa	...	Yonai, Minister of the Navy
Naomasa Musaka	...	Anami, Minister of the War
Yusuke Tozawa	...	Kido
Kojiro Kusanagi	...	Togo, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Tetsuro Tsuno	...	General Umezu
Rokuro Abe	...	General Toyoda
Jun Haichi	...	Abe, Minister of the Interior

Also Known As:

Солнце (Russia)
Il sole (Italy)
Le soleil (France)
The Sun (International: English title)

Runtime:

115 min | Japan:110 min | Hong Kong:110 min | Canada:110 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Russia | Italy | Switzerland | France

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Italy:T | France:U | Netherlands:MG6 | Brazil:Livre | UK:PG

Company:

Nikola Film

Trivia:

Aleksandr Sokurov kept the name of the actor playing the Emperor secret, since it is taboo in Japan to play an Emperor on film. Sokurov was afraid for the safety of the actor, after Nagisa Oshima told him there have been two attempts on his life after he criticized Imperial Japan during WWII.

Quotes:

Shouwa-Tennou Hirohito: Our chances of victory in the war with the west were 50 out of 100. Germany's chances in this war were 100 out of 100.
General Douglas MacArthur: What are you talking about?
Shouwa-Tennou Hirohito: I'm talking about the alliance with Germany.
General Douglas MacArthur: Well, that is all in the past. There is only one unresolved issue left. That is the issue of your fate.

Movie Connections:

Follows Molokh (1999)

Soundtrack:

from DIE GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG

A great film

Sokurov's haunting recreation of how Emperor Hirohito spent the last hours before the Japanese surrender, this is a miraculous work, and it provided the most powerful aesthetic and emotional experience of the 2005 New York Film Festival, whose official selections were not lacking in depth and fine film-making.

"The Sun" depicts a man who knows very well what is going on but lives in a cocoon, in a state of detachment and ineffectuality that becomes strangely heartrending. Issey Ogata's performance as the Emperor easily competes for hypnotic intensity with Bruno Ganz's Hitler in the German film "Downfall" -- but with a very different sort of bunker and a very different kind of man: a silent, immaculate country house with a few faithful servants in attendance; a small, frail but upright and dignified personage who can easily explain the causes of the Japanese defeat to his general staff but has never learned to dress himself or open a door. Even on this day he is more comfortable browsing through photos of his family and American movie stars, dictating notes on marine biology, and writing poetry. Despite the disgrace, he is selflessly happy that peace has come. He inks a brush to write a statement to his absent son, but instead drafts a few verses about the weather.

Later he is taken to see Eisenhower, and then brought back again to dine with the general. He enjoys the wine and the meat and has his first taste of a Havana cigar. The Americans conclude that the Emperor is like a child. "What's it like being a living god?" Ike asks. And speaking, to the dismay of the Japanese interpreter, in perfect English, Hirohito says, "What can I tell you? You know, it is not easy being Emperor." These are just a few details in a film rich in telling ones. Simply enumerating them can't explain this film's slow, cumulative emotional wallop -- or the lovely, fantastic, dreamlike landscape images toward the end. This film about one of modern history's most humiliating defeats is a stunning triumph.

"The Sun" demonstrates unmistakably that Andrei Sokurov is one of the world's great filmmakers.