critics consensus

Certainly not for the impatient, Aleksandr Sokurov's deliberately paced look at Hirohito in the waning days of World War II is both enlightening and admirable in its restraint. Read critic reviews

Rate And Review

Super Reviewer

Rate this movie

Oof, that was Rotten.

Meh, it passed the time.

It’s good – I’d recommend it.

Awesome!

So Fresh: Absolute Must See!

What did you think of the movie? (optional)
You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.
Super Reviewer
Step 2 of 2

How did you buy your ticket?

Let's get your review verified.
Fandango

AMCTheatres.com or AMC AppNew

Enter your Ticket Confirmation# located in your email.More Info

Cinemark Coming Soon

We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.

Regal Coming Soon

We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.

Theater box office or somewhere else
By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie.
You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.
Super Reviewer

Rate this movie

Oof, that was Rotten.

Meh, it passed the time.

It’s good – I’d recommend it.

Awesome!

So Fresh: Absolute Must See!

What did you think of the movie? (optional)
How did you buy your ticket?
- Fandango
- AMCTheatres.com or AMC AppNew
  
  Enter your Ticket Confirmation# located in your email.More Info
- Cinemark Coming Soon
  
  We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
- Regal Coming Soon
  
  We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
- Theater box office or somewhere else
By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie.
You haven’t finished your review yet, want to submit as-is?

You can always edit your review after.
Are you sure?

Verified reviews are considered more trustworthy by fellow moviegoers.
Want to submit changes to your review before closing?

The Sun Photos

View All Photos (13)

Movie Info

Emperor Hirohito (Issei Ogata) of Japan meets with Gen. Douglas MacArthur in 1945.

Genre:

history, drama
Original Language:

English
Director:

Aleksandr Sokurov
Producer:

Marco Muller, Igor Kalyonov, Andrey Sigle
Writer:

Yuriy Arabov
Release Date (Streaming):

May 22, 2017
Runtime:

1h 55m
Production Co:

RAI Cinema, Istituto Luce Cinecittà

Cast & Crew

Issei Ogata

Robert Dawson

Kaori Mamoi

Shiro Sano

Aleksandr Sokurov
Director

Yuriy Arabov
Screenwriter

Show all Cast & Crew

News & Interviews for The Sun

Critics Consensus: New Moon Wanes

View All

Critic Reviews for The Sun

All Critics (42) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (3)

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.

November 18, 2011 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…

Keith Uhlich
Time Out
Quote not available.

November 17, 2011 | Rating: 4/5

Ben Kenigsberg
Time Out
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.

April 1, 2010 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
Alexander Sokurov's The Sun demands and rewards patience.

March 25, 2010 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…

Walter V. Addiego
San Francisco Chronicle
Finds beauty, madness and outright bizarreness in the sight of a lost, slightly freakish man attempting to understand his altering reality.

December 7, 2009 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…

Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness
The Sun took four years to reach American theaters, but the long delay hasn't diminished the force of Sokurov's experimentation.

November 19, 2009 | Rating: A | Full Review…

Sam Adams
AV Club
A brilliant film.

September 24, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4.0 | Full Review…

Richard Propes
TheIndependentCritic.com
An astounding work of intimate detail that should not be missed.

October 16, 2019 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

David Harris
Spectrum Culture
With its slow pace, weird stabs at slapstick, and odd stilted performances, The Sun may not be for everyone -- but in its very perverseness, it has to to be noted that this is a unique, mesmerizing, mad and brilliantly intuitive study.

April 27, 2019 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Paul Dale
The List
Lauding the work of Russia's finest living director is getting repetitive, but Sokurov goes from strength to strength.

April 26, 2019 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…

Kaleem Aftab
The List
Hirohito's interest in marine biology provides Sokurov with a fruitful thematic and visual leitmotif: images of fish glide through the film, marking its most emotionally and politically significant moments.

August 29, 2018 | Full Review…

Daniel Mendelsohn
The New York Review of Books
... 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.

June 10, 2010 | Full Review…

Sean Axmaker
Seanax.com

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.

November 18, 2011 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…

Keith Uhlich
Time Out
Quote not available.

November 17, 2011 | Rating: 4/5

Ben Kenigsberg
Time Out
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.

April 1, 2010 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
Alexander Sokurov's The Sun demands and rewards patience.

March 25, 2010 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…

Walter V. Addiego
San Francisco Chronicle
A brilliant film.

September 24, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4.0 | Full Review…

Richard Propes
TheIndependentCritic.com
An astounding work of intimate detail that should not be missed.

October 16, 2019 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

David Harris
Spectrum Culture
With its slow pace, weird stabs at slapstick, and odd stilted performances, The Sun may not be for everyone -- but in its very perverseness, it has to to be noted that this is a unique, mesmerizing, mad and brilliantly intuitive study.

April 27, 2019 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Paul Dale
The List
Lauding the work of Russia's finest living director is getting repetitive, but Sokurov goes from strength to strength.

April 26, 2019 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…

Kaleem Aftab
The List
Hirohito's interest in marine biology provides Sokurov with a fruitful thematic and visual leitmotif: images of fish glide through the film, marking its most emotionally and politically significant moments.

August 29, 2018 | Full Review…

Daniel Mendelsohn
The New York Review of Books
... 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.

June 10, 2010 | Full Review…

Sean Axmaker
Seanax.com
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.

May 25, 2010 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Janos Gereben
San Francisco Examiner
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.

April 30, 2010 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Rob Thomas
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

View All Critic Reviews (42)

Audience Reviews for The Sun

Dec 28, 2009

Elegiac portrait of Japan's Emperor Hirohito at the end of World War II. A fascinating character study, portraying the Emperor as a sheltered child, faced with the impossible task of sacrificing his dignity and and the pride of his people by renouncing his status as a deity in order to allow the Allies to land in Japan and end the war without further aggression. Strikingly filmed in muted tones.

Matthew L Super Reviewer
Nov 28, 2009

"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.

Walter M Super Reviewer