Trials and tribulations beset a Taiwanese family of four in Chung Mong-hong’s intimate and grounded work, one that is blessed with exceptional performances throughout.
Review #2,859
Dir. Chung Mong-Hong
2019 | Taiwan | Drama | 156 min | 2.35:1 | Mandarin & Hokkien
NC16 (passed clean) for some violence and coarse language
Cast: Chen Yi-Wen, Ko Shu-Chin, Wu Chien-Ho, Apple Wu, Greg Hsu, Liu Kuan-Ting, Ivy Yin
Plot: A family of four fractures under the weight of unmet expectations, unexpected tragedy, and uncompromising pride.
Awards: Won 5 Golden Horses – Best Narrative Feature, Best Director, Best Leading Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing; Nom. for 6 Golden Horses – Best Leading Actor, Best Leading Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Song
International Sales: Mandarin Vision
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Moderate – Family Crisis
Narrative Style: Slightly Complex
Pace: Slightly Slow
Audience Type: Slightly Mainstream
Viewed: Netflix
Spoilers: No
Languishing somewhere on Netflix, A Sun has been on my watchlist for quite some time. The runtime of about 2½ hours should already suggest an epic family saga, but in truth, this is an intimate, grounded work about the trials and tribulations faced by a family of four that tempers any form of overt dramatism for a more quietly emotional and reflective treatment.
The father (Chen Yi-Wen) is a driving instructor, whose good-for-nothing younger son (Wu Chien-Ho) is incarcerated for abetting a crime (beware of the opening scene!).
His older son (Greg Han Hsu) is a model child—studious and thoughtful but under tremendous pressure to succeed. The mother (Samantha Ko), at wits’ end, tries to keep herself together.
It may seem like something out of a typical Taiwanese or Korean series, but A Sun (the title itself is a play on the word ‘son’) is a deeply empathetic look at a fractured family hoping for some kind of consolation—let alone redemption—that feels utterly elusive.
“The fairest thing in the world is the sun.”
Their situation is bleak but Chung Mong-Hong’s work rarely feels hopeless, though it tackles themes that may be considered rather dark. Without giving anything away, the film asks us to reflect: do we truly know our family when most things are hidden in the shade?
There are two ‘omen’ moments in A Sun that pivot the narrative in an entirely new direction—and they are simply shots of the sun and clouds in the sky, poetically drawing to the inevitable and irreversible actions of certain characters.
Blessed with exceptional performances throughout, particularly from Chen, who expresses every emotion imaginable with his perpetual ‘furrowed brows’ face, Chung’s film is rewarding, perhaps even cathartic. It also contains one of the most emotional renditions of Wakin Chau’s ‘Hua Xin’ (花心) that I have ever heard.
Grade: A-
Trailer:
Music:
Eternality Tan 