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The good and the bad
"Vertical Ray of the Sun" - directed by Tran Anh Hung
07.01 - Posted by Editor
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The Vertical Ray of the Sun
Vietnam
112 minutes
Review by Konrad Aderer
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07.01.01 -- "The Vertical Ray of the Sun," written and directed by Tran Anh Hung, centers on the lives of three sisters in contemporary Hanoi: Lien (Tran Nu Yen-Khe), Suong (Nguyen Nhu Quynh) and Khanh (Le Khanh). The action opens with them preparing a memorial banquet for the anniversary of their mother's death. Though the women's reminiscences emphasize the harmony of their parents' relationship, they also touch on a mysterious man named Toan who may have been their mother's lover. And so we're introduced to the theme of infidelity, which we'll see runs through the lives of the three women and their men.
In his Director's Note for the press, Tran Anh Hung extols the contrasts of his film: "sensual and poignant... but mischievous... gentleness... and at the same time... a certain violent and passionate undercurrent... It brings to life characters that are at once both simple and complicated." Sure, and though the film is long, it is also quite brief. I couldn't help wondering, is there a problem in translation here, or is this director full of it?
Neither turns out to be the case. The masterful Tran Anh Hung ("The Scent of Green Papaya") really does pull off all of these paradoxes and more. For this is also, hard as it is to say, an intimate, yet a broad, panoramic film. Mark Lee Ping-Bin's lucid cinematography unifies the landscape and city spaces with the interior choreographies of relationship and desire. And though not a moment is wasted, the film takes its time, allowing ideas and emotional experiences to build slowly. As much is told in the silences as through what the characters say. Without words, we gain intimacy with Khanh's husband Kien (Tran Manh Cuong) through his solitary writer's block quarantine: sitting, smoking, napping in his darkened house.
The story expands, if by centrifugal force, as the two husbands individually go on small quests that also lead to other women. Suong's husband (Chu Ngoc Hung) Quoc, an intense, somber-faced photographer, is on an excursion shooting the countryside when he's afflicted with a deep sadness. The Wise Old Boatman he's with tells him when he used to get sad he'd go refresh himself in the company of a woman. So we paddle with Quoc along the verdant river to an idyllic water house where he has a secret wife and child, and the gloom dispells as he frolics with them. Kien, aptly following Toan's footsteps to Saigon for inspiration, meets an intriguing, receptive woman at his hotel.
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"Though not a moment is wasted, the film takes its time."
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The sisters at home wrestle with their own infidelities, real or hypothetical. The radiant Suong has a longtime lover, Tuan (Le Tuan Anh), with whom she's made a vow never to speak. So she sings songs to him instead, which I found to be the only point at which the film threatens to get a bit lyrical. Actually, "lyrical" is a misleading term here as we're not given the benefit of subtitles for the songs. That's unfortunate, because knowing what she was singing could have helped me stay involved with those scenes better.
Lien, the youngest sister, is the only unmarried one. Though she has a boyfriend, she seems to spend most of her time at home flirting and dancing with her brother Hai (Ngo Guong Hai), a buff actor. We pan slowly around walls watching them with a casualness matching their hip, slackerish energy.
They've created their own world, of a different generational mind-set than that of the older sisters. We feel this change, somewhat too abruptly, through the soundrack's shift from Trinh Cong Son's sublime original music to songs by Lou Reed, Arab Strap and The Married Monk.
By the time we come to the anniversary of the father's death, the other bookend to the story, the emotional weight of the film has reached its breaking point. True to his word, Tran Anh Hung modulates the powerhouse scenes of revelation and confrontation with comic moments and some downtime simply watching the easy-on-the-eyes Lien dancing by herself. The power of "The Vertical Ray of the Sun" is that such moments sound a distinct note in an involving, layered melody.
Konrad Aderer is the first actor to join The Workshop. He'll be seen in the independent 35mm features "P.O.V." and "Helium," which should both be completed in 2001. The rest of his actor's bio is in the Asian American Actor's Database. You can check him out pretty thoroughly in Woody Han's DV short "Reverse Shot" by asking for it at eveo.com. Meanwhile he's writing and directing his own short, and if he doesn't finish it in 2001 you can give him a smack.
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So that's Konrad's take on "The Vertical Ray of the Sun." Beg to differ? Have any comments? Post your opinions below! |
Here are the postings from the old website:
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Name: Uyen
E-mail: superlativeform@yahoo.com
I wanted to comment about there being no subtitles of the songs. Being Vietnamese American, I was able to understand the lyrics. The song I want to comment on the song Suong sings to her lover. Here is a loose translation: At night, I come home. Afternoon rain soon will come. Right now, I am happy.`` I think perhaps Tran Anh Hung wanted to make you curious about Vietnamese culture and for you to do your own research about the Vietnamese song and it`s significance in the movie. It`s like a poem. We may not know the clear reason the first time we watch it, and then we read it again with a renewed meaning...and there it is. So for me, the song just emphasizes both plot and the sense of culture. Just like life and spirituality, why should one be given all the pieces without doing some of the groundwork?
03/26/03 19:34
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Name: Stephen E. Miller
E-mail: zzaj@ca.inter.net
I just love Tran Anh Hungs films. I'd do anything to work with him. He's the most interesting film maker in the world right now. Absolutlely sublime. Complicated. Cyclo makes all the American tough-guys pale in comparison, and his approach to image and his approach to women and sexuality is beyond compare. A true genius who is not getting enough play and acknowledgement .
09/07/02 02:19
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Name: Janelle Iechad
E-mail: norma_dementia@yahoo.com
Well I just watched The Vertical Ray of the Sun yesterday on Star Movies and I thought that it was so familiar in so many aspects. Then I remembered the Green Papaya...which I now know from reading the above as "The Scent of the Green Papaya." I guess with the reminder of Green papya occurring the movie was satisfying in a way. I live in the California but was raised in the South Pacific all my life. And despite it all I have formed this very Asian influenced personality. With this in mind although a lot of the sybolism and metaphors in the Green Papaya and Vertical, I connect with the characters more so than I do when watching an American mainstream film. I'm very glad that this film as made because when I watched Green Papaya in third grade I felt the same way I did when watching Vertical. And something like that to occur regarding myself is quite rare. But I do feel that despite the length no time was wasted and yet I felt that the movie flowed very well...especially regarding the infidelity mixed in the movie. I think with that in mind it is always hard to have a balance of everything in the film with that kind of subject matter. Not to mention the fact that the backgroup was very beautiful. They don't have many American mainstream films set in the tropics that are serious yet entertaining.
08/08/02 02:13
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Name: Janelle Iechad
E-mail: norma_dementia@yahoo.com
Well I just watched The Vertical Ray of the Sun yesterday on Star Movies and I thought that it was so familiar in so many aspects. Then I remembered the Green Papaya...which I now know from reading the above as "The Scent of the Green Papaya." I guess with the reminder of Green papya occurring the movie was satisfying in a way. I live in the California but was raised in the South Pacific all my life. And despite it all I have formed this very Asian influenced personality. With this in mind although a lot of the sybolism and metaphors in the Green Papaya and Vertical, I connect with the characters more so than I do when watching an American mainstream film. I'm very glad that this film as made because when I watched Green Papaya in third grade I felt the same way I did when watching Vertical. And something like that to occur regarding myself is quite rare. But I do feel that despite the length no time was wasted and yet I felt that the movie flowed very well...especially regarding the infidelity mixed in the movie. I think with that in mind it is always hard to have a balance of everything in the film with that kind of subject matter. Not to mention the fact that the backgroup was very beautiful. They don't have many American mainstream films set in the tropics that are serious yet entertaining.
08/08/02 02:13
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Name: Phyllis Buck
E-mail: Pbuck@opendoor.com
Three of us loved the pure beauty of the movie. Beautiful people and beautiful scenes. The big leaves, the rain, the curtains in the breeze. I liked being able to take the time to stare. My husband liked Cyclo better.
04/20/02 10:41
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Name: gabriel
E-mail: gabriel_faure@hotmail.com
for American people used to Bruce Willis' films, this film may be too slow. But for people eager to experiment other cultural points of view, this film will give them a taste of the Vietnamese soul, both formally (by the slowness of the film) and through the story.
11/03/01 20:30
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Name: Mai Nguyen
E-mail: mai111@hotmail.com
Please tell me where "vertical ray of the sun" is showing. I spent enormous amount of time looking online and can not find it. I am in Orangecounty/LA , California.
09/16/01 19:30
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Name: Kim
I have not seen this movie of his, but I have seen Scent of the Green Papaya. As a Vietnamese American, I did not read the subtitles. However, I found the dialogue awful; it was very monotonous and very formal. There were no feeling in any of the voices, no inflections. Which is sad for such a beautiful language.
07/30/01 11:27
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Name: Warren
E-mail: warrenpark12@hotmail.com
I enjoyed the movie, but I did feel that the direction of the film as a whole was way too slow. It is a pleasure to see the maturation of a director (as I have seen his past films), but it seems that a strong editor would have helped the film. Much like "In the Mood for Love", the artist (director) has too much canvas to show. Sometimes less can be better. PS - I also enjoyed the reference to his past movie "cyclo", in the down cast rainfall scene.
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