85
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichSokurov, who also acted as director of photography, films the character and his surroundings with the eye of a newly arrived visitor to another world.
- 100The Hollywood ReporterRichard James HavisThe Hollywood ReporterRichard James HavisThis precision-controlled film once again highlights Alexander Sokurov's mastery of the medium. The third entry in his Men in Power series employs refined performances, a controlled script, excellent sound and fluid camerawork.
- 100Chicago ReaderFred CamperChicago ReaderFred CamperThis 2005 masterpiece by Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov transforms the story of Emperor Hirohito at the close of World War II into a melancholy meditation on power and its loss.
- 90Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanThough he successfully humanizes Hirohito, who is shown happily shedding his divinity, Sokurov doesn't entirely exonerate him. He contrives a shock ending that, as measured as everything else in this engrossing, supremely assured movie, acknowledges one last blood sacrifice on the emperor's altar.
- 90The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisThe movie is best understood not in banal docudrama terms but as an impressionistic portrait of a man who, stripped of power, is revealed as grotesquely human.
- 75New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoFives us behind-the-scene looks at Hirohito, the man and the ruler. The diminutive leader comes off sympathetically, as a man concerned with the welfare of his people.
- 70VarietyVarietyAs 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.
- The setting, largely confined to the laboratory building and underground bunker of the otherwise bombed-out Imperial Palace, makes for somewhat claustrophobic viewing but effectively enhances the hermetically sealed feeling of Hirohito's royal life.
- 30Film ThreatFilm ThreatReflecting on Sokurov’s other recent work – like “Russian Arc” for example – The Sun is a giant step down. It’s an outrageously long-winded drama that’s awfully directed with the skill of a high school play.