Warning: this review contains spoilers.
I’m a member of a movie club and one of the movies that we decided to watch was called “A Sun”. I’m more of a casual member, so I don’t participate that often or watch all the movies, but the movies that I have seen through the club have been relatively good. This Taiwanese movie won a few awards and I thought it would be an entertaining watch.
During the movie, I was confused by some of the events that occurred, but the story and the background context unraveled as the movie progressed. I appreciated that the actors looked like normal people and that the story was following a working class family. The opening scene successfully grabbed my attention and I wanted my questions answered in why these kids pulled up at a restaurant and chopped off a guy’s hand. I may have missed it or they may have not mentioned it, but when they said that A-Ho (one of the main characters) got his 14/15 year old girlfriend pregnant, I was wondering how old A-Ho was. Like I feel like this guy was also in high school and he did go to juvenile detention, so he couldn’t have been too old, but to steal a motorcycle with a friend to assault someone with a machete and knife doesn’t sound like something someone should be doing, especially if he’s about to be a parent. Of course, it seemed like he didn’t know that he was a father so maybe he wasn’t thinking very far in advance. They mentioned that this Oden guy had been bullying A-Ho, which is why A-Ho and Radish (A-Ho’s accomplice), pulled up to teach him a lesson, but the assault seemed really unwarranted. Anyways, no need to talk about this incident any longer.
The movie was shot well, some of the scenes, such as the one with the parents talking on the top of a mountain, was really well done. I think that the movie was called “A Sun”, because of the message that A-Ho’s older brother said in the movie. He said that the sun was shining down on everyone and that animals and most people had the ability to shelter themselves from the sun’s rays. However, he felt that he was unable to protect himself from the sun. He later committed suicide due to the unending pressure. As a viewer, one critique I have is that I didn’t really get the sense that he was under that much pressure. Perhaps I don’t understand the Taiwanese culture very well, but it seemed like he was going to school and studying to be a doctor. I definitely think that studying to be a doctor can be tough, but from the scenes I watched, it didn’t seem like his studies were overwhelming him. Maybe the combination of the studies and the societal or familial pressure was too much, but his parents didn’t weren’t giving him that much pressure. They could’ve been more present, but the mom was worried about taking care of the pregnant girlfriend and the baby while working as a beautician and the father was busy with his job teaching driving school.
The performance from Radish was really good. He was so convincing that he annoyed me. I wanted A-Ho to cut this guy out of his life so then he could focus on working and providing with his family, until I realized why Radish was sticking around. Radish was sticking up for his friend, which is why he cut off Oden’s hand. Obviously, he went too far, but if your best friend says that they are getting bullied, then you got to help them out.
The movie had graphic violence and and criminal behavior, so I wouldn’t recommend this movie to everyone. But the drama was convincing and held my attention throughout.
Jeffrey's Thoughts 