Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000)
"Mua he chieu thang dung" (original title)

With the brilliant Vietnamese summer as a setting Vertical Ray of the Sun is beautiful from beginning to end. The plot centres around three sisters, two of whom are happily married (or so ... See full summary »

Director:

Tran Anh Hung

Writer:

Tran Anh Hung

Stars:

Tran Nu Yên-Khê, Nhu Quynh Nguyen, Le Khanh

2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Tran Nu Yên-Khê	...	Lien
Nhu Quynh Nguyen	...	Suong
Le Khanh	...	Khanh
Quang Hai Ngo	...	Hai
Chu Hung	...	Quoc
Manh Cuong Tran	...	Kien
Tuân Anh Lê	...	Tuan
Ngoc Dung Le	...	Huong
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Doan Viet Ha
Long Le Vu
Aidan Nguyen
Anh Tuan
Do Thi Hai Yen

Storyline

With the brilliant Vietnamese summer as a setting Vertical Ray of the Sun is beautiful from beginning to end. The plot centres around three sisters, two of whom are happily married (or so it appears). The youngest sister is single and living with her cute older brother, whom she is desperately in love with. A second sister is married to a man who has another woman and child elsewhere whom he loves just as much as his wife -with a few conditions, she agrees to carry on with the marriage. The third sister and her husband are overjoyed to discover she is pregnant, and though he is tempted, her husband remains loyal to her. Charming, slow-paced, face value, family saga film.

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Plot Keywords:

marriage | family loyalty | hanoi | writer | pregnancy scare | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and some sex-related material

Details

Official Sites:

Lazennec [fr] (French, english)

Country:

Vietnam France Germany

Language:

Vietnamese

Release Date:

24 May 2000 (France)

Also Known As:

As Luzes de um Verão

Filming Locations:

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$29,339 (USA) (6 July 2001)

Gross:

$455,187 (USA) (21 December 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal+, Hang Phim Truyen, Lazennec Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"Cuoi Cung Cho Mot Tinh Yeu"
Written by Cong Son Trinh
Performed by Vu Tranh Xuan and Nguyen Quang

User Reviews

Inner-outer beauty and much more.

This film (as The Scent of Green Papaya) is to me pure visual poetry. As with a poem it offers its impact slowly and through its suggestive images that come at you subtlely and with enormous grace. It's not a story of "and then and then"...it unfolds like a beautiful fan, by degrees...giving the viewer a chance to internalize each moment. And I was particularly impressed by the repetition of certain actions...the turning of two people, with a significant look; the clipping of nails...such small details reflect a sensibility that brings the seemingly unimportant moments in life, the often repeated ones into a whole new light, into consciousness and value. This, for me, is a glorious and appropriate use of film, which is, after all, a visual medium. The director, the actors, the cinematographer are to be commended on this masterpiece!