The Vertical Ray of the Sun (At the Height of Summer) (...

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  March 20, 2011

  jasonhirthler1

  Most beautifully paced film I've seen. Gleaming wet verdant Ho Chi Minh City in its steamy, languorous glory.

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  June 2, 2008

  FangsFirst

  For some reason, Vietnamese film's existence never even occurred to me. Perhaps like the way I keep forgetting Spain is still a country (that may sound awful, but unless you are an avid follower of history, I haven't seen Spain in any news in quite some time, in lists of other co... read moreuntries doing something as well, perhaps, but nothing of their own--they just seem to sink quietly into the background, and the contrast with a very powerful past with lots of big political moves throws me off, like they must be one of those countries that has since disappeared--but I am getting way off track here) I just never thought about the fact that Vietnam would naturally make films like most other countries. So, who can guess why I have a foreign film you probably haven't heard of? Yes, that's right, Sony Pictures Classics.
  
  Liên (Tr?n N? Yên Khê), Khanh (Le Khanh) and Suong (Nhu Quynh Nguyen) are three sisters in Hanoi, Liên living with older brother Hai (Quang Hai Ngo) in a small apartment of sorts, waking up in various sleeping configurations (take from that what you will--hints are strong, but are only hints) to the music of Lou Reed (be it "solo" or Velvet Underground) and Arab Strap*, Khanh is married to a writer named Kiên (Manh Cuong Tran) who is blocked on his last novel which he has almost finished, and Suong is married to the somber-looking Quôc (Chu Hung), a nature photographer who cannot take pleasure from his photos of people--seeing no tranquility in them. They begin the film by holding a memorial celebration of their mother's posthumous birthday, discussing their theories about who Toán was--the name their mother called their father in the depths of a losing battle with her memory. From this rather giggly, sisterly moment the three split up again to their separate paths and we see that perhaps there's a little more drama in their lives than that surface suggests.
  
  The overriding theme of the film seems to be secrecy, especially as it relates to cheating. Quôc has a second woman--and child, Kiên is tempted to use experience to finish the final scene he can't write--about a meeting between a man and woman, Suong is seeing a man named Tuán (Le Tuan Anh) in Quôc's absence, and Liên is quite obviously in love with Hai (this part is hinted heavily enough there's little doubt, if any--but there are only suggestions that something may have happened). I hoped to avoid the "slice of life" phrase, because I try not to get repetitive between reviews (except of the films I have little to say about, then I give up) but apparently I was not the only one to have this phrase come to mind, and it's not inaccurate. We are seeing only chunks. These affairs and relationships are not begun and ended in the course of this film, they are not matters of huge fireworks, they are acted in the fashion that they exist in reality--just as "boring" and uneventful as the actually are, for all their possible emotional devastation.
  
  Writer/Director Tr?n Anh Hùng (husband of Tr?n N? Yên Khê) manages to put something else into this film though, especially with the assistance of cinematographer Pin Bing Lee. Bringing that same detached eye that seems to fall into place naturally in almost any Asian drama I've ever seen, Tr?n lingers on images of nature and the rest of the city around this family throughout, in a manner unlike, say, Terrence Malick. It is not a juxtaposed, physically unrelated image with metaphoric meaning (or at least meaning imposed by its placement and contrast), it is physically relevant (by proximity) and often manages to hide the possible melodrama of certain events--a door closing, a storming out, tearful sobbing, many are panned away from to focus on the vibrant colours of the walls of the places in which they occur. Almost every scene has foliage of some kind in it, absolutely stunningly green and through the first half of the film lit brightly from a shining, unclouded sun (or at least a well-faked one) and splashes of green against the teal and aqua of Liên and Hai's apartment and the generally cool colours of most buildings, all filled with open windows, ladders and unpainted simple frames that make it feel as if Hanoi must be filled with treehouses instead of a more basic difference in architecture from the West. It is absolutely beautiful, and the surreal image of the street flooded--but uniformly and only the barest sliver of water over everything, as if everyone is biking and walking on the surface of a lake, is unbelievable. And none of it feels forced, contrived or fake--which speaks to someone's eye and timing or someone's skill. Either way it is to be commended for the images that appear, which contrast this darkened, rainy Hanoi with the bright and shiny one, a contrast between the emotional state and appearance of our characters, too--one that also seems a natural occurrence and that much more affecting for it.
  
  *I cannot believe I recognized Arab Strap without really knowing their music all that well.

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• 
  
  May 6, 2007

  starwolfdreamer

  If you have a taste for foriegn movies and understand that other countries do not make movies like holiwood, I think you will like this. It is like a aisan poem or vignette.

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• 
  
  August 1, 2006

  Milly21

  not very exciting by any means, but overall, very serene/tranquil, charming, and beautiful. Lien's relationship with her siblings, her brother in particular, was fascinating. I was a bit surprised to hear the VU/Lou Reed music in a foreign film, but it seemed to fit well.

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• Tran Nu Yên-Khê as Lien
• Chu Hung as Quoc
• Tran Manh Cuong as Kien
• Le Tuan Anh as Tuan
• Nhu Quynh
• Le Khanh

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  All About "Vertical Ray of the Sun"
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• The Vertical Ray Of The Sun: Liem And Hai
• The Vertical Ray Of The Sun: Khan Tells Her Husband She's Pregnant
• The Vertical Ray Of The Sun: Suong And Her Lover
• The Vertical Ray Of The Sun: The Three Sisters

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