Our list of the best movies of 2020 also found some Netflix originals with Hollywood star cast. The Taiwanese family crime drama “A Sun” flew under the radar, but is still absolutely worth seeing a good year after it started.
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Whether it’s real Netflix originals like “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga” (11th place) and “The Prom” (18th place) or purchased films like “The Black Diamond” (5th place), which are in Germany directly at Streaming giants appeared – our list of the best films of 2020 landed several highlights that were exclusive to Netflix in this country.
The fact that “A Sun” didn’t find a place there was mainly due to the fact that director Mong-Hong Chung’s drama, which started on January 24, 2020, simply flew under the radar. Even in the world of critics, “A Sun” was criminally neglected for a long time – until Peter Debruge von Variety then at the end of last year touted it as “best film of 2020”.
The previous hymns of praise have not yet really reached the Netflix audience, but that should change at the latest when this year’s Taiwanese entry for the best foreign language film at the Oscars actually jumps out.
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All those who use the time window between the Oscar nomination and the awarding of the Oscar year after year to watch the potential “best films of the year” that have entered the running, like to break a sweat – after all, the top candidates usually appear within a short period of time, the so-called Award season. I recommend “A Sun” to Netflix subscribers who want to remove one or two mandatory films from the watchlist in advance. And even if it wasn’t enough for an Oscar nomination in the end, you’ve seen one of the best films of 2020 that hardly anyone knows.
That’s what “A Sun” is all about
The brothers A-Hao (Greg Han Hsu) and A-Ho (Wu Chien-Ho) could hardly be more different: A-Hao is the pride of his family, smart and attractive – and about to embark on a career as a doctor. A-Ho, on the other hand, is hardly recognized, is a criminal and one day even wanders behind bars. His father (Chen Yi-wen), who is always disappointed by him, is not surprised. Before the judge, he pleads for the maximum penalty for his offspring. A-Ho should finally learn his lesson.
Mother Quin (Samantha Shu-Chin Ko) watches helplessly, but is soon confronted with the next worries – because suddenly a pregnant girl is at the door. In her stomach: The child of A-Ho, locked away and denied by his own father – who is only known as number 101896 in prison.
Powerful & graceful, merciless & beautiful – like the sun
It helps us to find orientation, gives us warmth and strength. And yet sometimes we can hardly stand it, the sun, look for a shady spot so we don’t get burned. It is often the same with life. It hits us anew every day, sometimes more and sometimes less, it spurs us on to strive for the best in ourselves or it tempts us to follow our impulses. While some prefer to eke out a shadowy existence, for others it can’t get hot enough. But what really matters in the end?
“A Sun” is not a film that simply looks away from you after a hard day’s work. Because on the one hand it is only available in the original sound (Mandarin) with German subtitles and on the other hand it gives its characters the necessary time in its 150 minutes to become tangible people of flesh and blood who struggle through their path paved with strokes of fate Life – which in the end also draw new hope through all the suffering they experience. In order to not only understand this development, this career, but also to actually absorb it, “A Sun” simply needs its time – but it’s worth it.
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When director Chung doesn’t break his calm narrative style with moments of shock that can really leave you spitting, he gives his audience the opportunity to pay attention to the nuances of this multi-layered story – and to immerse themselves in the vortex of unfulfilled ones Finding expectations, false pride and harrowing tragedies also to a certain extent.
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With its unobtrusive, picturesque images that are as big as they are personal, as simple as they are spectacular, “A Sun” is pure urban poetry – where at the bus stop shrouded in glaring light at night people philosophize about Sima Guang, even the most uncomfortable rain in the right light appears like a warm refuge, where sons become numbers and numbers become sons.
Even if the moral of the story is in the end quite clearly pressed on the eye, “A Sun” leaves a lot of room for interpretation, for discussion and, last but not least, for reflecting on one’s own view of things – on the sun and Shadows and everything in between.
