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The Vertical Ray of the Sun

Name: The Vertical Ray of the Sun
Director: Trần Anh Hùng
Released: 2000
Duration: 112 min

Representation Score

5.7/10

Fair

2000

PG-13

Director

Trần Anh Hùng

Runtime

112 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Trần Anh Hùng’s film is a sensory-driven exploration of Southeast Asian identity. It excels by centering the female experience and providing a deeply authentic Vietnamese setting that resists Western narrative dominance. While the film scores well for gender and racial specificity, it lacks representation of LGBTQ+ and disabled characters. The focus remains on traditional heterosexual relationships and physicalities. Overall, the work succeeds as a piece of storytelling that elevates underrepresented perspectives, particularly the internal lives of women within a non-Western social framework.

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Category Breakdown

Does The Vertical Ray of the Sun have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film focuses solely on heterosexual relationships and marital infidelity. There are no stories involving LGBTQ+ individuals or non-cisgender identities.

How does The Vertical Ray of the Sun portray gender?

Excellent

The film centers on the experiences of three sisters, highlighting their autonomy and individuality. It moves beyond traditional stereotypes to explore their desires and personal viewpoints.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Vertical Ray of the Sun?

Excellent

The film features an entirely Vietnamese cast and is set in Hanoi, offering a highly authentic cultural portrayal. It challenges Western-centric storytelling by focusing on a non-Western urban environment.

How does The Vertical Ray of the Sun represent religion and culture?

Good

The narrative emphasizes emotional truth over a single moral perspective, depicting family conflicts through a poetic lens. It avoids Western clichés by focusing on localized, sensory realism.

Does The Vertical Ray of the Sun include disability representation?

Minimal

The film does not include any characters with visible or invisible disabilities. Therefore, there is no representation in this category.

Present on Screen

Highlights the autonomy and complexity of women's internal lives.
Offers a highly authentic Vietnamese setting and cast.
Effectively disrupts Western-centric storytelling through a localized, poetic lens.

Limited or Absent

No representation of LGBTQ+ individuals or queer narratives.
No characters with visible or invisible disabilities.

Official Synopsis

Hanoi comes across almost picture-perfect in director Tran Anh Hung's beautiful, elegiac tale about the lives and loves of three Vietnamese sisters. A mood characteristic of Hung's films is set early on with the vivid sounds of birds, insects and water and the way the lighting enhances the subtle use of color. They all combine to gem-like effect here.

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