The Sun Rises on Us All

14 years after his Silver Lion win for Best Director, Cai Shangjun returns to Venice’s competition with a worthy follow-up to People Mountain People Sea. His latest Chinese drama Ri Gua Zhong Tian (The Sun Rises on Us All), is a powerful presentation of heart-wrenching affairs, pushing everyday familiarities to the limit between deeply complex characters with unprecedented levels of emotional shock and utter anguish.

Micro-influencer Meiyun (Xin Zhilei) leads a solitary life of restraint, running from a troubled past that comes back to haunt her. During a pregnancy checkup, she crosses paths with her former lover Baoshu (Zhang Songwen), who is sick with stage IV stomach cancer. What unfolds is a series of unfortunate events that call into question the morals and motivations of Shangjun’s two estranged antiheroes.

Initial impressions of the film evoke those of Past Lives, which shares a similar setup surrounding the reunion and bondage of a pair with significant chemistry for one another. Though in The Sun Rises on Us All, this semblance quickly derails into a heavy display of resentment, fuelled by feelings of unresolved guilt and sacrifice, and an ache for atonement. A complete juxtaposition of Celine Song’s unrequited love story, it is revealed that Baoshu spent time in jail after taking the blame for a crime Meiyun committed.

Zhilei masterfully jumps between cold, detached observer hiding cowardice in the discomfort of awkward, prolonged silence and sweaty, shaky panic in some of the film’s most heightened moments. Songwen’s performance is equally as impressive, comfortably juxtaposing his character’s frustrations in sickness and in health through aggressive physicality and sorrowful monologues with his co-lead.

There are many astonishing, anxiety-inducing scenarios of Shakespearean melodrama that at times obstruct the generally grounded, documentary-style look and feel of Shangjun’s contemporary setting. Still, cinematographer Kim Hyunseok manages to elevate this setting by enhancing both the intimate and invasive nature of the reunion. Subjects are for the most part centre frame on camera, individual introspection on view. They are otherwise positioned opposite one another, the spotlight turned on the rift between the two lost souls.

The Sun Rises on Us All is not for the weak; it risks alienating with its relentless despair. However, Cai Shangjun reaffirms himself as a fearless storyteller with a sharp eye for fractured humanity.

Douglas Jardim

The Sun Rises on Us All does not have a release date yet.

Read more reviews from our Venice Film Festival coverage here.

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Watch the trailer for The Sun Rises on Us All here: