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Under the Sun

Play trailer Poster for Under the Sun 2015 1h 46m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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94% Tomatometer 32 Reviews 70% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
An ordinary family in Pyongyang is followed for a year.

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Under the Sun

Critics Reviews

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John Hartl Seattle Times 08/04/2016
2.5/4
It's a movie self-consciously framed around its own making: specifically the creation of a Korean propaganda spectacle. Mansky uses the limitations imposed on him by the government to create a kind of commentary on the genre. Go to Full Review
Tim Grierson Paste Magazine 07/27/2016
Daring and thought-provoking, director Vitaly Mansky's film uses one North Korean family to examine how everyone -- moviemakers, governments, even individuals -- contorts reality to fit specific purposes. Go to Full Review
Barry Hertz Globe and Mail 07/15/2016
2.5/4
Both provocative and underwhelming. Go to Full Review
Vladan Petkovic Cineuropa 08/31/2020
Without revealing a single detail of the functioning of the state apparatus, [filmmaker Vitaly] Mansky has conveyed its very essence. Go to Full Review
Panos Kotzathanasis Asian Movie Pulse 01/26/2020
The first word that comes to mind about "Under The Sun" is "shocking", although, at times, even that appears modest in describing what I was watching on screen. Go to Full Review
Anthony Kao Cinema Escapist 08/14/2019
Russian filmmaker Vitaly Manskiy's Under the Sun is perhaps the most philosophical and artistic documentary I've seen about North Korea. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Mark B @Astromark 06/30/2018 Whilst I can see the academic value of this film - showing us parts of North Korea we wouldn't otherwise see and making it clear how much of it is scripted by the North Koreans - it rapidly becomes rather boring. See more 12/28/2017 Required viewing for all human beings. A beautiful film. See more 05/13/2017 Interesting doco. 1hr 40mins of WTF, with many a moment of pity. See more 02/27/2017 I fascinating glimpse behind the curtain at the artifice of the public image that North Korea wishes to portray. While the film shows little beyond the carefully staged choreography presented by the political class, it serves to compound the chilling reality of a nation bound by a strict and secretive dictatorship See more 12/28/2016 Documentary, movie or theater? What's the difference when the real "director" here is the state of North Korea. Holy shit. Who needs science fiction when you've got this? (Required watching) See more 12/27/2016 Really boring, way to many silent periods, they really should have edited out much of the boring repeated sections, and quiet emotions when they were just showing faces of people. You van get a much better North Korea story elsewhere, this one is really only interesting because they show that the North Korean government wants you to see the country in this way, which we know isn't true. Watched on Netflix at Sam's with her, December 27, 2016. See more Read all reviews
Under the Sun

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Movie Info

Synopsis An ordinary family in Pyongyang is followed for a year.
Director
Vitaliy Manskiy
Producer
Simone Baumann, Natalia Manskaya, Filip Remunda, Vit Klusak, Petr Kubica
Screenwriter
Vitaliy Manskiy
Production Co
Hypermarket Film
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
Korean
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 20, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$104.8K
Runtime
1h 46m
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