The Vertical Ray of the Sun Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

The Vertical Ray of the Sun Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson May 31, 2024

"I never judge my characters. I show how people live and what their secrets are." This is how Trần Anh Hùng described the characters in his third feature La Verticale de L'été (American release title: The Vertical Ray of the Sun) in an August 2001 interview with Geoffrey Macnab of Sight and Sound. Trần's camera observes his characters and captures some of their secrets, but it doesn't judge them. This contemporary Vietnamese drama tells the story of three sisters as they prepare a memorial banquet to commemorate the anniversary of their mother's death. Liên (Trần Nu Yên-Khê), the youngest sister, lives with her older bother Hai (Ngö Quang Hai). They share a close sibling relationship that hints at possible incest. Hai and Liên have beds adjacent to each other; Liên will roll into bed with her brother in the morning. Hai does calisthenics while Liên performs tai chi. They get into their morning routine when Hai plays songs by The Velvet Underground and other bands on his clock radio. Liên has a boyfriend who's very reserved. She's contemplating marriage one day and acts in public as if Hai and her are a couple.

Khanh (Le Khanh), the middle sister, is pregnant. She's married to novelist Kien (Tran Manh Cuong), who's on writer's block and wants to finish his novel by writing about a possible affair that Khanh's mother may have had. Khanh and her siblings aren't having it. Suong (Nguyen Nhu Quynh), the eldest sister, operates a café she inherited from her parents, who were restaurateurs. She's married to botanical photographer Quoc (Chu Ngöc Hung). They have a son (Nu Lang Khe Tran), who's affectionately nicknamed "Little Mouse." Quoc and Suong's relationship is the most complex because they're each carrying on affairs. Suong is unaware that Quoc has been involved with a woman, who he fathered a child with. Quoc treks to a coastal area outside of Hanoi (the picture's principal setting) to visit this girlfriend and their boy. Suong is having an affair with local businessman Tuan (Lê Tuân Anh).

The three sisters.

Not that much happens in Vertical Ray outside of the sisters' daily lives, their lovers, and commemorating the death of their mother. Trần is not concerned much with plot. The Vietnamese-born Paris-based writer/director is more focused on the mood of his film and the interiority of his characters. For example, Quoc seems be have internal sorrow based on his sullen looks. But he doesn't verbalize his suffering. Vertical Ray may have more dialogue than Trần's first two features but the "feelings" of this film's characters is more often reflected by the colors, décor, and objects that surround them in a given shot. Since Trần's style of filmmaking is frequently poetic and subtle in the ways he conveys meaning, these are part of the movie's strengths. Vertical Ray celebrates Confucian principles of harmony and unity. For instance, Quoc muses about living in harmony with one's surroundings in a contemplative chat with an old fisherman (Huy Cong Nguyen). The sisters congregate to honor the memory of their mother. They sit with incense in front of an altar with portraits of both their parents. Praying and meditating are indeed part of their "still lives." Trần shows this through a series of match dissolves and form cuts.

Trần eschews standard conventions of Western filmmaking throughout Vertical Ray. For example, he often foregoes establishing shots and employs elliptical editing. For instance, as one scene ends abruptly, another begins abruptly when Hai suddenly falls out of his bed. While the film's narrative stretches across a month to memorialize the sisters' parents, the narrative itself is not very conventional. Instead, Trần seems more interested in capturing the random moments of his characters. That's what gives Vertical Ray its slice-of-life flavor.

The Vertical Ray of the Sun Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This new release by Sony Pictures Classics marks the worldwide debut of The Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000) on Blu-ray. The picture appears in its original exhibition ratio of 1.85:1. Sony's disc has no menu. The movie starts after you insert the disc. I own two other editions of Vertical Ray on home video, which I re-watched prior to seeing this Blu-ray: the SD discs released by Artificial Eye and Columbia Tri-Star in the early 2000s. I have compared ten screen captures apiece, which you can view by clicking on the Screenshots tab. While the AE is struck from a theatrical print, it's mostly free of artifacts as it doesn't display much debris or reel-change marks. However, some compositions look hazy and out of focus next to the R1 DVD and Blu-ray. For example, see differences in facial clarity when comparing frame grab #s 26-28, 29-31, 32-34, and 35-37. (These are all long shots.) Color and definition are superior on the Blu-ray.

Technically, this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded disc is a BD-50, but just barely. The disc size is only 26 GB. Sony has encoded the feature at an average video bitrate of 25961 kbps. The bitrate is alright but with no extra features on the disc, it doesn't make sense why Sony's disc producer(s) could not have opted for a maxed-out bitrate. Fortunately, I didn't spot any compression-related artifacts. I also couldn't see any micro- or macroblocking.

The 112-minute film has received about thirteen chapter stops, which you can only access via remote.

Screenshot #s 1-10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, 37, & 40 = Sony Pictures 2024 Blu-ray
Screenshot #s 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35, & 38 = Artificial Eye 2002 DVD
Screenshot #s 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36, & 39 = Columbia Tri-Star Home Video 2001 DVD

The Vertical Ray of the Sun Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sony has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround mix (24-bit), which is presented in the native Vietnamese. Unlike with the video encode, Sony has given the sound mix a maxed-out bitrate that averages a whopping 4242 kbps. I compared this audio mix with the mixes on the R1 and R2 DVDs that I own. The Artificial Eye only has a Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround option. This is a very good matrixed stereo mix. Rainfall has nice reverb from the front to the rear speakers. The Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track on the Columbia Tri-Star DVD and the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track on this Blu-ray are mixed in the same vein. Dialogue is both spoken and sung in an almost plainchant style when the sisters perform Vietnamese folk songs. The Blu-ray is the most detailed track of the three. For instance, the ringing bell on a bicycle is more audible on the SR channel here than it is on the DVD. The pitter-patter of the rain on the streets has a strong presence. Cicadas and birds deliver discrete f/x on the satellite speakers. Bass beats from "Coney Island Baby" and drums heard during the song "Soaps" show excellent range on the front stage. Composer Tôn-Thất Tiết delivers a minimalist score that underscores the atmosphere of scenes well and comments on the expressions on the characters.

Sony's optional English subtitles are in white (see Screenshot #40). Artificial Eye's hard-coded subs (#38) are too large, while Columbia TriStar's (#39) sport dark yellow.

The Vertical Ray of the Sun Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Bonus materials are nil. The Artificial Eye has a 26-minute making-of featurette and 20 pages of text screens containing an interview with Trần Anh Hùng. The Columbia Tri-Star disc has a post-festival theatrical trailer of Vertical Ray as well as bonus trailers.

The Vertical Ray of the Sun Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Vertical Ray of the Sun is a gorgeous tone poem that's making finally its long-awaited global debut on Blu-ray. Sony's presentation maintains the meticulous framings and sumptuous visuals lensed by world-class cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-bin. I would have preferred a much stronger video encode, though. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix sufficiently captures the street ambience of Hanoi and nature sounds in the surrounding milieus. While this is a bare bones edition, the Blu-ray still comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.