The first impression of <Sundown>, a new film directed by Michel Franco and invited to compete at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, is relaxed and laid-back. 'Neil (Tim Roth)' is literally at peace, spending a vacation at a resort on the coast of Mexico with her sister 'Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg)' and her nephews. Watching him flirt with his nephew, who adds whiskey to his cocktail, makes you feel like you're on a family vacation. However, their joy and happiness feel like the calm before the storm. The eyes of a dying fish inserted at an inappropriate timing, and Neil's skin reflected on the screen through extreme close-ups that make it difficult to judge what is visible, stimulate invisible anxiety. Neil's strangely lethargic appearance in contrast to his lively nephews adds a question mark to that insecurity. 

The ambiguity born of the question mark grows bigger because of the series of events Neil goes through and his choices. Neil rushes to the airport with Alice and her nephews in a panic at the sudden news of her mother's death. However, he suddenly says that he does not have a passport, and after returning to the hotel to find a passport, he says that he will take the next flight back to London. However, after getting out of the airport, Neil heads to a hotel other than the one he stayed with his family, and his passport is visible in his suitcase unpacking in the hotel room. Afterwards, Neil, who turns off his cell phone completely, spends the night with the beachside shop owner, 'Very Desse (Iajua Larios)'. Neil's attitude is shocking because it is difficult to understand, unethical, and in some ways cruel. 

At this time, the film presents the first hint of Neil's motives, which are difficult to understand. it is the sun The shot of seeing the sun from Neil's point of view appears repeatedly. However, Neil's attitude towards the sun is subtle. In general, the sun is a welcome presence for those who enjoy summer vacation at the beach. On the other hand, Neil always makes an uncomfortable expression as if he can't stand the sunlight. It is even more unnatural when you consider the symbolic meaning of the sun. Since ancient times, the sun has always been a set of the most positive elements for humans. The sun rising over darkness meant the creation of the world, the beginning of life, and hope. Also, the sunlight that comes from the sun and shines equally everywhere was justice. This is why the Egyptian sun gods such as Ra, Amon, and Ptah were creator gods, and the Greek sun god Apollo was the god of light.  

Therefore, Neil can be said to be a person who rejects the sun. He does not care about the preciousness of life, he is hopeless and helpless, he ignores justice and order, neglecting his duties as his son and family. He just wants to keep his own vacation and rest. Neil is always far from his social conventions. Like this, Neil's bizarre and incomprehensible behavior is the main ingredient of suspense. A typical example is the attitude that Neil showed when Alice, who had gone to bed after her funeral and cleanup, appeared in front of Neil, who was enjoying his vacation with his own routine. Far from panicking, he admits to all his lies. He doesn't dwell on family ties, and he easily signs the contract, saying that he only needs to receive his salary. 

After raising the anxiety and ambiguity behind the peaceful vacation, the film tells why Neil refuses the sun. The answer lies in his skin. After getting out of prison and visiting her at her house to go grocery shopping with Berry Dee, Neil suddenly rolls down the stairs and loses his memory. Thanks to Veridise, Neil was safely transported to a large hospital in Mexico City. Only then does the relationship between the sun and the close-up of the skin, which appeared from the beginning of the film, have meaning. From Neil's point of view, who knew that the rest of his life was limited, the bright sun was an uninvited guest who did not fit his situation at all. The similarity between the sun that seems to burn something and the image of the skin that is about to be burned by the sun suggests Neil's obsession with the rest of his life. 

At that moment, the sun has another meaning. Director Michel Franco wrote in the artist's note, "The sun dominates the immemorial space. Sunlight always hits objects mercilessly and directly. The image of the sun inevitably reflects two things: the emotional state of the characters and the rampant violence around them. " he wrote. Just as the Egyptians thought of the benevolent and vicious aspects of the sun as the goddess Hathor in the form of a cow and the goddess Setmet in the form of a lioness, the sun in the movie also has both ambivalent sides. This is also in line with the reason why the sunlight in the movie feels particularly painful. The bright sun illuminates a beautiful holiday, but it is too hot and intense to enjoy. In other words, if the sun that we encountered without knowing anything meant life, now the sun means death. So Neil adopts an ironic attitude, obsessing over the rest of his life but consuming it helplessly. He is trying to push away not only the sun that contrasts with the dying self, but also the sunlight that is similar to the dying self. 

Neil's ambivalent attitude is presented in the final hint, the appearance of a pig out of nowhere. He ignores his mother's death, tramples on his sister's grief, destroys the faintest hopes of his nephews, and devotes himself only to his own time and pleasure, insensitive to the deaths of others right in front of his eyes. However, in prison, Neil experiences a vision of a pig raised in a barn in England, and he is shaken psychologically for the first time in the story. Even while going to the grocery store and climbing the stairs of Veridice's house, he sees a vision of a pig's carcass covered in blood, and falls down the stairs in fright.

Since Neil did not respond to any external events and stimuli, his reaction is more meaningful. Considering that the only fate given to the pigs trapped in the barn is 'death', Neil, seeing a dying or dead pig, seems to realize that he too is dying like a pig. That's why his intense reaction looks like frustration and screaming in the face of fate that he can neither turn away from death nor escape from death, even though he spent his life thinking only of his own pleasure. 

So, the indirect image of the sunset that decorates the end of <Sundown> is full of calmness that makes you think about death, and is self-deprecating and resigned. At the last moment, the camera shows a chair on the terrace with the sea in the background. No life is felt in this scene. The sunlight is full, but the screen is full of images of death. Just as the goddess Hathor, who is in charge of the warmth of the sun, was paradoxically regarded as a 'beautiful Western goddess' who takes care of death and the dead, the last scene contains the ambivalent meaning of the sun, where the sunset is felt even when there is no sunset. This is like a cool Sumi correlation that evokes the early part where peace and anxiety were felt at the same time.

Furthermore, it is interesting to note that <Sundown> feels like it is telling a story beyond just one individual. This is because there is a space for more diverse interpretations between the ambiguous and symbolically developed stories through the combination of unnatural images of sun, skin, and pigs. In particular, considering that director Michel Franco won the Silver Lion Award (jury grand prize) at the 77th Venice International Film Festival for <New Order>, a dystopian thriller dealing with the class struggle in capitalist society, Neil's story is a reflection of the fall of the capitalist system. It can also be read as the attitude of people towards people.  

Considering, for example, that Neil's family has amassed considerable wealth in the livestock industry, his languid appearance makes him look like a man fed up with money. He also makes us think that he is a person who is disappointed in making money by using other objects as a means, such as the livestock industry, and falls into trauma or guilt in the process. Therefore, his desperate attempts to cut all ties and have his own time are felt as an expression of his desire to escape from the system of capitalism. However, his sister and nephews eventually find him, and the conversation between them eventually boils down to money and contracts, which clearly shows that Neil cannot escape from the system just as he cannot escape from death and continues to see dead pigs. 

It is also interesting that Neil is British. Since the capitalist system was first born in England, her mother's death seems to indicate the decline of capitalist society. So, the image of Neil accepting his terminally ill life and waiting for the sunset is close to self-help and lamentation of those who have not found an answer. In other words, <Sundown> is a poem for all things dying in modern society. In this way, <Sundown> ends coldly, leaving space open to ponder over whose death is the death contained in the peaceful sunset on the beach.
whose death