• About
  • Contact
  • Write For Us
No Result
View All Result
Donate
The Asian Cut
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Essays
  • Director Retrospectives
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Essays
  • Director Retrospectives
No Result
View All Result
The Asian Cut
No Result
View All Result

TIFF 2025: ‘Under the Same Sun’ Weaves a Tale of Silk and Survival

Rose Ho by Rose Ho
September 11, 2025
in Review
0
Valentina Shen Wu, Jean Jean, and David Castillo in Under the Same Sun.

Photo Courtesy of TIFF

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Under the Same Sun (Bajo el mismo sol) presents a most unusual set up for a historical drama: a Spanish explorer, Chinese silk maker, and Haitian soldier come together in colonial-era Dominican Republic to set up silk production for the very first time in the Americas. What unfolds in Ulises Porra’s third feature film is a tale of shifting allegiances and interpersonal dramas among the three lead characters that echoes the greater forces at play in Hispaniola during the early 1800s.

A fairly self-contained story, Under the Same Sun relies on three subtle performances by David Castillo, Valentina Shen Wu (in her first acting role), and Jean Jean. As the European settler with more ambition than actual survival skills, Lázaro (Castillo) serves as the de facto antagonist. Yet, he doesn’t have quite the confidence to trample upon anyone and resorts to harbouring bitterness instead, as he finds himself repeatedly disregarded by everyone around him, including other Europeans, local Dominicans, and his two silk-producing companions. 

Mei (Wu), meanwhile, portrays the no-nonsense silk guru who holds the unenviable role of often being the only woman in the Dominican wilderness, with much racism and misogyny around her. Therefore, she must be ready to defend herself at any point against surrounding dangers (primarily man-made ones) and she does so with confidence and aptitude. Wu (a Taiwanese-Dominican actor) showcases her unique talents in this role, switching easily between Mandarin and Spanish and holding her own against the other more experienced performers. 

RelatedStories

Connor Storrie as Ilya Rozanov and Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander in bed on the TV series Heated Rivalry.

‘Heated Rivalry’ Changes the TV Romance Game

Machiko Washio as Washio Midori in The Red Spectacles

A Tonal Labyrinth and the Freedom of the Absurd in ‘The Red Spectacles’

Fortunately for Lázaro, Mei proves more than up to the daunting task of launching the silk industry on an entirely different continent. However, her guarded walls are eventually brought down by Baptiste (Jean), the Haitian deserter whose curiosity and bold overtures toward her have an uncomplicated, childlike-quality to them. Lázaro becomes immensely jealous of anyone else’s happiness, especially when both Mei and Baptiste manage to make him feel emasculated. (A hard task for a rich white man.) When he finally catches a break in his inherited quest to bring silk to the Caribbean, he makes the grievous error of upsetting the delicate harmony of the trio, which leads to terrible guilt soon after.

Porra directs Under the Same Sun assuredly and patiently, drawing out the delightfully complex interactions in this small, isolated group deep within the wild, lush, and stunning mountains of the Dominican Republic. He also delights in the tactile and detailed production of silk, showing everything from macro views of the worms crawling over each other and chomping on mulberry leaves to their slow cocooning and metamorphosis to the final steps of unravelling threads and weaving textiles.

The greater politics of the time come into play, too. Viewers get a glimpse of the conflict between the Spanish and French colonizers, the relationship between the church leaders and the secular ones, and of course, European traders and local Dominicans. Despite the film not being particularly action-packed (it mainly focuses on tending to silkworms and making silk skeins, after all), the story and the performances are compelling enough to keep the attention of viewers.

Now Streaming On

JustWatch

The Review

Tags: David CastilloDominican RepublicJean JeanTIFF 2025Toronto International Film FestivalUlises PorraUnder The Same SunValentina Shen Wu
ShareTweet
Rose Ho

Rose Ho

Rose Ho is a film critic. After her art criticism degree, she started her personal film blog, Rose-Coloured Ray-Bans, and joined the visual arts editorial team of LooseLeaf Magazine by Project 40 Collective, a creative platform for Canadian artists and writers of pan-Asian background. In 2020, she received the Emerging Critic Award from the Toronto Film Critics Association.

Recommended For You

Photo still from Boong
Review

TIFF 2024: ‘Boong’ Shines as a Promising Directorial Debut

Kim Si-A as Gil Jae-young, Director Byun Sung-hyun, Jeon Do-yeon as Gil Boksoon on the set of Kill Boksoon
News

TIFF Announces Sung-hyun Byun’s ‘Good News’ World Premiere

June 26, 2025
Director Park Chan-wook standing in front of a window
Interview

Park Chan-wook on ‘Decision to Leave’ & Learning From ‘Oldboy’

October 27, 2022
Emily Lê as Sonny and Dan Beirne as Chester laying side by side on a bed
Review

Sook-Yin Lee Adds Much Needed Heart and Humour to ‘Paying For It’

Gülizar stares off into the distance mournfully.
Review

TIFF 2024: ‘Gülizar’ and the Deliberate, Quiet Struggle in Processing Trauma

Ramesha Nawal as Mariam staring behind a door from the movie In Flames.
Interview

‘In Flames’ Director Zarrar Kahn: “My Process Is Really Collaborative”

June 11, 2024
Next Post
An extreme close-up of Amélie looking through a rose bush in Little Amélie or the Character of Rain.

TIFF 2025: ‘Little Amélie or the Character of Rain’ Inspires Joy and Curiosity

Popular Stories

Eternal Spring

‘Eternal Spring’: An Overdue Addendum to the Definition of Canadian Cinema

3 years ago
Photo still from The Braid.

‘The Braid’ Is a Challenging Disappointment

Kôji Yakusho as Shohei Sugiyama and Tamiyo Kusakari as Mai Kishikawa dancing in a dance class in Shall We Dance?

The Choreography of Trust: Masayuki Suô and Kusakari Tamiyo on ‘Shall We Dance?’

9 months ago
A medium shot of Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen in Invisible Nation.

‘Invisible Nation’ Fails to Deliver on Its Promises at the Expense of Its Subject

Riz Ahmed as Hamlet in Hamlet

TIFF 2025: ‘Hamlet’ Locks onto Riz Ahmed’s Performance and Doesn’t Let Go

  • About
  • Contact
  • Write For Us

Copyright © The Asian Cut 2026. All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Essays
  • Director Retrospectives
  • Write For Us
  • Contact

Copyright © The Asian Cut 2026. All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use