Sunshine, A Visual Masterpiece About Our Dying Sun From Danny Boyle

sunshine-danny-boyle-4If you were cool enough to catch Danny Boyle’s Sunshine during its 2007 theatrical run, you were treated to a visually immersive film that brought you on board with a space crew chosen to save human existence by replenishing a dying sun. Supporting the eye opening cinematography was the beautiful soundtrack score by John Murphy that has been used in various films and shows like the Walking Dead.

The protagonists of Boyle’s films have included nihilist junkies (“Trainspotting”), enraged zombies (“28 Days Later”), neo-hippie backpackers (“The Beach”) and poverty defying children (“Slumdog Millionaire”). His genres have ranged from black comedy to apocalyptic horror to the metaphysical science fiction themes explored in Sunshine.

Sunshine Trailer – Directed by Danny Boyle

The principle of sensory stimulation is front and center in “Sunshine,” which depicts a manned mission to the Sun. A crew of scientists has been given the task of restarting the dying star by torpedoing it with a nuclear payload. The tone of the film is a throwback to 2001: A Space Odyssey and the premise seems to be lifted from the 1968 Pink Floyd title Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun. On a related note, Pink Floyd was originally asked to score the soundtrack for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Sunshine – The Surface of the Sun, Music Tribute

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One constant in my film career is focus on sheer physical pleasure. I don’t want people to sit there and objectively watch the film. I want them to experience it as something that’s under their skin, so you try to make the films really tactile. – Danny Boyle

Sunshine – Captain Kaneda Meets the Sun

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Danny Boyle his screenwriter, the novelist Alex Garland, who also wrote the script for “28 Days Later,” embraced the idea that “Sunshine,” precisely because of the vastness of its subject, would be a space odyssey in the most interior sense: a head trip. “It’s like films about mountains,” he said. “They’re not about mountaineering. They’re about the mind. Movies about space raise those questions of what we’re doing here, and that inevitably introduces a spiritual dimension.”

sunshine-danny-boyle-2Boyle tried to inspire a suitable degree of awe for the scenes that simulated contact with the Sun (crew members peer out at the looming orb through Ray-Bans and filtered windows). “I’d say things like, ‘Every bit of you is just a bit of exploded star,’ a nod to Carl Sagan’s philosophies.

Sunshine – Helios, Music Tribute

 

Sunshine – Danny Boyle Interview

 

Sunshine – Quentin Tarantino Review


> The Space Odyssey of Danny Boyle | New York Times

4 Replies to “Sunshine, A Visual Masterpiece About Our Dying Sun From Danny Boyle”

  1. sunshine the movie trailer looking pretty nice

    I think the calculation is missing in the movie regarding the sun and the earth

    sun is the biggest star in our galaxy and has 100 crores times bigger than the earth, which could fit more than 1 million earths in the sun itself.

    its really a laughing matter to reach the sun and being alive after reaching the sun.

    In the earth no human or living being will survive when the temperature exceeds

    more than 80 degree Celsius…

    And the sun temperature is more than 15 million degrees Celsius that means only ash will go there. more funny

    however the concept and idea is good one day man can achieve every thing hope so….;)

    1. you sir, are retarded. Where did you learn that our sun is the largest in our galaxy (it’s not by the way)??

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