Review of The Sun is Also a Star, directed by Ry Russo-Young

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

I recently fell into a spell of unemployment probably during the worst time to be unemployed, as it was very hard to find a job. I was applying to hundreds of jobs, getting interviews, but no offer was manifesting for me in the near future. So during this time, I had a lot of free time, and spent a good chunk of it chipping away at the blog.

I was applying to a lot of jobs during this time, and I remember when I reached around the one hundred mark I was getting discouraged and decided I needed a few days for a brain break. I took a step back then and thought long and hard about what I wanted to do, and realized I was in the financial privilege at that moment when I could just watch a few movies a couple of days in a row.

So I did. I didn’t watch all serious movies, like I usually do, although I do think that the term “serious” is up for debate. Like why should I only be considering dramas as serious movies. Films like The Sun is Also a Star is dubbed as young adult, but I would say it’s also a serious movie, especially in today’s political climate.

Anyways, I was in my local library branch’s DVD section when I spotted this film, and I realized I had never actually watched it after all of these years. I remember the hype when it first came out and when I was looking at the DVD cover, I remembered how Yara Shahidi and Charles Melton have come so far in their careers.

I checked it out after that and watched it that night. Here’s my review! I know intros can be long, so I don’t want this to get too off-track.

A boy and a girl bond over the course of a day, but it’s her last day before she leaves the United States.

I have never actually read the book version of this movie, which is the original, so I want to clarify before getting into this review that I cannot actually compare if the movie is similar to the book at all. So this review will not contain any of that!

Our main character in this movie is Natasha Kingsley, who lives in New York City with her family. They came to the United States from Jamaica, and Natasha is actually undocumented along with the rest of her family. Because of this, their time has run out in the United States, as their case has been forwarded with the orders for her family to be deported to their country of origin.

Natasha goes off to find someone who will take their case, and she goes to Jeremy Martinez, who will go pro bono with these sorts of cases. At the same time, a boy, Daniel Bae, is preparing to interview for Dartmouth, keeping in line with his family’s expectations.

His mother and father want him to become a doctor and live up to the family name, while his brother is not too nice for him. When Daniel gets onto the subway with his friend Omar, he finds himself in the same car as Natasha, and when all three get off at Grand Central Station, he becomes obsessed with her jacket due to it saying “deus ex machina.”

He starts following Natasha on the street, and when she almost gets into a car accident with her headphones on, he actually saves her from getting hit by the car. The two start talking and go somewhere else, having philosophical conversations about love, as Natasha doesn’t believe in it and Daniel thinks he can make her fall in love in a single day.

His interview is then rescheduled to the next day, so Daniel goes with Natasha to the attorney’s office. Turns out the cyclist who caused the car accident was the lawyer, and he’s now in the hospital. The duo decides to leave and go somewhere else for the day, which leads to them going to his parents’ store. They then go to a planetarium and noraebang, which leads them to kiss.

Natasha runs away though when she realizes the gravity of her situation, and then goes to find the lawyer she needs to meet. As Daniel runs after her, confused, she reveals her family is being deported the very next day and that she has to do something about it. The lawyer arranges for a trial the next day.

Daniel goes back to the shop with his parents and brother, then Charles picks a fight with him. Later on he still meets up with Natasha and then head off on a date to Roosevelt Island, ultimately spending the night together. Natasha wakes up and runs home, while Daniel goes to interview at Dartmouth with the lawyer of all people.

Natasha’s family is going to be deported, and Daniel leaves his interview, ruining his chances at Dartmouth, just so he can walk Natasha home to her family and send her off. As they say goodbye and look into each other’s eye, we jump into a future where Natasha goes to school in Jamaica, and Daniel goes to Hunter College. They leave each other after Natasha admits she loves him.

A time jump happens. Natasha is in New York, ready to head to grad school in California, when she meets Jeremy. He has married the doctor who helped him in the bike crash, but when Natasha is ready to leave, Daniel calls out for her. They reunite and kiss, leaving us with a positive note about what’s to come for these two.

Overall Thoughts

I think this is a pretty cute movie, with some interesting themes for a young adult film (or book in general). The fact our main character is someone who is undocumented is really interesting for when this movie came out ten years ago. I feel like now, when typing this in 2025, it’s a lot more common to get these kinds of stories.

The fact our male lead is also an Asian American who goes after what he wants, not what his parents expect of him, is also something that’s really interesting to see in mainstream film as well. While the story and romance of this movie isn’t something I’m entirely sold on, I find the characters the most compelling part of it.

I do wish we got more of what their lives looked like beyond this one day. Make it a television series! I think it would work as a miniseries. But until then, I’m left to fill in the holes by dreaming about it.

I say go watch this one if you’re interested in it. Maybe not if there’s no interest, as it’s not the best movie overall, but it’s worth it for the characters specifically.

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