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Rhapsody in August Actors: Sachiko Murase, Richard Gere Director: Akira Kurosawa Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Running Time: 98 minutes Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2004-09-07 Buy from Amazon |
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From Amazon.com The final film released in the U.S. by Japanese master Akira Kurosawa looks at the atomic blast at Nagasaki from a distance of more than 40 years, through the eyes of a woman who survived it--and the grandchildren who are spending the summer with her. Though she tries not to think about it, the memory of the bombing is with her every day, in the family she lost and the scars she still carries. But the grandchildren insist on seeing the memorial, which brings it home to her once again--and to us. Though sometimes slow going (and what is Richard Gere doing in this movie, as her Amer-Asian nephew?), Rhapsody in August is a story about family and about living in the present while never being allowed to forget the past. --Marshall Fine |
 "Most beautiful film"In Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, a group of young people, through the guidance of their aging grandmother, discover what it means to grow up during the bombing of Nagasaki. The link to their past appears in the form of the AmerAsian cousin, who solemnly joins them at the memorial but then must return to Hawaii for the death of his father. As the elders age and near death, it is the children who witness life through new eyes, whose vision is tempered by the wisdom of their elders who have seen the unspeakable and yet live long enough to transmit the knowledge and the reverence for life in the face of man's destructive folly that is war.  "Kurosawa's Majesty on a Low Flame in Minor League Anti-War Film"The best of intentions certainly infuse Akira Kurosawa's penultimate film released in 1991, but unfortunately it really doesn't move me despite the worthy subject of dealing with the years-later aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped in Japan. Much of the problem is the glacial pacing and the stilted emphasis on the children's perspective which prevents the film from gaining any subtlety or emotional resonance. Set forty-five years after the end of WWII, the plot centers on four Japanese children who visit their grandmother Kane in Nagasaki for the summer. As the anniversary of the atomic attack draws near, they learn about the bomb's deadly legacy. Their grandfather died in the blast, and as we learn, Kane has never really resolved her quiet resentment. Every August, she pays tribute to her dead husband at a religious shrine. Unfortunately, Kurosawa paints the children in such broad, sitcom-level strokes that make it nearly impossible to empathize with their inquisitive concern about their grandmother. On the other hand, 86-year old Sachiko Murase is exquisite as the wizened Kane as she exhibits the inner conflict within her character when she realizes she may have to face the prospect of meeting Japanese-American relatives in Hawaii, including an older brother she cannot recall knowing among ten siblings. The brother, who has become a naturalized American citizen and married a Caucasian, is ailing and wants to see Kane before he dies. Desperate to visit Hawaii, one of the children writes a letter to the brother, which prompts the brother's son to visit to apologize for the bombing. The weight of a national conscience seems overemphasized here, especially as embodied by Richard Gere in an extended cameo as the brother's half-Japanese son, Clark. Gere's appearance, despite his good intentions in light of his pacifist position, is distracting to say the least, especially since he does not look the least bit Japanese. While his accent is decent enough, his cadence when speaking is halting to the point of sounding rather Berlitz-trained. It's actually not a bad performance but certainly not a necessary one given the number of Japanese-American actors who could have played the part with greater ease. The film ends on a rather surreal note as Kane fights a rainstorm that has clouds that remind her of the bomb's immediate aftermath. This sequence is fraught with symbolism but seems emotionally vague as it goes on endlessly. There are random moments when the Kurosawa touch is evident, for example the composed shots of the old women in prayer or the use of a gnarled jungle gym as a symbol of the bomb (and perhaps as a tribute to the playground built in his classic film, "Ikiru"). He also effectively uses Vivaldi's "Stabat Mater" as background music during key scenes. At the same time, as a Japanese-American, I was hoping that Kurosawa would have delved into the complexities of the decisions behind the atomic bomb and how the Japanese have attempted to reconcile the act with their own culpability during the war. Instead, the movie becomes a highly simplified anti-war polemic under the guise of a family film. "Akira Kurosawa vs. Richard Gere"What happens when a truly great film-maker meets a truly bad actor? In this case, it is still watchable, but not nearly as good as it could have been. Gere's performance is wooden and lifeless. The Japanese actors manage to convey more emotions and more feeling despite speaking entirely in Japanese. It's still a good movie, and if you're a big fan of Kurosawa you will definitely want this movie, but Gere definitely hurts it.  "Does anybody know about the music?"In this movie there is one scene (if I^m not mistaken it is the visit to the place where they commemorate the victims of bombing) where you have either a requiem or a Stabat Mater. Does anyone know about the composer?? Thank you. "Grandma"I've always associated Akira Kurosawa with battle, Samurai battle. Yet, I find this Kurosawa film to be the strongest anti-war film I've seen (_Thin Red Line_ runs second). Grandma stirs my repulsion for war and capitalism. Sachiko Murase, who plays Grandma, delivers one of the most powerful performances I've ever seen: dripping with 100% authenticity. Grandma frequently caused me to shed tears and I give her my Oscar for best actress. Grandma lives simply. Yet her simplicity has been corroded, possessed by the ghosts of war, specifically the bombing of Nagasaki. She suffers loss, flashbacks, and mutation. She takes solace in Buddhism and non-violence, but "the eyes of the flash" always watch her. The "eyes of the flash" make it difficult for Grandma to live in the present moment. Grandma, like a brave samurai, battles her own children to preserve her family's history and heritage. She utilizes not sword, bullet, or bomb, rather she leads by example and teaches via oral histories. Her children bow to the altar of American capitalism and the grandchildren idolitize American culture (daily clothing themselves in American t-shirts: M.I.T., New York Mets, USC Trojans, SMU, Brooklyn). Grandma assures that we viewers also not forget the horrors of the bombing of Nagasaki or the beauty of rural Japan. Grandma displays shinigurai, before the eyes of family and filmviewers. Grandma has awareness of only "the eyes of the flash". Shinigurai means "being crazy to die", and Grandma leaps into the jaws of death, with no hesitation, as she battles the fierce eyes in the sky. |
