Hachi-gatsu no Kyôshikyôku (1991)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 98 minuten
Alternative titles: Rhapsody in August / Hachi-gatsu no Rapusodî / 八月の狂詩曲
Country:
Japan
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa
Stars: Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sachiko Murase and Richard Gere
IMDb score:
7,2 (8.188)
Releasedate: 25 May 1991
This movie is not available on US streaming services.
Hachi-gatsu no Kyôshikyôku plot
"Tears. Laughter. Innocence. It was a summer of remembering."
Kané is a grandmother who has lived all her life in a house near Nagasaki. She lost her husband when the Americans dropped the bomb and she has held a grudge against the United States ever since. One day she is told that she has a brother in Hawaii who is dying. She is faced with a difficult choice: to seek him out or not. Her children immediately leave for Waikiki Beach, leaving the grandchildren with her. During that summer, the youngest members of the family learn how the atomic bomb affected those who were there. They visit the war memorials in Nagasaki and see where their grandfather died. Kane, meanwhile, tries to make up his mind.
Actors and actresses
Kane (The Grandmother)
Tateo
Tami
Minako
Shinjiro
Tadao
Kane's daughter
Noboru
Machino
Clark (Kane's Nephew)
Reviews & comments
Decec
-
- 6747 messages
- 8607 votes
A good drama movie...
Good story...
Fine acting...
Well-known young actor Richard Gere...
Reasonable quality widescreen
(no HD present)...
Reasonable background noise
(no Dolby Digital present)...
Translated from Dutch · View original
Movsin
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- 8286 messages
- 8441 votes
Good presentation of how, 45 years after the Nagasaki drama, three generations deal with the wounds inflicted by the Bomb.
That Americans don't like to be reminded of the facts is also part of it, but Richard Gere's sudden appearance seemed disturbing and even a bit ridiculous within the whole of the film.
Moderate pace, but still admiration for the photography, the colors and the image compositions. The images of the old lady are expressive (what a closing scene) and often not without emotion.
Translated from Dutch · View original
mjk87 (moderator films)
-
- 14596 messages
- 4552 votes
Great movie that fades a bit towards the end. A film about the bomb, at the end of his life Kurosawa finally makes a film about it (I Live in Fear was mainly about the threat of nuclear war, not so much about the bombs on Japan. Because despite 75 years of nuclear threat, there is still only 1 country has ever been attacked with this.Also a film for an international audience where that audience, through the Japanese children who are also ignorant, are taken into the feelings of people who are survivors and next of kin.
Certainly the beginning is wonderfully rippling, really in the style of so many contemporary Japanese films (Koreeda's entire oeuvre consists of that). Well acted too and not very subtle in terms of storytelling, but it works. Funny to see Richard Gere speaking Japanese. Anyway, despite some nice scenes after halfway (at that school), the film kind of fizzles out at the end. Especially since the film is rather rudderless. In the beginning that is all fine, in the end it takes its revenge. But as a whole still a big enough. 3.5*.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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