MovieChat Forums > Hachigatsu no rapusodî (1991) Discussion > Would anybody else have loved a companio...

Would anybody else have loved a companion piece from the American side?

posted 13 years ago by Gloede_The_Saint
5 replies | jump to latest

I think it would have been very interesting to see the story that took place over in America. It could have started with the older brothers illness/hospitalization, and included the visit of the niece/nephew, etc. Seeing how it would have concerned Japanese-Americans in Hawaii with a WW2 theme there would have been many ways to make such a film extremely interesting. Too bad it wasn't done.

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[–] BatmanBeyond 12 years ago

Thats an interesting idea. Sort of like what Eastwood did with Flags of Our Father/Letters from Iwo Jima. I'd very much like that, actually - especially if the companion piece were to be filmed by an equally capable director, like Coppola or Scorsese.

That said, I always considered this film a companion piece to I Live In Fear, where you see the fear and panic of the bomb first-hand. Both deal with the issue, but ILIF deals with the subject outward, while RIA does so inward.

[–] Blueghost 10 years ago

I don't see how you could for this film. And to be honest there have been some films focusing on Japanese war brides in the US, though they are mostly older films.

This film focused on the emotional aftermath of an elderly woman and her memories of the bomb run by an American B-29. And, as a woman who survived the event, how she is scarred, and how her family reacts to the visit by an American relative.

It's more of a focus on how they change. It's an address to a version of the Japanese sense of honor.

[–] xepadrop 10 years ago

focused on an elderly woman and her memories

I think this is the main point on why they didn't do the american side of the story, because we're supposed to view things from her point of view.

Maybe if we'd seen it from the beggining we'd be like "Oh, why doesn't she go to the US already, her relatives are such good people, he's obviously her brother, Richard Gere is so awesome.."

But seeing it only through the japanese side we get only a few words (from her very parcial children) in some letters and pictures of a huge house, so at every time her distrust and fear is something valid, something you can relate to, specially because her grandkids are much more open and understanding than her children.

[–] Blueghost 10 years ago

*EDIT*

Yeah, I think that's right. It's a generational film about how the younger generation of the family helps heal the scars of their grandmother's horror. And I think that's the beauty of this film.

Having said that, I really can't stand the SFX shot of the 747 heading back to the US...that shot just bugs the hell out of me

[–] xepadrop 10 years ago

Yes, I found the theme very moving and true.. I mean, we live nowadays in a time of "relative peace", so we can NEVER even hope to grasp what it was to live in such a different scenario.

This is only the third Kurosawa movie I watched, but I loved every aspect of it, and people saying this is one of his "worst" ones... Well, good for me, I hope it's just uphill from here on my Kurosawa marathon!

My wife was a bit bothered by the pace of the movie, that's why I chose to begin our marathon with Kurosawa's shortest movies (so she could get used to the japanese film making style) but on our "after movie discussion" I could make her understand the need to show the calm lifestyle of the country-side Nagasaki, and its relation to the grandma's psyche and her relation with the rest of the family.

Also yes, I agree with you, some SFX shots with older technology are just disturbingly weird, very much so! Everytime I think of that I imagine future generations getting weirded out by what we think is pristine and beautiful today.