Rhapsody in August

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Movie
German title Rhapsody in August
Original title Hachigatsu no Rapusodī
Country of production Japan
original language Japanese , English
Publishing year 1991
length 98 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Akira Kurosawa
script Akira Kurosawa
Ishirō Honda (anonymous)
production Hisao Kurosawa
music Shinichirō Ikebe
Antonio Vivaldi
Franz Schubert
camera Takao Saitō
Masaharu Ueda
cut Akira Kurosawa
occupation

Rhapsody in August ( Japanese 八月 の 狂 詩 曲 , Hachigatsu no Rapusodī ) is a Japanese feature film from 1991 based on the novel Nabe no Naka by Kiyoko Murata . The drama is the penultimate film by director and screenwriter Akira Kurosawa .

action

The Hibakusha Kane, who lost her husband when the atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki , spends the summer of 1990 at home with her four grandchildren Tami, Minako, Tateo and Shinjiro. Their parents are visiting relatives in Hawaii at the same time . The four teenagers help their grandmother in everyday life and keep her company, at the same time they want to persuade the grandmother to go with them to Hawaii and visit their dying great-uncle there. The eldest grandson Tateo has also discovered his grandmother's old, out of tune harmonium and wants to repair it.

When the four of them go to Nagasaki to go shopping, Tami shows the other children the memorial for the atomic bomb victims. The following night, their grandmother tells them horror stories that are indirectly related to the atomic bombs.

The next day, Kane's sons Tadao and Yoshie arrive at her home and report on their experiences in Hawaii. But they are only interested in the material wealth of their American relatives, which Kane sharply criticizes. The parents, in turn, are angry that Tadao mentioned the atomic bombing in an exchange with Kane's nephew Clark, which they see as a faux pas towards an American.

Clark travels to Japan even at short notice, surprisingly for everyone, at the time when Kane's brother is commemorating the dead. However, it turns out that the American Clark is not offended, attends the funeral services and wants to reconcile with Kane. Tateo also finds out that the piano is suddenly no longer out of tune. Clark's stay in Japan comes to an abrupt end when he receives a telegram with the news of his father's death and has to leave.

The next day, Tadao and Yoshie also want to leave with their families, but Kane is confused and seems to experience the bombing a second time during a thunderstorm.

criticism

The lexicon of international films praised the cinema tip from the Catholic film critics: “Akira Kurosawa's old work is a quiet meditation on pain and grief, remembering and the healing power of reconciliation, characterized by gentle melancholy and cheerfulness. The released magic of the pictures is compromised towards the end of solemn speeches about the friendship of once hostile nations. "

Andreas Kilb writes in Die Zeit : “Kurosawa used to talk about princes and kings in the cinema, about dynasties that extinguished themselves and empires that broke up in mighty battles. Now he has made the quietest of all films about the greatest of all catastrophes. A look into a waterfall, the arrival of a man at the airport, a thunderstorm in the mountains - these are the dramatic highlights of "Rhapsody in August". A film like a prayer: a sacrifice. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rhapsody in August. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ https://www.zeit.de/1991/21/schoene-tage