IMDb > Hachi-gatsu no kyôshikyoku (1991)
Hachi-gatsu no kyôshikyoku
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Hachi-gatsu no kyôshikyoku (1991) More at IMDbPro »


IMDb Holiday Movie Guide

Overview

User Rating:
7.3/10   2,327 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 3% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Kiyoko Murata (novel)
Akira Kurosawa (writer)
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Contact:
View company contact information for Rhapsody in August on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
20 December 1991 (USA) more
Genre:
Plot:
An elderly woman living in Nagasaki Japan takes care of her four grandchildren for their summer vacation... more | add synopsis
Awards:
5 wins & 6 nominations more
User Comments:
Holds up against his best films more (28 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Hachigatsu no rapusodî (Japan) (poster title)
Rhapsody in August (International: English title)
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Runtime:
98 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Fujicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:

Fun Stuff

Quotes:
Kane: I got old and so did this organ. more
Movie Connections:
References Sora no daikaijû Radon (1956) more
Soundtrack:
Stabat Mater more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
13 out of 16 people found the following comment useful.
Holds up against his best films, 9 February 2001
10/10
Author: zetes from Saint Paul, MN

Akira Kurosawa is one of my very favorite filmmakers. If you search through my reviews, I have written about a few, The Seven Samurai, High and Low, Kagemusha, and Dreams. I have seen many more, Rashomon, Ikiru (my personal favorite), Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Dersu Uzala, and Ran. I have only disliked one, High and Low, but not one of his films failed to amaze me in some way or other. My initial opinion, after seeing Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Ran and Kagemusha was that he was an amazing stylist whose films felt slightly impersonal to me. I strongly disagree with that opinion now (I expressed it in my review to Kagemusha, which I'm surprised hasn't resulted in tons of hate mail).

I have just finished watching Kurosawa's second to last film, Rhapsody in August. It is not highly regarded, usually dismissed as a very minor work in a master's portfolio. This I also discovered about my second favorite of his films, Dreams. Well, as far as my opinion, I think people were dead wrong about both of these films.

Rhapsody in August is not a stylistic masterpiece like The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, or Ran. Instead, only second to Ikiru, it is Kurosawa's most humanistic film. I have only seen one film by him (although I've read a lot about him), but I would compare it more to Yasujiro Ozu's work.

This film has a plethora of themes, ranging from the effect of the H-Bomb on both the Japanese and the Americans, the generation gaps between the three generations present (the matriarch of the family feels separate from her middle-aged children, but she relates well to her grandchildren who are interested in their country's sorrowful history), and the effect of American culture on the Japanese of the present generation. It is quite a handful, but everything is handled so subtly that some viewers who don't pick up on it all may easily grow uninterested. In some ways, the film feels very didactic (in a good way). I can imagine this film being showed to younger children, since the four grandchildren, at least at the beginning, are learning about the history of the bomb and Nagazaki and their grandfather's death.

The only weak point of the film is probably the very end, which is difficult to understand. I have a feeling that there was some cross-cultural barrier preventing my understanding of it, so if anyone does get it, please contact me. Anyway, as I perceived it, the film ended kind of randomly. But still, what has come before is too good to get too upset by the lack of closure. It deserves a 10/10.

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