After the Rain (1999)
"Ame agaru" (original title)

Ihei Misawa and his wife Tayo, stranded by rains at a country inn, bring a great deal of happiness to the other residents of the inn by means of Ihei's generosity and good spirit. Ihei is a... See full summary »

Director:

Takashi Koizumi

Writers:

Akira Kurosawa (screenplay), Shûgorô Yamamoto (short story)

Stars:

Akira Terao, Yoshiko Miyazaki, Shirô Mifune

14 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Akira Terao	...	Ihei Misawa
Yoshiko Miyazaki	...	Tayo Misawa
Shirô Mifune	...	Lord Nagai Izuminokami Shigeaki
Fumi Dan	...	Okugata
Hisashi Igawa	...	Kihei Ishiyama
Hidetaka Yoshioka	...	Chamberlain Gonnojo Sakakibara
Mieko Harada	...	Okin
Tatsuo Matsumura	...	Sekkyo-Bushi Jii, the Old Preacher
Takayuki Katô	...	Hayato Naitô
Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Tsuji Gettan
Makiya Yamaguchi
Toshihide Wakamatsu
Daisuke Ryû
Bin Moritsuka
Masayoshi Nagasawa

Storyline

Ihei Misawa and his wife Tayo, stranded by rains at a country inn, bring a great deal of happiness to the other residents of the inn by means of Ihei's generosity and good spirit. Ihei is a masterless samurai and fencing expert. Ihei comes to the attention of Lord Shigeaki, who hires him as fencing instructor for Lord Shigeaki's men. But Ihei's expertise causes friction and jealousy in Shigeaki's castle and his future there comes into doubt.

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Plot Keywords:

rain | samurai | ronin | river | husband wife relationship | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Japan France

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

22 January 2000 (Japan)

Also Known As:

When the Rain Lifts

Filming Locations:

Kyoto, Japan

Box Office

Budget:

$3,800,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

7 Films Cinéma, Ame Agaru Seisaku Iinkai, Asmik Ace Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Akira Kurosawa died after writing the screenplay and completing preproduction. His producer son offered the direction to Kurosawa's long-time assistant. But shooting could begin only when Elie Chouraqui's French Company 7 Films Cinéma accepted to co-produce.

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Quotes

Lord Nagai Izuminokami Shigeaki: The forging of the grain delicately moistened very well drawn groves a proud blade has the freshness of a spring breeze and it's perfume.

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Connections

Version of Samurai from Nowhere (1964)

User Reviews

"Quiet" samurai film

Kurosawa was very interested in stories about older men facing their destiny. Most of his films from Kagemusha and on deal with this in some way. Ame Agaru is another story that deals with the topic.

Almost like a play at times, Ame Agaru takes it's time and is all the better for it. There are some excellent sword fights and formal duels in the film but they are not the focus of the film. There's a bit of time depicting the main character silently practicing his sword work in the woods that might bore a number of viewers.

Is this a Kurosawa film? Yes, in that I could easily see him directing this story. There are a number of similarities to his last film, Madadayo. No, in that the direction here is sort of mundane. Kurosawa's distinctive eye is missing. There's a TV movie quality that's sort of unusual for a film like this. However, the actors and the story really do carry this film over and while it's not a masterpiece, it's not a waste of time either if you know what you are getting into.