"Black Rain"

The outside world calls [Black Rain] the posthumous work of Hei Zeming. In fact, Lao Hei only wrote the script, but he died after writing it. As a director, it is biased to call it a legacy. [Black Rain] The director is actually Koizumi Yasushi, and those who are familiar with Kurosawa Akira may have some impressions of him. In Akira Kurosawa's last five films ([Shadow Warrior], [Ran], [Dream], [August Rhapsody], [Curling Sunset]), Koizumi was the first assistant director. It is precisely because of his understanding of Akira Kurosawa that Akira Kurosawa's eldest son, Hisao Kurosawa, decided to hand over his father's "posthumous work" [Black Rain] to Koizumi, hoping that he could shoot the film. When the film was released in Japan in 1999, it received almost unanimous critical acclaim.
From the filming of the film, the use of medium shots continues the style of Akira Kurosawa, but this may be the only thing that compares Akira Kurosawa other than the script. And Koizumi's medium shots are very interesting, he sometimes puts the characters on both sides of the shot, and then shoots three-quarters of each of them, which means he doesn't shoot the characters completely. [Black Rain] is relatively close to Yamada Yoji's [Samurai Trilogy], and both pay attention to the "internal training" of samurai, but who could do it in that era? The dramatic conflict unfolds in this inner contradiction, so there is no bloody sword and shadow. The film's narrative is almost propped up by dialogue, and it's as fascinating as a thread. This is very different from Akira Kurosawa's style. In Kurosawa Akira's samurai movies, the actors selected are very tense, such as Toshiro Mifune in the early stage, and Tatsuki Nakadai in the later stage. [Black Rain] starring Terao Satoshi is completely the style of the true color school. Watching him act is like watching his life. Another actor, Shiro Mifune, who plays the city lord, is right, the son of Toshiro Mifune. In the film, he portrayed a straightforward and philosophical ruler in a penetrating manner, which is even the true inheritance of his father!
[Black Rain] won many awards from the Japan Film Academy that year, in addition to the film industry's memory of the late master Akira Kurosawa, it is more an affirmation of Koizumi Yaoshi's self-style. As mentioned earlier, in addition to the script (the script is not Kurosawa Akira's usual style) and the middle scene processing, [Black Rain] is already a personal reproduction of Koizumi. The comedic harmony of conversion at the end is unimaginable in a Kurosawa film. In Kurosawa's films, there is always a loser, or both losers. What he expresses is an indictment of human beings' small and endless desires, but at the same time he seems helpless. [Black Rain] is rather good in terms of shots, dialogue, scenery, and performance. However, it is extremely difficult to grasp the introspection under the surface under a clear theme, and Koizumi has undoubtedly succeeded in this point.

View more about After the Rain reviews