Kuroi Ame (Black Rain) poster & wallpaper
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Yoshiko Tanaka, Kazuo Kitamura, Etsuko Ichihara, Shoichi Ozawa, Norihei Miki ... see more see more... , Keisuke Ishida

The title refers to the radioactive fallout which descended upon ruined city of Hiroshima after the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Young bride-to-be Yoshiko Tanaka has the misfortune to be visitin... read more read more...g Hiroshima on the day of the explosion. Incredibly, she is unhurt; she returns to her own village, across the bay from Hiroshima. Unfortunately, her townsmen have been profoundly affected by the "black rain"; over the next five years, the poison in their systems slowly but surely erodes their souls. In a tragic state of denial, Yoshiko's former friends insist that they can't be sick-it must be the girl who is bringing sickness to them. Now a pariah, Yoshiko's life is shattered as surely as if the bomb had disintegrated her upon impact. Director Shohei Imamaura, a onetime assistant to the great Ozu and the director of such Japanese classics as The Insect Woman and The Ballad of Narayama, never sensationalizes his material; the story is effective told in a muted, subdued fashion, allowing the horror to arise from the inner torment of the characters rather than being artificially imposed by camera trickery or "shock" cutting. Based on a novel by Masuji Ibuse, the black-and-white Black Rain won the Japanese equivalent of the Academy Award, along with several other honors. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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82% liked it

1,917 ratings

Critics

83% liked it

12 critics

Unrated, 2 hr. 3 min.

Directed by: Shohei Imamura

Release Date: May 13, 1989

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DVD Release Date: November 13, 1998

Stats: 75 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (75)

  • gator681
    May 6, 2011
    gator681
    In "Black Rain," Shigematsu(Kazuo Kitamura) is caught in the nuclear blast in Hiroshima just as he is boarding a train, along with his wife Shigeko(Etsuko Ichihara). They find their niece Yasuko(Yoshiko Tanaka) easily enough who was outside of the blast area but still caught in ... read morethe fallout. Together, they start a horrific journey to the factory where Shigematsu works and now considers sanctuary.

    Five years later, they are living in the countryside and Shigematsu and Shigeko turn their energies to try to get Yasuko, at the advanced age of 25, a husband but everybody is all too aware of her past, even with a clean bill of health. That's not to mention him starting to show symptoms.

    The quietly moving and riveting "Black Rain" is a relatively restrained movie filmed in stark black and white from Shohei Imamura who shows little of his typical chaotic energy.(The exception is a subplot centered around Yuichi(Keisuke Ishida), a shell shocked former soldier, while another subplot goes nowhere.) There are few close-ups, as the movie keeps its emotional distance from the characters.

    Since radiation sickness at this point is so new, there are no successfully proven treatments, leaving the victims to rely on either folk remedies(So, I guess they were not kidding about the cod blood.) or ritual which can either be of the religious variety or as mundane as listening to the news every night at the same time. Time is also of importance to these characters who might not have that much left but it also flows in different directions, which flashbacks to the fateful day attest to as much as Shigematsu's mother confusing Yasuko with her dead mother. History repeats itself as war is happening again in Korea, leading to a news report of Truman threatening to use nuclear weapons, reminding us that some people never learn history's lessons. At least one character does get it when he points out that 'an unjust peace is better than a just war.'
  • aegossman
    January 31, 2007
    aegossman
    This was amazing... after an incredible and really important book with the same title. Very important!

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Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert
June 12, 2001
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

[Shohei Imamura] shoots in beautifully textured black and white to tell the story of survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bomb who were contaminated by the fallout. Full Review

John A. Nesbit
February 11, 2010
John A. Nesbit, Old School Reviews

feels completely natural. Sobering and very, very real Full Review

Ken Hanke
November 18, 2009
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Powerfully effective, and it addresses the issue of the national scarring of the bombings in a way that no one else ever has. Full Review

Sean Axmaker
October 19, 2009
Sean Axmaker, Seanax.com

Even in a seeming Eden of the lush picture-postcard country village in this film, the legacy of the bomb lives on. Full Review

Andrew Schenker
October 15, 2009
Andrew Schenker, Slant Magazine

While most of Black Rain takes place in 1950, the film's astonishing opening sequence places us at the epicenter of the event, August 1945. Full Review

Nick Davis
March 1, 2005
Nick Davis, Nick's Flick Picks

A stunning, humane, but difficult film about the human aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing.

October 18, 2008
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Vincent Canby
June 3, 2008
Vincent Canby, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Hal Hinson
June 12, 2001
Hal Hinson, Washington Post

Click to read the article Full Review

Desson Thomson
June 12, 2001
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

Click to read the article Full Review

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