Image Unavailable
Color:
-
-
-
- Sorry, this item is not available in
- Image not available
- To view this video download Flash Player
Rhapsody in August
Purchase options and add-ons
Genre | Kids & Family, Drama |
Format | Multiple Formats, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen, Closed-captioned, Color, Anamorphic |
Contributor | Ishir Honda, Akira Kurosawa, Mieko Suzuki, Narumi Kayashima, Mitsunori Isaki, Toshie Negishi, Tomoko takara, Hisashi Igawa, Shizuko Azuma, Richard Gere, Kiyoko Murata, Sachiko Murase, Satoko Hayashi, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Choichiro Kawarazaki See more |
Language | Japanese |
Runtime | 1 hour and 38 minutes |
Frequently bought together
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
- Dodes'ka-DenAkira KurosawaDVDFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Monday, Apr 1
- Akira Kurosawa's The Quiet Duel [DVD]Toshir MifuneDVDFREE Shipping by AmazonGet it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
- Eclipse Series 7: Postwar Kurosawa (No Regrets for Our Youth / One Wonderful Sunday / Scandal / The Idiot / I Live in Fear) (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]Postwar KurosawaDVDFREE Shipping by AmazonGet it as soon as Monday, Apr 1
- Kagemusha (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]Tatsuya NakadaiDVDFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Monday, Apr 1Only 6 left in stock (more on the way).
Product Description
Academy AwardÂ(r) winner* Akira Kurosawa (The Seven Samurai) delivers 'the most intimate drama of his career (Los Angeles Times), a stunning epic that is as visually tantalizing as it is emotionally touching. Set in the gorgeous countryside surrounding Nagasaki and starring Sachiko Murase, Hidetaka Yoshioka and Golden GlobeÂ(r) winner Richard Gere, this endearing saga follows a Japanese family once torn apart by war and now facing personal demons brought on by contact with American cousins lost long ago. Sachiko Murase is stunning as the aging matriarchof a Nagasaki family that has long lived with a legacy of horror brought on by WWII. But when an older brother she never knew she had resurfacesalong with his Japanese-American descendantsshe must come to terms with her most deeply held feelings about America and her haunted past. *1989: Honorary Award
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.85:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
- Product Dimensions : 7.25 x 5.25 x 0.75 inches; 3.84 ounces
- Director : Akira Kurosawa
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen, Closed-captioned, Color, Anamorphic
- Run time : 1 hour and 38 minutes
- Release date : July 1, 2003
- Actors : Sachiko Murase, Richard Gere, Hisashi Igawa, Narumi Kayashima, Tomoko takara
- Subtitles: : English, Spanish, French
- Language : Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
- Studio : MGM (Video & DVD)
- ASIN : B00008ZZ9O
- Writers : Akira Kurosawa, Ishir Honda, Kiyoko Murata
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #79,283 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #784 in Foreign Films (Movies & TV)
- #13,271 in Drama DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
He was also known by his friends as Kurosawa-san or by those who admired him as a teacher, as Kurosawa-sensei.
One of the things one immediately notices in his movies (especially in his later period, but even in some earlier works - although filmed in Black and WHite), is the Art of image and color composition. Kurosawa was a painter in his own right, a highly talented one at that.
Every scene is a "tableau" in which the action and the dialogues performed by the actors is just an additional element to the poetry Kurosawa intended to create for his movies.
So it is that even here in "Rhapsody in August", the theme of two families of the same common ancestry, but living in two totally different countries with almost completely different values, coming in touch with each other, forms a case study about conflicts and commonalities among two worlds.
We have seen many stories like these, but never so vividly told as here.
But this is not just another banal tale. The unfolding of the story is so masterful that it becomes a dance, a poetic dance.
What one also notices, is that our world and Kurosawa shown worlds are not so different as one may think. There is more to bind us, as human beings, than meets the eye.
Every time I watch a Kurosawa movie, I am in awe and wonder at how much life experience and passion this man did put into his work.
This is the true gift to all of us, as mankind.
Just now am I beginning to understand the full scope of Akira Kurosawa's work load. His legacy to us is hidden in each and everyone of his movies.
It is up to us to decipher them appropriately. This is the key, the true key, in order to fully understand the man Kurosawa.
Thank you Kurosawa-sensei.
I would say that this is a must have.
This is a tale of a tragedy of major proportions; The second atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki in WWII. The tragic beauty of the tale is in how it shows the different perspectives from different generations and different countries. The essential points of view are that of an elderly woman who was nearby when the bomb was dropped (and whose husband was incinerated in the blast), her children who knew the after-effects more than the event itself, and her children who only knew of the event in history books. There is also the inferred perspective of her elder brother who emmigrated to Hawaii in the 1920's (and his son who didn't seem to have any perspective). With the grandmother, the memories are generally repressed and unspoken but her grandchildren (who are staying with her while their parents are visiting the rich uncle in Hawaii) bring her memories to life. Grandmother's children seem to see the event as a little-understood somber event that is viewed more in terms of how it will interfere with their current lives. It is the four grandchildren of ages 12-18 (my guess) that serve as the catalysts for the expressions and reflections of the others. The Grandmother's older brother has been feting (off screen) some of her children and it is their concern about offending this US citizen that stirs the emotional reactions even further. A telegram sent to their uncle has given them the impression of having upset him. That, in turn, upsets them. For no understandable reason, his son (played absent-mindedly by Richard Gere) comes to visit them. The final scene is that of a search for an understanding that seems too elusive to find. The challenges and pitfalls of that search for meaning suggests that it may be why the world has largely left the event to history.
Americans have debated the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan that eneded WWII. There are still disagreements on that decision. I have always understood the decision to be the right one. I, like many others, feel this way because of the near suicidal way the Japanese seemed ready to defend their homeland to the last survivior. The act, in theory, saved untold thousands (maybe millions) of lives on both sides. However, it is still surprising to reflect that the US is the only country that ever used the atomic weapon on another country. Kurosawa's take on the morality of the act is to blame war and not countries. He may, however, have gotten some minor measure of revenge on Americans by having Richard Gere portray us so ineptly.
Top reviews from other countries
With the arrival of her American-Asian nephew from the US, played surprisingly well by Richard Gere who manages to speak Japanese without fluffing it too much, Kane is forced to re-evaluate how the dropping of the bomb has shaped her life and beliefs.
Haunted by the fact that she could not save her husband, and reliving the memories of that terrible day Kane strives to protect her family, and this culminates in her fleeing her house in a storm, clutching an umbrella as if this will protect her against the wrath of nature.
The scenery is breath taking, the acting brilliant and with a haunting sound track, this slow moving Japanese with English subtitles will make you look at the dropping of the atomic bomb with new and horrified eyes. An intelligent and thought provoking film for those people who like to think.
But the children, who are left with grandma, discover about the horror she went through, and inform their cousin in a letter. This is a quiet film, and moves at a slow pace, but is full of little quirks and sub stories. The ending is a bit odd, but apart from that, a fine film.
If you are coming to this film from one of Kurosawa's action films, then you may be shocked, certainly hearing Gere speaking Japanese is a novelty.
That is why I, who normally dismisses conspiracy theories, find it hard to believe that this is a product of the mind of a genius.
If you love film as art and you adore the great cinematic experience of Kurosawa, then I advise you not to even consider watching this film. The experience creates a state of depression that will stay with you for a long time.
I notice that the film is currently unavailable. I hope that, for the sake of the great man's reputation, it stays that way.