Even though it takes some knowledge of either Japanese history of the 20th century or of Imamura's previous work to figure out the meaning behind the period piece-framework, this layer seems to have vanished when you arrive at “Black Rain”. This observation has very little to do with the black-and-white aesthetics of the latter, but more so with the metaphorical nature of the former two movies. In case you are the owner of the newly released boxset by Arrow Academy and have watched “Zegen” and “The Ballad of Narayama” before this one, you will probably agree with many authors noting the distinct difference between these features and “Black Rain”. However, time is running out for Shizuma and Shigeko, because they are showing first signs of the long term effects of radiation, and Yasuko, who has been hearing this allegation all her life, now also believes she will get sick eventually and finds solace in the thought of spending her remaining time with her uncle and aunt. While daily life is simple and follows a certain routine, the couple is worried about Yasuko, who is 25 and has not found a husband yet, despite their efforts at matchmaking and offering a plethora of securities to assure her niece does not suffer from radiation sickness.Īs time goes by, the issue of Yasuko still being single remains the only major concern in the household, with some suitors raising their hopes, which are quickly destroyed when the family hears about their status as bomb survivors. Years later, the three of them have made a new home in the village of Kobatake, together with other hibakushas, other survivors of the bombings, and Shizuma and Shigeko have become legal guardians to Yasuko. While Shizuma and his wife Shigeko (Etsuko Ichihara) witness the flash of the bomb, Yasuko sees the mushroom cloud and is covered by the black rain after the detonation. In 1945, on the day of the bombing, Shizuma Shigematsu (Kazuo Kitamura) is on his way to work while his niece Yasuko (Yoshiko Tanaka) is far away running some errands, when suddenly the bomb hits Hiroshima. “Black Rain” tells the story of the survivors, the way the bombings shaped their lives, but also touches upon the idea of purity and time within the Japanese. At the same time, “Black Rain” follows Imamura's concept of the period piece as a tale set in the past but which has a striking significance for the present, and even for the future, following William Faulkner's famous saying of the past never truly being past. It is a work which cinephiles, critics and film scholars alike often regard as an exception to Imamura's work in the 1980s, as it bears more similarities to the features he directed in the 1960s given its radical imagery, tone and themes. Based on Masuji Ibuse's novel of the same name, the project “Black Rain” was set in Japan in the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although his last feature “ Zegen” was not quite the success production company Toei had hoped for, they, nevertheless, wanted to continue their collaboration with renowned director Shohei Imamura and gave him the opportunity to tell a story he had been thinking about for quite some time.
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