Kuroi ame

The first fifteen minutes of this film are utterly mesmerizing. The palpable dread casts a shadow over every movement, every word. Imamura takes an objective approach with his camera, attempting to show these characters as human beings rather than as shills for some message. The film's quiet, matter of fact, handling of its tragedies serves to invite the viewer to participate in them. Imamura has responded to the tragic events at HIroshima with an act of compassion and empathy.

Everything I love about movies can probably be found in here somewhere. The way radiation is like an STD is clever and understated, and the fact that this is based on Hiroshima makes the melodrama appropriate. Damn humanity for making the basis of this plot truth rather than science fiction.

“An unjust peace is better than a just war”: for the inclusion of this line (originally from Cicero, I believe) alone, the film justifies its existence. Generally restrained, though not without its doses of melodrama and hysteria, this succeeds in conveying the uncanny, insidious and horrifying character of the consequences of Hiroshima. Not much fun to be had.

Truly profound in its portrait of the way life soldiers on in the wake of disaster.

(i'm such a meany, but i felt too removed from this; though i liked the imamuraish flourish of the traumatised sculpter, redolent of profound desire)

Masterpiece

Must watch. Hard to believe this was made in 1989.

This should happen to some people I know. And spare the sympathy.

Sad and depressing while still being beautiful. Black Rain talks about the horrors or the Hiroshima A-bombing in graphic detail and its after effects without beating you over the head with preaching or a particular message. The acting is great as is the cinematography. Pure enthralling drama of the best kind.

subdued drama about a young woman whose parents struggle to marry her off as rumours of radiation sickness follow her around. interspersed are flashback-driven reenactments of the hiroshima bombing. disturbing and depressing it may be, but it's also rather dull and over-explanatory at times, without too much insight to flesh it out - the lovely final few scenes notwithstanding. i far preferred imamura's more expressionist, less 'realistic' depiction of daily struggle BALLAD OF NARAYAMA.

Interesting with the right introduction...in the right college classroom setting... Otherwise probably pretty boring. Interesting but boring and disjointed. I really enjoy watching it for some odd reason though and I'm not when/if it will wear it's welcome with me.

At times, I felt manipulated, at others, genuinely moved. So... I'm not sure how to feel about this.

"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." - Andrew Schenker

Personally I see no reason as to why this was rated so highly for me, other than the fact that people felt bad about the atrocities of that war that giving a movie about the victims of said war a good score would be some sort of compensation. People worry more about subject material than content. The content in this movie is severely lacking any sort of entertaining quality, its more about marriage proposals and less about the actual horrors of the atom bomb. don't kid yourself about this.

Intermittently moving, despite its uncertainties of tone.

The bombing of Hiroshima and its aftermath through the eyes of a small family. That this film is disturbing and depressing is a given, and if the turns the story takes are predictable, it doesn't make them that much less powerful. Imamura worked under Ozu, and the influence can be seen; in many ways this is an Ozu story filtered through the bleakness of something like Dodesukaden. The scene with Yuichi describing his PTSD was unnecessarily over-the-top, but otherwise nothing to complain about.

A masterful look at the consequences of Hiroshima, both physical and mental, on its survivors.