Review – Rhapsody in August

Late in his career, Akira Kurosawa attempts to cope with the bombing of Nagasaki, an issue that even a half-century after the fact clearly hasn’t been faced by people on either side of the Pacific. The result is the compelling tale of four children spending the summer with their grandmother while their parents spend time overseas sucking up to rich Japanese-American relatives. At first the kids are anxious to persuade the old woman to journey to Hawaii to meet her long-lost, dying brother. But as they experience the lingering traces of the A-bomb – not the least of which is the death of their grandfather – the kids gain new perspective on the importance of the past. The production doesn’t offer much for movie-goers who are strictly fans of the director’s samurai-intensive work, but anyone willing to give this quiet little story a chance will find patience richly rewarded. Worth seeing