In post-war Japan, a young couple try to enjoy their Sunday together, but struggle with their limited means and his feelings of depression. They scrimp to get by and can't afford to rent even a seedy room together, and all around them they see dishonesty. They lament the callousness of the wealthy and those who turn to the black market to survive, face a street gang blatantly running a ticket scalping operation, and even get ripped off by a café owner who runs a little scam. We don't see any occupying Americans but feel their presence in a few signs in English, and it's clear that the man, an ex-soldier beaten in the war, now feels beaten in its aftermath, thinking of himself as a "stray dog."
The film thus has strong emotions going for it, and it's touching how it signals the need to hold on tight to one another and keep their dreams alive. There is such life to the film at times, and we see it reflected in the camera work, as it runs alongside children chasing a baseball, staggers just as the drunken hostess of a cabaret does, and scurries along with the couple as they dash through the rain to try to see a concert. Unfortunately there are other times when the film lags, particularly when the man grows despondent. Kurosawa may have been trying to amplify the feelings of sadness and anger at the world, but it would have been more powerful had he trimmed a few scenes down a bit, at least all these years later and from my perspective.
I have a feeling audience members at the time had a much different feeling, one that was intensely personal. There is a sense of the man trying to regain his traditional manhood - his ability to provide, his ability to stand up a young hoodlum, and his ability to take this woman passionately - all of which are threatened here. Near the end he conducts a rousing (though imaginary) orchestra in an amphitheater with nothing but leaves rustling in the wind, after getting encouragement from her. She also breaks the fourth wall to exhort the audience to applaud for "poor young lovers everywhere" who are "freezing in the cold winds of this world" to "help us dream beautiful dreams." The film shifts in this moment from its feeling of grim neorealism to something Capraesque, and yet somehow it works, and beautifully, in doing so. A near miss for a higher rating.
The film thus has strong emotions going for it, and it's touching how it signals the need to hold on tight to one another and keep their dreams alive. There is such life to the film at times, and we see it reflected in the camera work, as it runs alongside children chasing a baseball, staggers just as the drunken hostess of a cabaret does, and scurries along with the couple as they dash through the rain to try to see a concert. Unfortunately there are other times when the film lags, particularly when the man grows despondent. Kurosawa may have been trying to amplify the feelings of sadness and anger at the world, but it would have been more powerful had he trimmed a few scenes down a bit, at least all these years later and from my perspective.
I have a feeling audience members at the time had a much different feeling, one that was intensely personal. There is a sense of the man trying to regain his traditional manhood - his ability to provide, his ability to stand up a young hoodlum, and his ability to take this woman passionately - all of which are threatened here. Near the end he conducts a rousing (though imaginary) orchestra in an amphitheater with nothing but leaves rustling in the wind, after getting encouragement from her. She also breaks the fourth wall to exhort the audience to applaud for "poor young lovers everywhere" who are "freezing in the cold winds of this world" to "help us dream beautiful dreams." The film shifts in this moment from its feeling of grim neorealism to something Capraesque, and yet somehow it works, and beautifully, in doing so. A near miss for a higher rating.