After the Rain (2000)

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

I give this an 8 because it is a small film, one that limits itself to a very small scope in time and space. Its themes, however, are timeless. Virtue and its application to daily life is at the core of this film, and the samurai genre is only a vehicle. Nevertheless, the samurai fighting is beautifully and clearly depicted, and the character of the ronin protagonist is both unusual and admirable.Samurai films set at the end of the shogunate usually depict the conflict between a warrior ethos and a settled society, and this film is no exception. Our hero, a ronin (samurai without a settled position or master) traveling with his wife, is trapped by weather at a country inn. His interactions with his fellow travelers, all commoners, and the citizens of the rural area where the inn is located, reveal his sterling character. His interactions with the local daimyo (feudal territorial lord) and his retainers show his brilliance as a swordsman and his utter decency as a human being.If you are a fan of samurai films you will enjoy this one. If you are a fan of good film making, you will love this film.

This movie is great for people who like movies about Japanese samurai. Despite not having much action, it is an engaging film that holds the attention of the viewer. The story is simple and focuses primarily on the main character. The few fights that are shown have a very good choreography. The acting is decent and the cinematography is one of the strengths. Throughout the film we are blessed with beautiful nature landscapes.The film has the ideal running time. Even being a little slow sometimes it does not become boring.7/10

Kurosawa was very interested in stories about older men facing their destiny. Most of his films from Kagemusha and on deal with this in some way. Ame Agaru is another story that deals with the topic.Almost like a play at times, Ame Agaru takes it's time and is all the better for it. There are some excellent sword fights and formal duels in the film but they are not the focus of the film. There's a bit of time depicting the main character silently practicing his sword work in the woods that might bore a number of viewers. Is this a Kurosawa film? Yes, in that I could easily see him directing this story. There are a number of similarities to his last film, Madadayo. No, in that the direction here is sort of mundane. Kurosawa's distinctive eye is missing. There's a TV movie quality that's sort of unusual for a film like this. However, the actors and the story really do carry this film over and while it's not a masterpiece, it's not a waste of time either if you know what you are getting into.

Ame Agaru, though scripted by master Kurosawa, and like many of his other movies, based on a short story by Yamamoto Shugoro, just doesn't work. The Kurosawa crew is the same, thus the cinematic beauty remains, but being on master Kurosawa's footsteps doesn't make Koizumi Takashi a Kurosawa Akira. Master Kurosawa was a war hawk, and his battlefield was the set. If he wanted a slope where there was none, his crew mounted the dirt and built the slope to suit his visions. If a whole field of wheat had to be hand-painted in gold, the crew went out there and spent the day preparing for a shot. Master Kurosawa could single out and yell at an extra in a mob scene of battling feudal warriors for not falling correctly, like a dying samurai would. With all the good intentions with which Ame Agaru was made, it does not have the edge at which master Kurosawa yanked his actors. The actors in Ame Agaru are all fine actors, but they are not the fierce soldiers led by general Kurosawa. Instead, they are the humanitarian souls who volunteered to come help victims long after the general was gone and the war was over.