Rhapsody in August

The rhapsody started with good intentions, but somewhere near the crescendo it lost me. I took it because it was directed by Akira Kurasowa, after Darsu Uzala I had realized Kurosawa was not that artsy as I had thought. But this one shattered all my expectations, not because it was too artsy, but because it lacked the quality of a master's touch.

The story is about an elderly woman, grandma to four youngsters living in the hills behind Nagasaki, still in the shadow of that dreadful August day in 1945. The story is fine, but the way the children narrate it to the viewers under the pretext of educating youner children, their frequent excursions to the city to relive the past - all seemed pretentious. As if they were laboring to make the viewers understand thru' some kind teacher - student technique. Richard Gere has a small role in the movie as the Japanese-American nephew of the old woman.

All in all, it seemed to me like a slow moving film, with special effects like thunderstorms produced by pouring milk in a glass of water and shooting it close-up, I am wondering where was Kurasowa?