Shûu

Sudden Rain is about a couple whose marriage has gone stale. Fumiko is depressed and anxious, while her husband Ryotaro has stomach problems (which he blames on her cooking) and would rather read the newspaper than talk to Fumiko. There is not much of a plot to the movie, just a series of circumstances that add to the stress of their marriage: a pretty new neighbor, the threat of a layoff and an increasingly hostile neighborhood that blames them for the antics of a stray dog. If this sounds depressing, it is. What keeps it from being a total slog are little touches of humor. Not a great movie, but still one worth watching.

Side note: I watched this movie because it was announced this week that Setsuko Hara, the star of this and many other classic Japanese movies, had died. She is best known (here in America anyway) for her world weary smile. That smile is very much in evidence in this movie, although it fades fast and is often replaced by brief glimpses of depression and fear. A great performance.