is a 1956 Japanese

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

Mikio Naruse was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967. Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook. He made primarily shomin-geki ("common people drama") films with female protagonists, ...

. It is based on a play by

Kunio Kishida Kunio Kishida (岸田國士, Kishida Kunio, 2 November 1890 – 5 March 1954) was a Japanese playwright, dramatist, novelist, lecturer, acting coach, theatre critic, translator, and proponent of Shingeki ("New Theatre"/”New Drama"). Kishida sp ...

Plot

The marriage of Fumiko and Ryōtarō Namiki has gone stale, with both of them constantly arguing about what to do on a day off, or her cutting out cooking recipes from the newspaper before he finished reading it. Their animosities are witnessed by Fumiko's niece Ayako, who pays a visit to complain about her own husband's inattentiveness, and their new neighbours, the Imasatos. When Ryōtarō's company announces the dismissal of some of their employees, a group of colleagues visits him at home and offers him to become their partner in a bar financed with their severance pay, with Fumiko serving the bar's guests. Ryōtarō throws them out and has an argument with Fumiko, declaring that he does not want his wife to take up a job. The couple contemplates a divorce and Ryōtarō's return to his hometown to work on his family's farm. The next morning, a children's balloon falls into their backyard, and Fumiko and Ryōtarō become engaged in a defiant ball throwing game, watched by the neighbours.

Cast

Setsuko Hara Setsuko (written: or in hiragana) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, later of Japan *, actress *, Japanese volleyball player *, Japanese actress and model *Setsuko Klossowska de Rola (born 1942), Japane ...

as Fumiko Namiki *

Shūji Sano was a Japanese actor active from 1936 to 1977. A popular star of the Shōchiku film studios, he is best known for his appearances in the films of Yasujirō Ozu, Keisuke Kinoshita, Heinosuke Gosho and Hiroshi Shimizu. Selected filmography * 19 ...

as Ryōtarō Namiki * Kyōko Kagawa as Ayako *

Keiju Kobayashi was a Japanese actor who appeared in 253 films in a career spanning 67 years. Born in Gunma Prefecture, he began acting at the Nikkatsu studio after dropping out of Nihon University and made his film debut in 1942. In 1956 he moved to Toho film ...

as Mr. Imasato *

Akemi Negishi was a Japanese actress. Film career Tokyo-born Akemi Negishi came to the attention of international audiences when she starred in the US/Japanese co-production ''Anatahan'', her debut film. Josef von Sternberg directed the tale of shipwrecked ...

as Mrs. Imasato *

Chieko Nakakita was a Japanese actress. She appeared in the early films of Akira Kurosawa and later starred in many films by Mikio Naruse. Biography After graduating from Tokyo Film School (東京映画学校), Chieko Nakakita entered the Toho film studios an ...

as Mrs. Kurobayashi * Daisuke Katō as Kawakami

Reception

Naruse biographer Catherine Russell called ''Sudden Rain'' an "extraordinarily bleak film", which nonetheless "offers a poetic treatment of a dismal situation". Dan Sallitt saw the film's depiction of the marital conflict as "characteristically brutal and devastating" for Naruse, despite the "light-hearted formal play".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sudden Rain 1956 films 1956 comedy-drama films Japanese comedy-drama films Japanese black-and-white films 1950s Japanese-language films Japanese films based on plays Films directed by Mikio Naruse Toho films Films produced by Sanezumi Fujimoto Films scored by Ichirō Saitō 1950s Japanese films