Black Rain Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Black Rain Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 22, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of Survivor Ballads: Three Films by Shohei Imamura.

Despite being the only Japanese director to win the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival twice, Shōhei Imamura hasn’t seemed to penetrate into general public consciousness in quite the same way that, say, Akira Kurosawa, the Japanese director who won the Palme d’Or a couple of years before Imamura’s first win, has. As much as France tends to be associated with the phrase “New Wave” (and/or nouvelle vague, as the case may be), Japan itself probably unsurprisingly had its own New Wave, and Imamura is often cited as one of its leading proponents. The fact that one of Imamura’s first independent features made without studio meddling was entitled The Pornographers may give some indication of how provocative Imamura’s content can be, but in some ways Imamura is not the stylistic enfant terrible that some of his counterparts in France like Jean-Luc Godard and/or François Truffaut often were. Arrow Video’s Arrow Academy imprint has released three of Imamura’s fascinating films, and while some might have preferred that his “other” Palme d’Or winner, The Eel, might have been included along with his first film to take home that prize, The Ballad of Narayama, this trifecta is certainly a fantastic introduction to Imamura for those previously unacquainted with him, and it’s also a worthy collection in its own right for those who are already fans of Imamura.

There was a very interesting if little remembered Japanese film that Arrow Academy released a few months ago that would make for an interesting, if perhaps emotionally devastating, double feature with Black Rain. 1953's Hiroshima probably "announces" its subject matter by its very title, but what's so fascinating and disturbing about both of these films is that they don't just concentrate on the maelstrom of the actual Atomic Bomb explosions, but the long, almost hellish, aftermath suffered by those who survived the initial blast.

There are a number of similarities between the two films, including the fact that rather interestingly Imamura chose to shoot this 1989 feature in black and white, something that ends up giving several depictions of the chaos of the Atomic Bomb dropping on Hiroshima in both films some frightening correlations. In that regard, though, perhaps because Imamura was shooting in 1989, there's arguably an even more graphic nature to some of the imagery of the devastation wrought by the bomb than in the already unsettling 1953 film.

The basic story here follows a young woman named Yasuko (Yoshiko Tanaka), who is doused in some so-called black rain after the atomic blast, something that makes her almost the equivalent of a leper, especially in terms of being "marriageable". That may seem like an almost insane thing to worry about, all things considered, but that particular aspect in fact gives Black Rain a rather potent emotional impact that is at least equivalent to some of the disturbing reactions the footage of horrifyingly injured people right after the blast will engender.

Black Rain is perhaps a bit too disjunctive as it ping pongs back and forth between 1950 and 1945, and there's what Tony Rayns refers to as an almost "D.H. Lawrence" quality to some of its supposedly hopeful final imagery. It's salient to note that any hopefulness is definitely tempered by an underlying (and not to put too fine a point on it, overarching) melancholy that suffuses the story.

Black Rain Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Black Rain is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy, an imprint of Arrow Video, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. While Arrow's insert booklet offers a full page devoted to the restorations, because all three films in this are lumped in together, there's really not a ton of information offered other than the following:

Black Rain / Kuroi ame appears in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono sound.

The Battle of Nayarama and Black Rain were both restored from the original 35mm negatives by Toie.

The original mono soundtracks were remastered from the original sound elements by Toie.

Black Rain looks largely great in this transfer, with excellent (sometimes harrowing) fine detail levels and a solid accounting of the film's moody black and white cinematography. There are occasional moments of softness and one rather peculiar effects scene early in the film that looks anamorphically stretched for some reason, but on the whole this is a nicely organic presentation that preserves a well resolved, tight looking grain field. Some of the outdoor material in particular looks great, and some surprisingly scenic vistas offer substantial depth of field. I noticed no compression issues and there are no signs of aggressive digital tweaking of any kind.

Black Rain Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Black Rain features a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track in the original Japanese. This film probably has some of the "showiest" sound design in this set, courtesy of the opening scenes depicting the bomb being dropped on Hiroshima and its aftermath. But the glut of outdoor material offers another good opportunity, as with the other two films in this set, for some well rendered and realistic sounding ambient environmental effects. Toru Takemitsu's piercing string laden score, which can alternate between elegiac moments that are almost like Samuel Barber's famous Adagio to more strident, atonal cues, sounds fine throughout. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly as well on this problem free track. Optional English subtitles are available.

Black Rain Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Jasper Sharp


• Pain and Memory (1080p; 57:32) completes this set's aggregation of two-named appreciations which are advertised with sub-titles calling them "introductions" by Tony Rayns, in another really well done in depth analysis of the film (and other aspects of Imamura's work).


• Alternate Ending (1080p; 18:59) offers a modern day coda (in color) that Imamura shot but decided not to include in the final version of the film.


• Yoshiko Tanaka Interview (1080i; 6:36) is an archival piece, in Japanese with English subtitles.


• Takashi Miike Interview (1080i; 8:00) is another archival piece with the film's perhaps unexpected assistant director. In Japanese with English subtitles.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:24)


• Image Gallery (1080p; 1:40)


• Original Japanese Press Kit is available as BD-ROM content.

Black Rain Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There was of course another 1989 film called Black Rain , but the two properties could obviously not be more different. I kind of wonder if the Ridley Scott film actually stole a bit of the thunder from this effort, but for those willing to make it through some undeniably horrifying recreations of the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima, Black Rain is a moving depiction of survivors wondering whether or not it was worth it to survive. Technical merits are solid, and the supplemental package very enjoyable. Recommended.