Downpour / 土砂降り/ Doshaburi (1957)

Obscure Japanese Film #100

Mariko Okada

This Shochiku production stars Mariko Okada as Matsuko, a young office worker in a relationship with a colleague, Kazuo (Keiji Sada). They’re a model couple and their boss approves of the match so much that he encourages them to get married. They agree, but there’s a problem – Matsuko has lied to Kazuo about her background, saying that her father is dead and her mother runs an inn. In fact, her father (So Yamamura) is very much alive, but mostly absent because Matsuko’s mother, Tane (Sadako Sawamura), is actually his mistress. Furthermore, the inn she runs, where Matsuko also lives together with her younger brother (Masami Taura) and sister (Miyuki Kuwano) is actually more like a love hotel, used by most of the guests simply as a convenient place for their illicit liaisons. When the truth comes out, the young couple’s plans are derailed, leading to tragedy. 

 

Keiji Sada

The subject matter of Downpour was considered risqué at the time, and it received an adults-only classification as a result. Based on a 1952 play by Hideji Hojo, it shows the devastating consequences that having children by a mistress can have on those children. However, one of the strengths of the film is its refusal to make a villain out of Matsuko’s father, Okubo. He’s portrayed as a decent man who is himself something of a victim here – both of circumstances and of his own poor decisions. Perhaps the real cause of the tragedy that unfolds is not Okubo, but the judgmental nature of the society within which all of the characters are trapped. The inn where most of the family live is in fact hemmed in on one side by the railroad tracks, and steam trains seem to be an important metaphor or symbol which runs throughout the movie, perhaps representing an unstoppable force which cannot be resisted, or possibly a portent of doom. 

 

The cast is uniformly excellent, and it’s especially satisfying to see the great Mariko Okada in a well-written role which makes good use of her talent as the Matsuko we see towards the end of the film is very different from the one we saw at the beginning. While watching, I thought that Shin Saburi was giving a surprisingly non-wooden performance for a change, but then I realised it was actually So Yamamura. These two actors look so similar that I’m sure I can’t be the only one who confuses the two.

So Yamamura

 

For me, this was a stronger film from director Noboru Nakamura than the previously-reviewed Home Sweet Home or Portrait of Chieko, and the non-intrusive music by Toru Takemitsu and dark, shadowy cinematography of Hiroyuki Nagaoka were both excellent choices. 

Okada with Sadako Sawamura