dual personalities

I have not watched the Academy Awards in over ten years and this year was no different. I haven’t seen one movie that was nominated. Not one. Hollywood always had its Sodom and Gomorrah aspects, but now it is truly a “wretched hive of scum and villainy.”*

Anyway, I watched a really good movie instead–One Wonderful Sunday (1947), co-written and directed by the great Akira Kurosawa.

One of Kurosawa’s first post-war pictures, it explores the challenges of Japanese society after losing World War II. Two young people spend their Sunday together in Tokyo, pooling their meager spending money and battling the rain. (Kurosawa does love rain.)

Bad things happen and there are many references to the cost of the war with regards to the protagonists, especially Yuzo, the veteran. It reminded me in some ways of Bicycle Thieves (1948)–the loss of hope in the future, but the finding of grace in simple pleasures.

The two main actors–Isao Numasaki and Chieko Nakakita–are excellent and very appealing. It is a simple, human story, told without frills, but it packs quite a punch. I have the Criterion Collection DVD, but you can watch it here.

Speaking of rainy days and dark imagery, here’s a poem from the forgotten Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which though familiar, you might enjoy reading again:

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

And this is a good article, sort of on the same subject. We’re living in a broken world. God hasn’t promised freedom from suffering in this life. “[W]e were raised on a steady diet of self-esteem; we’ve been graded on a generous curve; we’ve been told if we pursue our dreams, anything is possible. ‘You are going to change the world.’ And then we become adults and discover life is hard, we’re not all that special, and this world is a vicious place.”

*Obi-Wan-Kenobi