One Wonderful Sunday

One Wonderful Sunday (素晴らしき日曜日, Subarashiki Nichiyōbi) is a 1947 Japanese film co-written and directed by Akira Kurosawa.[1] It is in black-and-white and runs 108 minutes. The film was made during the allied occupation of Japan and shows some of the challenges of life in early post-war Tokyo. It is notable in the Kurosawa canon because Masako breaks the fourth wall near the end of the film. The movie is one of many occupation-era Japanese films that parallel the more famous Italian neorealism movement, emphasizing poverty, hunger, weakening social mores, and urban dilapidation in the years after World War II.[2]

One Wonderful Sunday
Directed byAkira Kurosawa
Written byAkira Kurosawa
Keinosuke Uekusa
Produced bySojiro Motoki
StarringIsao Numasaki
Chieko Nakakita
Music byTadashi Hattori
Production
company
Distributed byToho
Release date
25 June 1947
Running time
108 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

Yuzo and his fiancée, Masako, meet in Tokyo on a Sunday for their weekly date. They are determined to have a nice day even though they only have thirty-five yen between them, but this is easier said than done: they hear about an apartment they hope to rent so they can live together, but find it is too expensive. Yuzo plays baseball with a group of children but accidentally damages a manjū shop. They visit a club owned by someone Yuzo knew in the army, but cannot get in because the manager refuses to believe that someone dressed as shabbily as Yuzo could really know the owner. They go to the zoo, but it starts to rain and they have no umbrella, so they try to see a performance of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony only to find that ticket scalpers have already bought up all the cheap tickets to sell at a markup.

The unlucky lovers go back to the apartment Yuzo is sharing with a friend (who will be away until the evening), but Masako leaves after Yuzo angrily tries to force himself on her; forgetting her purse, they reconcile when she comes back for it. The rain stops, and they go to a café, where they are charged for two café au lait, which are twice as expensive as the coffee they thought they had ordered. Yuzo gives his coat to the restaurant as collateral, promising to pay back the rest of the bill when he can afford it. Yuzo's spirits begin to lift as he and Masako talk about their dream of opening a "café for the masses" with good food and drinks at reasonable prices; they even act out running their shop in an empty lot they pass by. Yuzo then takes Masako to an empty outdoor amphitheater, where he pantomimes conducting a performance of the Unfinished Symphony they were not able to see earlier in the day. After this, they part ways until the following Sunday.

Cast
  • Chieko Nakakita as Masako
  • Isao Numasaki as Yuzo
  • Midori Ariyama as Sono, Yamiya's mistress
  • Masao Shimizu as the Dance Hall Manager
  • Ichiro Sugai as Yamiya, the black-marketeer
  • Sachio Sakai as the ticket seller[3]

Awards

References
  1. "若きクロサワが描く味わい深い人間賛歌 黒澤明素晴らしき日曜日". サライ. 18 July 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  2. Conrad, David A. (2022). Akira Kurosawa and Modern Japan. McFarland & Co.
  3. "堺 左千夫（読み）サカイ サチオ新撰 芸能人物事典 明治～平成「堺 左千夫」の解説". kotobank. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  4. "素晴らしき日曜日の解説". kotobank. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
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