One Wonderful Sunday: Viewer Comments

Probably those who respect Kurosawa's samurai movies can hardly recognize this film as his. Far from these samurai plays it lacks dramatic tension. Easygoing atmosphere dominates the whole story (some shots are pleasant, for example, playing sandlot baseball or visiting a show room). Of course Kurosawa doesn't intend to make fairy tale. Hero and heroine are miserably poor, spot the undernourished child and resent the ticket scalpers. All are the reflections of the then Japanese society. None the less they don't effectively function and often make dull situations (especially the scene of the couples in their room). Near the end heroine cries out towards audiences watching this film but I couldn't catch the spurt of her emotion. Supposedly because Japan became by far economically richer and this film lost its conviction in present Japan. However, next to this movie Kurosawa made a breathtaking "Yoidore Tenshi", whose scene is also laid in late 1940's poor Japan. From this point "Subarashiki Nichiyobi" can be regarded as a Kurosawa's transitional film.