Film commentary: Rain shower
A short film about the pleasure of watching and listening to the rain."On the ground and on the roofs!"
"Life is here, simple and quiet."
Paul Verlaine, Wisdom (1881)
Interview with the director
Discover the dreamlike world of Tomoko TakayaQuestioning the film: Rain shower
Understand the story, the theme, express their sensibility and exercise their critical thinking.Before watching the film, explain to the children that the title of the film in English "Rain shower" could be translated as "rain shower"; the original Japanese title means a passing rain.
This short film does not tell a story; it is a contemplative film whose purpose, like the Japanese poems haiku, is to capture a place, a moment
"On the stones
On the dust
Autumn rain"
Haiku by Kyoshi Takahama (1874-1959)
Ask the children to list what they see in the film:
In order of appearance, an orange road marker on the ground (21s), windows and a sign written in Japanese (21s), houses (19s), but the subtitle tells us that it is a shopping street. When the title appears (29 seconds), we see the whole street, deserted. Three black and yellow striped roadblocks (34 seconds), a black cat (38 seconds), a drop of water falling on the cat's head (45 seconds), rain (50 seconds), under a roof, a shelter for the cat (1 minute 2 seconds), the trickling of raindrops (1 minute 5 seconds), a sign on the ground (1 minute 14 seconds), a potted plant (1:32), small white papers moving in the wind (1:50), a drawing of scissors (2:00), a sign that says "closed" (2:05), another window, the rain stops and the sun appears (2:17) a large building (3 min), the reflection of the sun on the building (3 min 6 s), the sun reflecting on the building comes to the cat (3 min 10 s), paper signs with the Japanese word "final closure" written on them in English "The final day, closedown", again a road marker but fallen on the ground (3 min 25), a tree on the ground (3 min 35), an open door (3 min 43), a falling Ginkgo Biloba leaf (Note that the Ginkgo Biloba is a very common tree in Japan; yellow leaves are a sign of autumn), a shovel (4 min 21).
Explain that the film depicts the last days of an old shopping street, with the large building at the end and the excavator symbolising the rebuilding of a new neighbourhood.
Download PDF of the film's educational activities
Created with the support of the Ministry of Education and the CNC.Viewing of the film with the family, educational activities with parents at home and with teachers in class.
Representing rain (Visual arts) (Cycle 1, 2 and 3)
Educational activities proposed by Christophe Defaye based on the film Rain shower.
Discover other educational sheets created with the support of the Ministry of Education and the CNC...
