A Spoiling Rain
花腐し
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Two failed men in a Tokyo rain share memories of the same dead woman — Arai's monochrome elegy for pink-film cinema.
December 2012. Shuichi Kutani, a director of pink films who has not made one in five years, goes to the wake of Shoko Kirioka, the actress he lived with. Her parents, who blame the film world for her death, turn him away. Shoko died with Kuwayama, another pink-film director and Kutani's friend, in a double suicide; their bodies were found on a beach, and no one knows why she did it. The business itself is dying as film gives way to digital.
Behind on his rent, Kutani takes a job from his landlord, Kim: persuade the last tenant of an old wooden apartment block due for demolition to leave. The tenant, Takahisa Iseki, a failed screenwriter who writes adult-video scripts to live, invites him in. Over beer they find they know the same production company, and Iseki talks about his first girlfriend. In 2000 he met a young stage actress and moved into her flat; when she became pregnant he was ready to give up screenwriting, but she chose her career and had an abortion, and they drifted apart. In the next room a foreign student, Rinrin, lies high on the magic mushrooms growing there.
At a Korean bar Kutani learns the girlfriend's name: Shoko. He tells Iseki she is dead, and tells his own part. He met her in 2006 and lived with her while he made nothing. When she became pregnant and wanted the child, he said he did not want a family. She miscarried, blamed her earlier abortion, and found no comfort in him. She slept with Kuwayama, and when she told Kutani, he only said, "I see." She left, saying she was going home to rest. Days later she and Kuwayama were dead.
Back in Iseki's room, drunk and drugged, Kutani has sex with Rinrin, who is filming, and passes out. He wakes alone in a tidied room. On the computer is a screenplay with the film's own title, telling Shoko's story as the two men told it. He rewrites the moment of her confession: now he slaps her, then holds her. On the stairs he sees Shoko, in a white dress, pass behind him and go into Iseki's room. He opens the door, looks in, and weeps.
Starring
Go Ayanoas Shuichi Kutani
A pink-film director who has not made a film in five years, mourning Shoko, the actress he lived with and failed.
Shuichi Kutani’s story
Kutani is turned away from the wake of Shoko, the actress he lived with, and goes on to the wake of Kuwayama, the friend she died with. Sent to evict the last tenant of a condemned building, he drinks with Iseki, learns they loved the same woman, and tells his half: how Shoko came home with him in the rain; how he made nothing for years; how, when she was pregnant, he said he wanted no family, gave her no comfort when she miscarried, and said only 'I see' when she told him about Kuwayama. Asked whether he wishes he had shouted and hit her, he does. Waking alone, he finds a screenplay of their story, rewrites her confession so that he slaps her and then holds her, sees her pass behind him into Iseki's room, and weeps.
Tasuku Emotoas Takahisa Iseki
A failed screenwriter living on adult-video scripts, the last tenant of a condemned block, and Shoko's first boyfriend.
Takahisa Iseki’s story
Iseki will not leave his room in the condemned block: he pays his rent every month, he says, and invites Kutani in for a beer. In 2000, a student working in a bar, he cleaned up after a young actress who had been made to drink too much, and she gave him a ticket to her play. He moved into her flat, failed in screenplay competitions and wrote adult-video scripts to pay their way. When she became pregnant he was ready to give up screenwriting; she chose the stage and had an abortion, and they drifted apart. In a Korean bar he says her name, Shoko, and learns that she is dead. In the morning he is gone, his room tidied, a screenplay of her story on his computer, and it is into his room that Shoko, in white, walks.
Honami Satoas Shoko Kirioka
An actress loved by both men at different times, who dies with Kuwayama in a double suicide.
Shoko Kirioka’s story
Shoko left home to become an actress. In 2000 she takes Iseki into her flat; pregnant, she chooses the stage and has an abortion, and they part. In 2006 she meets Kutani through Kuwayama, laughs at the idea of a woman-hater making pink films, and goes home with him in the rain. For years she lives with a man who makes nothing, and throws water in the face of a screenwriter who calls his life play-acting. Pregnant again past thirty, she wants the child; Kutani does not. She miscarries, blames her earlier abortion, and gets no comfort from him. She sleeps with Kuwayama and tells Kutani, who says only 'I see'. Saying she is tired and going home to rest for the first time in more than ten years, she leaves; days later she and Kuwayama are found dead.
Mutsuo Yoshiokaas Atsushi Kuwayama
A pink-film director and Kutani's friend, who wrote a script with Shoko in the lead and dies with her.
Makita Sportsas Shoyu Kim
Kutani's landlord, who offers to ease his rent if he gets the last tenant out of an old apartment block.
Why it matters
A Spoiling Rain is two men talking about a woman who can no longer answer them. Kutani and Iseki loved Shoko at different times and lost her in similar ways: one after an abortion that ended their life together, the other after refusing her the child she wanted and saying nothing when she turned to someone else. The film lets them compare regrets and even rewrite the past, and in doing so it exposes how much of her life survives only in their telling. It is also a farewell to pink film, made by Haruhiko Arai, who wrote many scripts for Nikkatsu's Roman Porno line from 1977, as that world disappears. Adapted from Hisaki Matsuura's Akutagawa Prize-winning novella, it asks what grief is worth when it comes too late, and whether a story told by the men who lost her can hold her at all.