Hiroshima Heartache is a bit scattershot in a way that I don't think was intended. It follows a journalist covering the anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, and his difficulties with interviewing people who survived the event. It feels like he drifts around a lot until he gets to know a young woman who was personally impacted by the bomb, carrying scars both emotional and physical from the event.
It's that relationship which makes for Hiroshima Heartache's most interesting and moving scenes, but it does feel like the love story is a bit rushed and also, I got the sense the whole movie should've focused on this relationship more; not just the final 30 to 40 minutes.
It adds up to a flawed and somewhat messy post-war drama, but because of the stuff that does work, I think it's still a decent film.
It's that relationship which makes for Hiroshima Heartache's most interesting and moving scenes, but it does feel like the love story is a bit rushed and also, I got the sense the whole movie should've focused on this relationship more; not just the final 30 to 40 minutes.
It adds up to a flawed and somewhat messy post-war drama, but because of the stuff that does work, I think it's still a decent film.
