MOVIES - Aug. 9, 1990

Gere Up for New Kurosawa Film: Richard Gere, an actor with a personal interest in Eastern religions and culture, will play a Japanese-American and speak Japanese in a new film by Akira Kurosawa going into production in Japan. “Rhapsody in August” is the story of a Japanese family’s emotional reconciliation with relatives who moved to America long before World War II. Gere is cast with famed Japanese actors Sachiko Murase, Hisashi Igawa and Hidetaka Yoshioka. “Rhapsody” will be released in the United States next summer by Orion Classics, which scored a hit five years ago with the American release of Kurosawa’s “Ran.” The celebrated director’s latest film, “Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams,” opens in Los Angeles on Aug. 24.