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| Ikiru 7 of 10 |
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| Directed by Akira Kurosawa Cinematography by Asakazu Nakai Takashi Shimura Shinichi Himori Haruo Tanaka Minoru Chiaki Miki Odagiri |
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| I'm a huge Kurosawa fan, so this is very hard for me to say. The first half of this film was boring. It tells the tale of an aging Japanese bureaucrat named Kanji Watanabe, played by Takashi Shimura, who suddenly discovers that he has less than 6 months to live. When confronted with that fact, he realizes that he has done nothing with his life, and begins a quest to achieve something before he dies. In the first half, he tries to find this fulfillment by going out on the town with a cynical young writer, and by hanging around with a very young fellow worker. And this is the section that really struggles. The pacing is very, very slow, and there is a great deal of time spent focusing exclusively on Shimura's face in a (mostly) failed attempt to portray his anguish. At the end of the first half, however, he finally discovers something really worthwhile to attempt: he will force the incredibly bureaucratic system in his town to construct a park on an old abandoned lot. At this point, Kurosawa really finds himself, and the second half is truly profound. The entire second section is told as a series of flashbacks at the old man's funeral. There, his family members and fellow workers finally realize what he was actually able to achieve before his death. It is amazingly powerful, and really captures the humanity of Shimura's character - something that was strangely lacking in the first half. The ending is bitter-sweet, because although Watanabe has truly redeemed himself in his own mind, and has become the hero of all the local townspeople, his sacrifice clearly has no lasting effects on his fellow co-workers. But a wonderful character study indeed. Visually, the film is nowhere near as interesting as Kurosawa's others. Although that may be partially the fault of the print itself. It is far too dark, and many of the cinematic details seem to have been lost. The final scene, however, is visually spectacular, and also probably the most emotionally powerful scene of all. So, although sections of the movie seem to misfire, Kurosawa definitely ties things up with a bang. One final note: in Japanese, Ikiru means "To Live." And it is a wonderfully fitting title. "I have less than a year to live. When I found that out, somehow I was drawn to you. Once when I was a child, I almost drowned. It's just like that feeling. Darkness everywhere, and nothing for me to hold onto, no matter how hard I try. There's just you." |
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