The IMDB Project - #246 Ikiru
A movie about death and life
Year: 1952
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Imdb rating: 7.9/10
The first subtitled foreign language movie in the list. I really don't mind foreign language films, in fact in some ways I think they make you concentrate on the story more. So I was looking forward to this one.
Kanji Wantanabe (Takashi Shimura) is a widowed bureaucrat working in the city centre public affairs department. He has worked everyday without a holiday for nearly 30 years when he discovers he has stomach cancer. Only when he's told he is going to die does he start to live. It takes a while to sink in until an encounter with a writer in a bar makes him think he wants to experience life for himself. That leaves him still wanting more so he tries a relationship with a young female colleague, however its not until Wantanbe realizes the secret to happiness in life may lie in the job he found so boring for all those years.
Kanji Wantanabe is a troubled soul after a hard life and this is portrayed with great emotion by Takashi Shimura. The pain of the realisation of his impending death and then the decision to make something out of his life a played perfectly by the Japanese actor.
Yes it's not a light hearted movie, however the film has all the appeal of 'It's a Wonderful Life', and in a weird way 'A Christmas Carol'. Most scenes are slow, long and drawn out but they fit perfectly with the charm and tranquillity of the film. Akira Kurosawa directs superbly and I will definitely be exploring more of his movies.
If you like films based on great stories, humanity and the bigger picture of life, death and relationships then this is for you. If you have a spare 2 hours 23mins then I suggest you watch this. It's deep but worth it.
Favourite scene: I won't spoil the film but one of the last scenes in the park is very emotional and perfectly shot.
Triva: The literal translation of Ikiru is "To Live".
Authors
Paul Cole - Paul Cole - Lost, Torchwood, Sci-fi, Dr Who and anything worth getting the Anorak on for
Steve Wollaston - Wookie-loving Star Wars fanatic with a love of all things Dharma and sci-fi. Our resident You-Tube trawler.
Daniel Smith - Would-be scientist who can't add up. Believes Sisko is the best captain and Ronald D Moore is some sort of god.
Scully - Roving geek, with interests ranging from comics and sci fi to genre shows you may not have heard of yet, via John Cena (guilty pleasure). She wants to believe Lost is going to end well, but people do consider her a skeptic...
Jaymeetee - Marty Mcfly loving film buff, on a mission to watch and review all of the imdb.com top 250 movies
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