Film Review - Ikiru
Living, translated as "live", is a masterpiece of a great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. It 'very different from the samurai film, of which he is best known in the West, but is without doubt one of the greatest films ever committed to celluloid.
Produced in 1952, Ikiru tells the story of Kanji Watanabe (Takeshi Shimura), a public official who begins the film, discovers he has stomach cancer and only six months. His life was defined by his work, a soul-sucking monotony and inefficient bureaucracy. Kurosawa shows how inefficient bureaucracy is a funny scene early in the film, where a group of women asked the Public Relations Department to clear standing water in your neighborhood. They are released on public affairs to engineering, and then further down the bureaucracy, and finally end where they started, having accomplished nothing.
The situation of women in many ways parallels the life of Mr. Watanabe, who has dedicated himself fully to the bureaucracy. In fact, it has not missed a day's work for nearly 30 years, yet he realizes that he has achieved something. Watanabe son is ungrateful for the sacrifices his father made, though the film points out that his son has never asked for them. Mr. Watanabe's life is empty and sad, and only by the revelation that he is dying, he is able to really live for the first time.
Comes out at night in town, curious to a stranger who is willing to help him learn how to spend money. Young colleague who needs his seal, so it can go, knowing that will help him continue his journey. Watanabe, admires his zest for life - just looking at him for his "warm up" - and he wants more than anything else to understand how to live, why they do it before he died.
Takeshi Shimura, longtime collaborator of Kurosawa offers a nuanced and moving performance as Watanabe, far from his most famous role as Seven Samurai Kambei. In fact, Shimura is able to communicate effectively not only the pain of a physical, but emotional pain, and broken Watanabe transition from despair to hope for an objective sense is totally believable and captivating.
As expected of a master filmmaker like Kurosawa, the film is well shot, and the narration is flawless as the director cleverly uses a series of flashbacks to tell their story. The pace is very deliberate and heavy, but never boring.
Akira Kurosawa is definitely one of the greatest directors of film history, and he made many more films in his career. Many of these films was amazing in itself, but Ikiru, with its touching story and engaging and skillful storytelling that is truly his masterpiece.
Pictures/SnapShot :
Produced in 1952, Ikiru tells the story of Kanji Watanabe (Takeshi Shimura), a public official who begins the film, discovers he has stomach cancer and only six months. His life was defined by his work, a soul-sucking monotony and inefficient bureaucracy. Kurosawa shows how inefficient bureaucracy is a funny scene early in the film, where a group of women asked the Public Relations Department to clear standing water in your neighborhood. They are released on public affairs to engineering, and then further down the bureaucracy, and finally end where they started, having accomplished nothing.
The situation of women in many ways parallels the life of Mr. Watanabe, who has dedicated himself fully to the bureaucracy. In fact, it has not missed a day's work for nearly 30 years, yet he realizes that he has achieved something. Watanabe son is ungrateful for the sacrifices his father made, though the film points out that his son has never asked for them. Mr. Watanabe's life is empty and sad, and only by the revelation that he is dying, he is able to really live for the first time.
Comes out at night in town, curious to a stranger who is willing to help him learn how to spend money. Young colleague who needs his seal, so it can go, knowing that will help him continue his journey. Watanabe, admires his zest for life - just looking at him for his "warm up" - and he wants more than anything else to understand how to live, why they do it before he died.
Takeshi Shimura, longtime collaborator of Kurosawa offers a nuanced and moving performance as Watanabe, far from his most famous role as Seven Samurai Kambei. In fact, Shimura is able to communicate effectively not only the pain of a physical, but emotional pain, and broken Watanabe transition from despair to hope for an objective sense is totally believable and captivating.
As expected of a master filmmaker like Kurosawa, the film is well shot, and the narration is flawless as the director cleverly uses a series of flashbacks to tell their story. The pace is very deliberate and heavy, but never boring.
Akira Kurosawa is definitely one of the greatest directors of film history, and he made many more films in his career. Many of these films was amazing in itself, but Ikiru, with its touching story and engaging and skillful storytelling that is truly his masterpiece.
Pictures/SnapShot :
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