Some people consider "Ikiru" ("To Live") as the greatest movie that Japanese director Akira Kurosawa ever made. And remember, this is the same man who also directed acclaimed masterworks such as "Ran," "Kagemusha," "Seven Samurai," "Yojimbo," and "Rashomon." Many of Kurosawa's movies also touched on a human level amongst their scenes of gritty, visceral violence and the brilliance of "Ikiru" is that its emotional levels outscore all of those without one clip of actual, physical barbarism unless you count a death threat scene near the end of the picture.
No swords are swung, no blood is sprayed in "Ikiru" because this is not a period piece like "Seven Samurai" or "Kagemusha." Set in modern-day Japan, a middle-aged bureaucrat discovers despite his doctor's attempts to hide the truth from him, that he has stomach cancer in that he will die in six months...or less. The bureaucrat, Kanji Watanabe, played by the great Takashi Shimura in what may be his finest performance, mourns over the lack of a real life that he has had so far. At work, one of his unenthusiastic employees calls him "the mummy" because he does live life to its fullest. He has spent his entire life stamping sheets of paper without bonding with his son or enjoying the time he has on earth. As the title would hit, Watanabe decides that he has "to live" before he inevitably dies, and leave something for him to be remembered by.
The ways that Akira Kurosawa tugs on our heart strings is utterly brilliant. The level of sympathy that our souls generate for poor Watanabe is simply amazing as even the younger generations can identify with his fears. I don't think there's a person alive on this earth who is not at least subliminally afraid of the dreadful disease of cancer and the even greater fear of knowing that you only have a short time left to live. Like John Wayne's last film "The Shootist," we develop incredible amounts of sympathy and remorse for the protagonist and the tender moments are truly tear-jerking.
Kurosawa's storytelling skills are displayed to their absolute fullest in the first two-thirds of "Ikiru" when Watanabe discovers he has cancer and then begins to encompass all opportunities that he has left to him. There's a wonderful subplot where he begins to bond with a younger woman who has an unbelievable passion for living. Now this sounds like a formula for a creepy, off-putting payoff, but it does not. Rather, this becomes one of the most enthralling elements of the picture.
Now, I will admit it, "Ikiru" is not, to my mind, a perfect motion picture and therefore it is not on the same level (to me) as some of Kurosawa's other films. The reason why is because the last third of the picture, I'm terribly sorry to say, runs out of steam. It does not stretch out with the same passion and enthralling emotions that the previous two-thirds did. Perhaps it just did not flow through the way I had wanted it to.
But then again, I am still rather young. Film critic Roger Ebert has stated that "Ikiru" was his choice for Kurosawa's best film and that every time he saw it, it became more powerful for him because as he grew older, he identified more and more with Kanji Watanabe. I shall undoubtedly come to cherish and adore "Ikiru" as I grow older. As it is now, in my youth, I see it as a wonderful movie that does a tremendous job up to a certain point where it only runs slow just by a smidgen. Everything before that is absolutely wonderful and absorbing. "Ikiru" is one of Kurosawa's most emotionally-strong pictures and one of the greatest to tackle the subjects of cancer and more importantly, life and death.
No swords are swung, no blood is sprayed in "Ikiru" because this is not a period piece like "Seven Samurai" or "Kagemusha." Set in modern-day Japan, a middle-aged bureaucrat discovers despite his doctor's attempts to hide the truth from him, that he has stomach cancer in that he will die in six months...or less. The bureaucrat, Kanji Watanabe, played by the great Takashi Shimura in what may be his finest performance, mourns over the lack of a real life that he has had so far. At work, one of his unenthusiastic employees calls him "the mummy" because he does live life to its fullest. He has spent his entire life stamping sheets of paper without bonding with his son or enjoying the time he has on earth. As the title would hit, Watanabe decides that he has "to live" before he inevitably dies, and leave something for him to be remembered by.
The ways that Akira Kurosawa tugs on our heart strings is utterly brilliant. The level of sympathy that our souls generate for poor Watanabe is simply amazing as even the younger generations can identify with his fears. I don't think there's a person alive on this earth who is not at least subliminally afraid of the dreadful disease of cancer and the even greater fear of knowing that you only have a short time left to live. Like John Wayne's last film "The Shootist," we develop incredible amounts of sympathy and remorse for the protagonist and the tender moments are truly tear-jerking.
Kurosawa's storytelling skills are displayed to their absolute fullest in the first two-thirds of "Ikiru" when Watanabe discovers he has cancer and then begins to encompass all opportunities that he has left to him. There's a wonderful subplot where he begins to bond with a younger woman who has an unbelievable passion for living. Now this sounds like a formula for a creepy, off-putting payoff, but it does not. Rather, this becomes one of the most enthralling elements of the picture.
Now, I will admit it, "Ikiru" is not, to my mind, a perfect motion picture and therefore it is not on the same level (to me) as some of Kurosawa's other films. The reason why is because the last third of the picture, I'm terribly sorry to say, runs out of steam. It does not stretch out with the same passion and enthralling emotions that the previous two-thirds did. Perhaps it just did not flow through the way I had wanted it to.
But then again, I am still rather young. Film critic Roger Ebert has stated that "Ikiru" was his choice for Kurosawa's best film and that every time he saw it, it became more powerful for him because as he grew older, he identified more and more with Kanji Watanabe. I shall undoubtedly come to cherish and adore "Ikiru" as I grow older. As it is now, in my youth, I see it as a wonderful movie that does a tremendous job up to a certain point where it only runs slow just by a smidgen. Everything before that is absolutely wonderful and absorbing. "Ikiru" is one of Kurosawa's most emotionally-strong pictures and one of the greatest to tackle the subjects of cancer and more importantly, life and death.