Ikiru

Ikiru (1952)

Runtime: 143 minutes

Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

Starring: Takashi Shimura, Shin'ichi Himori, Haruo Tanaka, Minoru Chiaki, Miki Odakiri

From: Toho

Last night I decided to view some “serious” cinema so I went off to the Criterion Channel and realized that even among Kurosawa's legendary filmography, this has been spotlighted as one of his best. As I know someone who has a different sort of issue with their belly, the possibility of this being an especially dour experience for me was possible with a plot that the lead has stomach cancer; much to my relief, the movie did not wallow in misery and in fact had its share of inspiring moments.

Narration in the opening-you only hear it a few times-informs the audience right away that Kanji Watanabe is ill and he won't be long for the world. Watanabe is a bureaucrat and one of the film's biggest themes is the futility and quagmire of bureaucracy. One line from the narration is that he “has not really been living for years” due to how pointless and drab his job is. Once he discovers what his illness is, he is in a stupor and runs across various characters who try to cheer him up or he enjoys being around them due to their vibrancy. Home life is an issue; the son and his wife live with Kanji yet they have a fractured relationship partially because of the job and partially due to other reasons that are explored in one of the film's few flashbacks. He is incredibly sympathetic even before his personal life is fully revealed.

A key aspect in the movie's excellence was the astounding performance of Takashi Shimura as Watanabe. I know him from other Kurosawa pictures and also some kaiju ones... I've never seen him better than he was here. His emoting was note-perfect in expressing the varying emotions he went through once realizing he won't be among the living for much longer. This includes anger/disappointment at realizing that too much of his life has been wasted, mired in pointless bureaucracy. He is involved in several incredible scenes that I dare not spoil; one is what I'll call “his version of a famous 21st century music video” and the other is the most famous image from this, often seen on posters... him on a swing. In context it is incredibly touching.

It is nearly impossible for me to determine which Kurosawa movie is “best”. One definitive statement I can declare: he created something special with this, a story that is more than just about death... there's also redemption among all the statements made about deteriorating family life in Japan, alienation, and all the issues surrounding local/state governments. With the flashbacks, this is told in a non entirely linear fashion; this allows for the audience to realize which characters deserve the most scorn. The film's title translates to “to live” in English and by the end the title's meaning will become crystal clear. The time for me to determine it deserves the highest possible rating: far shorter than that. Anyone who argues this is the best Kurosawa work he created, I would not disagree with their opinion. This and Bergman's Wild Strawberries could make one heck of a double feature.