Brian Hammons' thoughts on Ikiru

I rather liked this. I've seen at least ten Kurosawa films previously, mostly samurai stories, and while I was always fascinated by his aesthetic touch (a visual from Ran (1985) ran through my head the other day) I've never had any sort of deep, emotional resonance with his films. Ikiru is on many "best of all-time" film lists which was reason enough for me to have it on my radar, that being said I was glad to have the opportunity to view it afforded to me via my participation in this club.

Back to the idea of having a personal connection to the material, this story certainly appeals to the human condition, and ultimately asks us to grapple with our own questions of mortality, etc. What kind of decisions do we want to make, or digging deeper, what kind of impact would we like to leave behind? Both fascinating and patently deep, complex questions we may find ourselves grappling with one day.

In terms of sheer moviemaking thoughts, Takashi Shimura truly floored me with his performance as Kanji Watanabe. I actually found most of the acting in the film uniformly strong, but his portrayal of a dying man had such gravitas and depth that it clearly stood out. I know it'll be lodged taking up residence in my own head for a long time. Kurosawa directed with a confidence and assuredness that gives the film real weight. His use of transitioning between different points of time strengthened the tale.

If I were to come up with any negative things to say about it, there'd be very little I could come up with immediately. I would say I enjoyed the first two-thirds or so the most, the last act of all the other government officials getting drunk and reminiscing and philosophizing certainly had its point but after while started grinding for me. It did go to show, near the end, that faced with the same opportunity to do good, they couldn't muster the inner-strength and courage to break tradition and make a moral stand the way Watanabe had.

I just love the idea of this "mummy" cocooned in piles of paperwork for nearly thirty years wanting, if just for one day, to live life to its fullest and embrace every moment.