Every time I see another one of Akira Kurosawa’s films, they just reinforce the fact that he is the greatest director to ever sit in the chair behind the camera. OK, I’ll admit I’m biased on this assessment, but considering his worst films are better than most directors’ best, it’s not far off. I recently watched his 1952 film, “Ikiru,” for the first time, thanks to a brilliant DVD release by the Criterion Collection.
“Ikiru” means literally “to live,” and that’s what this movie is all about. The story deals with a man named Watanabe (Takashi Shimura, “Seven Samurai”). He is the section chief of the public-affairs office.
His life is very mundane. He repeats the same actions and eats the same food every day. Then he learns he has an inoperable stomach cancer and has six months to live. He realizes how much he’s wasted his life and, with his time left, sets out on a mission to do something before he dies.
Unlike most movies that would jump right into this life-affirming mission, Watanabe doesn’t arrive at this realization until about an hour and 10 minutes into the movie. Instead, we see his emotional changes as he learns and comes to accept his fate. The movie then quickly shifts to his funeral, where the people in his life try to comprehend the motivation for his final actions.
This structure is similar to Citizen Kane, a movie to which it is often compared. However, at the time Kurosawa wrote and directed the movie, he had yet to see Citizen Kane. Clearly, brilliant minds think alike.
It is this two-part structure that propels us to care about the character that much more. We see his progression of acceptance and, through the characters who knew him, come to understand him as well. We feel the same admiration for Watanabe that the characters in the film feel. The movie is a clear representation of Kurosawa’s humanistic views.
Instead of trying to fix all the mistakes in his life that no one could fix, Watanabe searches for a goal that he can accomplish. Kurosawa is saying that people can change for the better when a challenge is put in front of them. Like the characters in the film, the viewer comes away feeling that he or she should look at life this way, as if there was no time left.
Takashi Shimura deserves so much credit for his understated and heart-felt performance. His reaction to the news of his cancer is truly believable. And his vain attempts to live it up in a superficial manner clearly don’t help him, thanks to this performance. For all the international acclaim Toshiro Mifune gets as the greatest Japanese actor to ever live, Shimura is every bit as much his equal. “Ikiru” displays this in spades.
Of course, this film is not for everyone because not all would sit through a 1950s American film, let alone a 1950s Japanese film. However, I urge everyone to look past subtitles, even if it is a rare occasion to do so. This film will not disappoint you, and only a person with a heart of stone could not be touched by it.
If you’ve never seen a Kurosawa film before, this is a good place to start, especially if samurai films are not your cup of tea, since this is his best non-samurai feature.
Like all his films, this is a masterpiece, one of the greatest pieces of filmmaking to ever grace the silver screen. So, on one of those nights the same Hollywood trash doesn’t seem too appealing, I recommend you rent this classic cinema gem.
