Ikiru aka To Live (1952)
Novelist: Misfortune teaches us the truth. Your cancer has opened your eyes to your own life. People are fickle and shallow. We only realize how beautiful life is when we face death. And even then, few of us realize it. The worst among us know nothing of life until they die.
Now and again, you come across the intangible - the vain attempt to express a movie experience that is too elusive to dissect or define.
I find myself doing this with Akira Kurosawa's
Ikiru. Starring Takashi Shimura as Kanji Watanabe. A minor bureaucrat that has shuffled papers and has done nothing but for the past thirty years. Only to learn that he has stomach cancer and won't live past six months.
The sadness, regret, and longing within Takashi Shimura's eyes and demeanor are of equal measure, heart-breaking, and beautifully endearing. A sad, lost, and lonely man having stumbled aimlessly through life. Is now hit with the realization that it all is about to end.
In the skillful hands of Kurosawa and his deep understanding of and the ability to illustrate the human condition with a sublime accuracy, we not only delve into the older man's emotional process but of those in his life and at work who are clueless to his approaching death.
An aspect that plays out in the final act as his coworkers' piece certain bits of the puzzle of Kanji Watanabe's recent actions at his funeral.
There is so much to say, and yet, much like Kanji, I am unable to express anything regarding the profound effect, appreciation, and humble joy I have experienced. Not to mention just how much this not only lived up to my expectations but surpassed them as would a Kurosawa film. The impact of the film continues to resonate within me and most likely will for some time.
Beautifully sad, deeply inspiring, sans any fluff of any kind.
THANK YOU, Cosmic!!!