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49.


Ikiru: 1952 (NR) -12

Japan / Toho
100%



This was one of the Kurosawa movies I watched after joining this site. Set in then contemporary times, Kurosawa proved to me he did not have to make a period piece to make a fantastic film. This is another film whose message really hit home for me. The film follows a bureaucrat who is not long for this world. And since he has spent 30 years at the same post in the same office and is estranged from his son, he questions what he has done with his life. He feels a big chunk of his life has passed him by, and facing his own mortality, he wants to find some kind of meaning to it. He tries many avenues, some of which are rather shallow, but concludes the best way to spend the rest of his time alive is to try and get a park made. A film that tries to tell the viewer to live life while you can, which is a message I am sure will get even stronger the closer I get to the grave. Kurosawa’s direction is fantastic and Takashi Shimura excels as the meek paper pusher. A beautiful film that once again knows how to play my heart strings.