Ikiru
- September 09, 2006
- 7 comments
I’ve been on a foreign film kick lately. I’m sick of the formulaic Hollywood crap that’s been coming out for the last several years. There’s hardly been any movie worth mentioning in that time. I decided to check out some foreign films from Netflix, and I haven’t been disappointed.
In the last several days, I’ve seen movies like Amelie, The City of Lost Children, Nowhere in Africa and Ikiru. With the exception of The City of Lost Children, all have been outstanding. I just finished watching Ikiru, and it’s been the most moving out of the group.
Ikiru is a Japanese film by Akira Kurosawa about an aging man, Kanji Watanabe, who’s had the same mundane, bureaucratic job for nearly 30 years. One day, he goes to the doctor and finds out he has terminal stomach cancer, giving him less than a year to live. Realizing that he’s done nothing with his life, he begins a trek to bring meaning to his life.
He tries partying around and wasting money in the busy city nightlife. At first, he enjoys the difference of it all, but realizes the pointlessness of it as well. In a packed nightclub, Kanji asks for an old love song to be played. Lots of young couples jump up and begin dancing, but stop one-by-one as Kanji sadly sings the lyrics.
“Life is brief, fall in love, maidens. Before the crimson bloom fades from your lips. Before the tides of passion cool within you. For those of you who know no tomorrow. Life is brief, fall in love, maidens. Before your raven tresses begin to fade. Before the flames in your hearts flicker and die. For those to whom today will never return.”
Kanji then tries to find the secret of life from a lively co-worker who is also sick of her job. He is attracted to her joy and love of life. On their last date, he becomes clingy though and begins to creep her out. While practically begging her for her “secret” to life, she reveals that her new job making toys for children gives her meaning. She feels like she’s playing “with every baby in Japan” by making them, and that brings her happiness. At first, Kanji is dejected, but in a turning point of the movie, he realizes there is something he can do at his job. While he is running out of the restaurant, a large party in the background is singing happy birthday to an arriving woman. It applies to Kanji though too, since it’s a birthday of a sort for him too. He’s finally discovered something meaningful he can do with the last part of his life. He sets out to help a community build a park for their children.
The last third of the movie jumps ahead in time to after the death of Kanji, and shows the city bureaucrats trying to steal the credit of the new park at Kanji’s funeral. Family members and coworkers try to figure out what made Kanji change his life all of the sudden. A police officer, who was the last one to see Kanji alive, comes in to pay his last respects and tells everyone about how he saw Kanji happily swinging in the park he helped build, singing the same song as in the nightclub. That scene was one of the best of the entire film, and one of the best in any film, in my opinion.
Eventually, they figure out he must’ve known about his cancer and his imminent death, and they vow to change their lives like Kanji. However, the next scene shows the coworkers going back to their same meaningless work.
Ikiru was made back in the early 50’s, but it’s timeless in its message. It ranks as one of my favorite films and definitely makes me want to see more foreign films.
I just don’t get it. Why can’t Hollywood come out with something this good anymore? They seem to have lost their desire to make great stories and only focus on making money now. Oh well. There’s a lot of great foreign films out there I still haven’t seen, so I’ll keep adding them to my Netflix queue.
Kelli
September 11, 2006
Hey did you find a BSF bible study to go to? I went to the young adults one tonight. It seems like it will be good, but now takes up my only free time during the week…anyway I was thinking today I havent seen you in awhile and we need to hang out soon(finding free time is the catch with school and work…)
Russ
Jay
September 21, 2006
I love Akira Kurosawa movies. The first I ever saw was “Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior.” I went to the Dobie Theater on the drag in Austin ( I wonder if it’s still around ) and sat with an audience who seemed to really respect the movie. After that I tried to see as many foreign films as I could. The U.T. film program was always bringing them to town and that was great because I saw them on the screen the way they were meant to be seen. Other good movies I saw there were “Jean De Florette” and its sequel “Manon des Sources” which first introduced me to Emmanuelle Beart, and “Le Dernier Combat” which first introduced me to Luc Besson and Jean Reno. One of my favorites I caught on video was “Kwaidan.” Check that one out. Eerie as hell.
I know what you mean about Hollywood movies being rather bland and cookie cutter. Don’t get me wrong, I like stuff like “Die Hard” and “Aliens” as much as the next guy, but every now and then, I like something to come out at me from left field, like “The Tin Drum.” One of the reasons, in my opinion, that Hollywood movies are so formulaic is that they cost so much to produce. They have to play it safe and stay with the common denominator. The Hollywood movies that do think outside the box usually get poor or indifferent reception. I’m thinking about great ones like “Apocalypse Now” and “Blade Runner.” Maybe with the new technology available to independent filmmakers we might be able to see something different more often. The only problem to overcome will be one of distribution. I’ve spoken with a couple of filmmakers here in Dallas and they seem pretty pissed that their movies languish on websites while Best Buy and other giant retailers have shelf space for “Playmate of The Apes” and “Shatter Dead.”
SuLin
March 11, 2007
Akira Kurosawa is a Legend. I have seen Ikiru – absolutely made my day. I was so happy. Just to name a few directors who have blew me away, I hope you guys are able to get access to any of their movies:
Jean Luc Godard: Alphaville; La Chinoise; Masculin and Feminin; I Vitelloni by Fedrico Fellini; All about my Mother by Pedro Almodovar; Wings of Desire; Texas by Wim Wenders; Strangers than Paradise by Jim Jarmusch just to name a few…
I’m to the point where I find it next to impossible to sit through the typical Hollywood film. I bet better than a third of all DVDs I’ve rented on Netflix in the past 3 years, were foreign. Most were good, some were bad, but the main thing is, they are different from the typical Hollywood offerings.