Ikiru
17/01/2010
The first Akira Kurosawa movie I ever saw was Rashomon. It pretty much set my expectations for other Kurosawa movies – black and white, samurai, Toshiro Mifune, chaos, but really good. Different, complex, and made in the 1950s, no way! Too sophisticated for its time.
Then on some whim, we got Ran on DVD. Samurai movie, in colour, large sets, King Lear. I didn’t think any of the other Kurosawa films I saw after that topped it. Kagemusha was similar but lacking, especially after Rashomon. KF went through the whole 7 Samurai, Yojimbo, Red Beard phase, but I was so over samurai movies. Especially in black and white. That was years ago.
Lately we caught up with Kurosawa again, this time because they were available at the library. Nora Inu was again, pretty surprising. It was apparently the first Japanese detective-thriller type movie. Again, a really sophisticated movie, with characters that are well thought out and realistic. I liked it. Toshiro Mifune was splendid.
But my favourite of the lot is Ikiru. It was made in 1952, like classics of its kind, it is not just relevant still, it resonates with some sort of universal truth. It’s about living. And dying. And coming to terms with it.
There are seldom scenes that are so memorable that they stick with you outside the movie. Usually they’re pretty gross, like the Mr Blonde Stuck In the Middle with You ear scene. Or the Francis Ng – the world shouldn’t be like this scene in Infernal Affairs II.
In Ikiru, it’s a simple scene: Shimura Takashi is singing The Gondola Song. About how fleeting life and love is. It’s the scene that made the movie. And it’s a terribly good movie even if it rings a little too true to feel good.
