A sentimental but sincere variation on the carpe diem theme by Akira Kurusawa. Beautifully filmed as I’ve come to expect from Kurusawa. I’ve noticed that his films I’ve seen so far all highlight western influences on Japanese culture in various ways. This time we have the western theme, a fairly western soundtrack, and a bureaucratic setting (though I don’t know for certain how much of Japan’s bureaucracy resulted from western influence). The story seemed a bit too cliche to me, but Kurusawa does put his twist on the theme at the end.
3 responses to “Movie: Ikiru (1952)”
Dennis & I saw this one a couple weeks ago. It was good, but quite sad! We also enjoyed the ending.
I don’t know if anyone reading this subscribes to Netflix, but I just saw one of the most amazing stories in “My Architect: A son’s journey”, which is available on Netflix. It’s a documentary about the architect Louis Kahn, and his illegitimate son who takes on the projcet of filming a search for his father’s up an down career and life. The final scene is a look at the most incredible arhictecture I’ve ever seen: the Bangladesh government complex of buildings that took 25 years to build.
Bob (artdobber)
I am indeed a Netflix subscriber – thanks for the tip!