‘I can’t afford to hate people. I don’t have that kind of time...’
Akira Kurosawa is not a household name outside of cinematic circles. Even many self-professed film fans probably haven’t heard of him. His influence spreads far and wide, however, something confirmed that his six films in the IMDB top #250 (Yojimbo, Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Ran, High and Low and Ikiru) are bettered only by Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick and Christopher Nolan. Ikiru was the last one on that particular list for me, and while I’ve found Kurosawa’s work to be hard going at times, I found Ikiru to be perhaps his most accessible work of all…
Following a diagnosis of terminal bowel cancer, civil servant Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) realises that he has wasted his life and so dedicates his remaining days to living life to the full. Inevitably, there are shades of both It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol about Kurosawa’s film, but Ikiru is very much its own thing. There are no supernatural elements for a start.
Shimura was a regular Kurosawa collaborator, having been one of the seven samurai, and it’s easy to see why. He brings a quiet dignity to the role of Watanabe, whilst still ensuring that the emotional scenes pack a punch. The middle section of the film which sees Watanabe form a friendship with his vivacious co-worker Toyo (Miki Odagiri) is some of Kurosawa’s most affecting work, and it is in these moments that Ikiru truly shines. Unfortunately, the third act, concerning Watanabe’s efforts to build a public park before he dies, drags on for way too long, but then it wouldn’t be a Kurosawa film without lengthy philosophical conversations between characters we hardly know.
Now that I’m at the end of Kurosawa’s six classics, I can take a more holistic view of the whole enterprise, and I would argue that Ikiru is probably the best starting point for anyone attempting to find a way into a body of work that can feel intimidatingly dense. A worthy venture for any budding film experts out there.