Ikiru

Seeing that he’s probably one of the most acclaimed directors, Kurosawa is a filmmaker who’s been on my watchlist since forever and I can I can confidently say, this one didn’t disappoint. It’s a film that basically states the essence of how sometimes we must face death to be able to fully live.  Sometimes when we live out our lives we don’t realize it’s not a fulfilling one. But once we reach the face of death and start to reflect over our lives, we have deeper self reflection and may be filled with regret of not fully living in freedom. So that lump in our throats knowing that death is inevitable makes us want to live to the fullest and not die with regrets. Ironically enough, at times we have to be scared so much at the concept of death and life dwindling to realize we need to live. Facing that time of nearing death, forces our minds to asses our lives at the end and ponder on whether we’ve really lived the life we wanted to. It’s a hard thing to reconcile with when you realize after all those years you haven’t, but that realization of time wasted makes us want to cherish every last breath even more.  However, it’s not always our fault that we forget to live which is another belief Kurosawa implies with this film. He shows how one of the other reasons we as people never get to live a fulfilling life is because of the world we are subjected to that’s dominant with tedious occupations to move the economy rather than enjoyable activities. I feel like often times we feel like these jobs that bring minimal enjoyment are the end all be all and the things that will keep the world afloat.Which to a large extent is true, but I feel like at times this business hustle and bustle of the world tends to stray us away from remembering to live a fulfilling life and settle down for some sort of happiness. This narrative shows that all throughout that character. 30 years and he’s never missed a day at work. At what point was he gonna realize he should maybe take a vacation to reward all his hard work over the years?  Putting the narrative aside, there’s also other reasons of what makes this film so special. Takashi Shimiru for one puts on a fantastic performance as the lead. In his portrayal you can just feel every ounce of regret and guilt in his character. He makes you understand the dire need in his character to live and feel something less dull than all the past years of his life he wasted. Also the screenplay by Akira is probably one of the best I’ve seen in film. Almost every corner of this movie has such profound lines about life and this concept of “To Live” that the whole film states. The screenplay establishes the character arcs and the concept of what it truly means to live to a tee. Everyone, I’ve officially experienced my first Kurosawa masterpiece.