Ikiru

Ikiru is the first Kurosawa film I've had the pleasure of; I was impressed by how much storytelling was visual and how seamlessly so. Kurosawa uses very little exposition considering how the film flits between different moments in time, trusting the viewer to keep up and this makes for a more satisfying narrative than other films of this period I've seen. I liked the streak of cruel irony that runs through Ikiru (or To Live) in how it takes a death sentence for the protagonist to start living and in the amusing, well constructed cycles of passing on responsibility that bookend the film. The only issue I had were that the melodrama of the bureaucrats bawling their eyes out during the wake grated a little - however, the historical revisionism that went on was very funny. The shot of Wantanabe-San on the swing is stunning and shot with the same dynamism that struck me about his night on the town. This along with the poignant final sequence left with me a feeling that despite the grubby hands that try to claim and tarnish Wantanabe's legacy, Kurosawa's message is a hopeful one - that even the most unlikely can change and transcend their past once they realise the precious nature of life. Just hope you do before it's too late. Left with a desire to explore both Kurosawa's filmography and more world cinema.