Ikiru, 1952
Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) is a meek public servant who works at the head of the Public Affairs office, where he and his fellow workers participate in a merry-go-round of foisting projects onto other departments. But when Watanabe discovers he has terminal stomach cancer, he has a sudden crisis about the impact he has had in his life. Encountering callous behavior--including from his own son--Watanabe must decide how he will make his mark.
This film made me feel very deeply, and on a variety of levels. This is really a masterpiece from Kurosawa. And while I think that the mystery and action elements of
High and Low and
Seven Samurai keep them as my "favorites", I can easily see how someone would argue that this is Kurosawa's best film.
From an organizational/technical level, this film was just fantastic. There is a heart-wrenching (but also borderline darkly comedic) sequence in which a fellow patient at the doctor's office fills Watanabe in on what the doctors really mean when they say certain things. As the man rattles off symptoms--pain, reduced appetite, burping--we see from Watanabe's face (which the other man cannot see) that these are his symptoms. And just as the man in the waiting room predicts, the doctors tell Watanabe that he has a "stomach ulcer" and not to worry, choosing not to let him know about his illness even when he tells them he wants the truth. And structurally speaking, there is a really neat and bold choice when (sort of spoilers)
WARNING: spoilers below
the final 50 minutes of the film take place after Watanabe has passed away, and other characters are left to interpret and dissect his behaviors after the fact
the final 50 minutes of the film take place after Watanabe has passed away, and other characters are left to interpret and dissect his behaviors after the fact
. This is a really neat trick of the narrative, because it forces us into a different perspective.
The performances are, of course, excellent. I love Takashi Shimura and have always felt that he has a way of grounding a film with a character who feels truly three-dimensional. Watanabe is a sympathetic character, but he is a man in a horrible crisis and it isn't pretty. Watanabe has a look of misery and borderline-panic on his face for much of the film. He is afraid of dying, afraid of leaving behind no legacy except for a retirement bonus over which his son and daughter-in-law want to squabble. We see the unflattering side of this when Watanabe becomes overly dependent on a much younger coworker named Toyo (Miki Odagiri). Watanabe becomes desperate and intrusive (both physically and emotionally), and it is a lot for Toyo to handle. He wants to understand her joy for life, but his failure to communicate his situation to her creeps her out. I appreciated that the film acknowledged this. It isn't Toyo's job to do the emotional labor of helping her coworker through his end-of-life crisis, and especially not when she doesn't understand the scope of what is happening. I like that the film was honest about the bumps and scrapes of trying to work through such a fraught time. Going through a crisis can be ugly, and the film doesn't present Watanabe's journey as some smooth arc.
Thematically, I related strongly to this film. I have two jobs that are service type jobs--teaching and massage therapy--but I still often grapple with whether I am doing enough or making enough of a positive change in the world.
Ikiru shows a man confronting sch feelings, but it also takes the time to show the aftermath of his actions. The scenes in which other characters react to Watanabe's change in personality are almost as powerful as the scenes featuring him. Everyone wants to filer his behavior through their own lens of priorities and egocentrism. The staging of the final gathering is really excellent, especially the way that the blocking of the characters subtly changes as it progresses. I loved the on-point critique that sometimes people doing good will be met with suspicion or even derision from people who find being negative easier than making positive changes in their own life/behavior.
I guess my one "missing piece" was more of a final reflection from Watanabe. I think that you can infer a lot about it, I think that it might even be better for the narrative that we
don't get that, but it was what I wanted. It's something I will reflect on, especially if I rewatch the film.
A really, really excellent film. I have avoided it for a while because I was pretty sure that it would take a bit of an emotional toll on me. I wasn't wrong, but it's a beautiful kind of melancholy.
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