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context: movies > some films
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Takashi Shimura in Ikiru |
Ikiru
1952. Director: Akira Kurosawa. Starring: Takashi Shimura.
This, Kurosawa's film before Seven Samurai, could hardly be more different, yet it shares five cast members (that I spotted), and is perhaps as wondrous a film. It's a tale of a boring old council clerk who learns that he has terminal cancer and sets out to change his life. It's genuinely funny, and as deeply moving a film as I have ever seen. The film breaks into two halves in one stunning moment, and the rest is one scene (plus flashbacks and a short coda), a scene that is written and orchestrated with astonishing skill and care, building up a compelling and touching portrait of the protagonist. I can't imagine anyone not at least having to choke back some tears in the final moments. Takashi Shimura is wonderful in this, and oddly, despite his death in this and his survival in Seven Samurai, this is a far happier ending for him, a triumph to set against the self-proclaimed defeat, despite his survival, in that next role.