Ikiru

at first i was only going to give ikiru a 4½, i still thought it was great but just not 10/10 worthy. but after the credits rolled, and i went to write a review, i found myself not writing anything i thought was good enough for the movie. so, i decided to just sit for a bit and think about the movie itself. but the more i thought, the more i realised that it was really, really great, and it actually provided a strong emotional reaction out of me. and so, i think for that reason alone, i have to bump it up ½ a star.
first, i obviously have to talk about takashi shimura's all-timer performance, made better by the fact he is one of my favourite actors. never have i seen a man look so terrified, so utterly scared on film. every smile, every stare, every rendition of life is brief, it was all done to perfection and elevated by akira kurosawa's masterful directing.
and although he didn't write the screenplay by himself, ikiru would not be what it is today without his signature kurosawa flare, style, atmosphere, whatever you want to call it. i've never seen anything like it, and i think that really speaks to just how good of a director he is. the blocking was cinematic; the beautiful black & white cinematography was gorgeous, and the heartfelt editing & story structure makes ikiru a certified tearjerker in anyone's book.
the initial reason i was going to rate it a 4½ was because i felt there was a slight lull around 3/4 of the way through the movie, the same problem i had with seven samurai. i felt the funeral scene was just going a bit too slow, and even the surprisingly good supporting cast couldn't save it.
but that doesn't stop the movie from being the monumental classic that it is, and even though the movie is 2½ hours long it made me feel so many emotions that it flew by like an hour.