Well You Do Have the Oscar On Your Side
"American Beauty" is indeed a beautiful, intense yet subtle movie. As such, its Best Picture and Best Actor and Best Director awards did represent something of a comment on the movie, especially when it beat out "The Insider" and Russell Crowe in a powerful indictment of the cigarette industry - perhaps there was some money passing beneath the scenes (we'll never know). I can't go so far to say that "American Beauty" is the best movie of all time, and most critics and most posters on this board would probably agree with me, but of course, it would be difficult for anyone to agree on THE best movie of all time. I have mine and it's not on anybody's list so far as I know - "Picnic at Hanging Rock."
IKIRU featuring Takashi Shimura
This Kurosawa masterpiece is being released again in a new print and most significantly, with a brand new english translation (the translations in both the vhs and the import dvd are atrocious). It has already screened in NYC, Boston and D.C. Mr. Shimura stars as a widowed bureaucrat (Kanji Watanabe) who learns he has only months to give consequence to his life. He played the benevolent leader of the SEVEN SAMURAI and the woodcutter in RASHOMON (who restores our faith in humanity by adopting the abandoned baby). Takashi Shimura appeared in almost 20 Kurosawa films but it's his Mr. Watanabe I'll remember most fondly.
IKIRU is a rich, muti-layered film that opens boldly with an x-ray of W's cancerous stomach. We join his journey of self-realization, after learning about his emotional estrangement from his family and the absurdity of his work. The latter is visualized in a parodic montage of citizens seeking government help, being shuttled from dept. to dept., and scenes of W and colleagues dwarfed by paper mountains.
So many memorable scenes. Toyo, a vivacious young woman agrees to one last outing. They sit in a restaurant. W is desperate for answers and jealous of Toyo's youth and energy. She suggests a new job. Eventually he realizes the answer lies within the current job and within himself. W's face lights up in close up. He gets up and gingerly walks down the stairs as a large group congregates atop the stairs singing "happy birthday". We get the impression they are singing to W, who has indeed experienced a rebirth, but then the birthday girl enters the frame going up the stairs and the illusion is broken.
There is a flashback of W running into a developer planning a commercial venture where W wants to build a park. The developer tries to intimadate W then turns around to show us a menacing scar on his cheek as he threatens to kill him. W is visibly amused by how insignificant the threat is to him now. Most won't forget the cop describing W as he rocks in the swing at night, gentle snow falling, singing softly to himself, content and realized. The camara approaches from the periphery, respectfully, as if afraid to break a spell.
IKIRU's second part is told in flashbacks and concerns primarily how his family and friends react to his transformation and his death. How they attempt to make sense of W's actions and what can be learned from them. The film's conclusion is quite complex, providing both optimistic and pessimistic outcomes. For instance, W is able to find meaning, to impact his society in a positive manner, to leave a legacy. I am convinced he dies "satisfied". On the other hand, the son will carry a heavy burden, and people(and institutions) will stubbornly resist needed change.
