I had trouble enough finishing the synopsis on the back of the box without tearing up, so when I finally ran through the movie, it straight up devastated me. Now, it is certainly true that the trailer for Billy Elliot also makes me break down like a child, but that shouldn't be taken as a slight against Kurosawa's movie about a dying man.
It's star, Takashi Shimura, also has one of the best faces in cinema. I've seen him in other movies before (actually, I've only seen him in Akira Kurosawa movies), though in none of those films was he its star. In Ikiru he's on screen most of the time and he's amazing. If there ever was a man that could put on a hang-dog look, I think it'd be Shimura. The dude knows how to look pitiful.
Sure the acting is a little off-- an unfortunate mix between the movie being from the 1950's and being Japanese-- but he (and his co-stars, many of which I recognize, again, from other Kurosawa movies) do an outstanding job. I'm fairly certain that Shimura could eat a bowl of soup on camera and I'd be tearing up. He's really got that well assembled of a face.
Seriously though, this movie will fucking break you.
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