Red Beard1965
Both picked by Koji Yakusho in the Criterion Closet, both on Aki Kaurismäki’s Top 10, both directed by Akira Kurosawa, and both with commentary by Stephen Prince
- Criterion Collection
- Spine №221
- Commentary
- 1 track on the Channel player
Synopsis
One of the greatest achievements by Akira Kurosawa, IKIRU shows the director at his most compassionate—affirming life through an exploration of death. Takashi Shimura beautifully portrays Kanji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat with stomach cancer who is impelled to find meaning in his final days. Presented in a radically conceived twopart structure and shot with a perceptive, humanistic clarity of vision, IKIRU is a multifaceted look at what it means to be alive.
