Review of Ikiru (1952) by Tal G — 08 Apr 2018

Fascinating film.

I was really surprised that the issue this film tackles is the same one that is still plaguing Japan to this day. I suppose it's that deeply rooted.

This film explored a wide range of issues very well. Weaved them all together. Life's worth, death, family relations, life-work balance, and even fucking criticisms of bureaucracy, government, and Japanese culture as a whole. All tightly told in this one guy's tragic story.

It was technically very impressive. A whole lot of insanely creative shots. Extremely impressive cinematography and framing. Scene arrangements. All so organic, working naturally well. The sound was also pretty impressive, since I was expecting the sound department to be a bit lacking because of the movie's age. The acting was mostly very fitting, surprisingly realistic and true to actual human behavior. The film was edited in a style that actually felt recent. A lot of energetic cuts.

The story itself was also really well told. From directly engaging the audience, to changing up the pace of the movie, to shifting from linear storytelling to nonlinear flashes forwards and backwards. It was all very surprising. I didn't expect to see such intricacy.

Overall this was a very impressive and eye-opening experience. I enjoyed it a whole lot more than I thought I would.