Ikiru (1952): Living

How tragic that man can never realize how beautiful life is until he is face to face with death.

what are the ingredients for a fulfilling life? 
what can I do to fill this void before it consumes me?

Kurosawa explores the grandness of life/legacy through its final chapters,
depicting mechanical life as a stifled clarity and death's promise as its catalyst
Ikiru confronts the purity of purpose through life's impermanence, 
breaking through the semantic haze of societal and systemic structures to deliver striking epiphany 

there's a sequence that really sticks with me, and it's where Kanji meets a novellist in a bar. He begs him to show him how to live, and the novellist acts as this authority of knowing life's grand purpose. He becomes like this Charon-like figure for the entire night, ferrying Kanji from bar to bar as they both indulge in the pleasures of nightlife. It's jovial and it's vibrant, Kanji laughs and he dances, and for a while it seems like it's helping.
But at the end of that night the novellist meets Kanji's gaze, and it's one of hollow sadness. And it's like he's overcome with this shameful sorrow; like he's realised that he's not shown Kanji anything profound at all, and that he's as lost as he is. 

Ikiru is dense and soulful, Kurosawa is a genius... he brings us like horse to water but it is up to us whether or not we choose to drink. We are weak creatures that bend to structure and inconsequential minutiae, we may reach epiphany but more often than not we fall back into the familiar rhythm of convenience and established practices. My heart breaks and I keep wondering if I'm living the way I should be or if I have become lost in the embelllishments... I hope I find my purpose before it's too late

How beautiful! Truly beautiful. A sunset. I don't think I've really looked at one in 30 years.

Originally posted on Letterboxd on 13 October 2024