March 31, 2009

To Live

Title: Ikiru
Year: 1952 (Japan), 1956 (US)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Writers: Shinobu Hashimoto, Akira Kurosawa & Hideo Oguni
Starring: Takashi Shimura, Shinichi Himori
Music: Fumio Hayasaka
Distinctions: formerly on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a man learns to live when he finds out he's dying
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), April 2008
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 7/10 (points off for dialog, pacing and cinematography) c. 2.8/4 (Good).

I wouldn't want to watch it again, but it was good. It's very long and feels longer. Looks like it was shot in the 20's. The dialog is okay, but nothing notable - possibly something lost in translation. The score's not used much, but there's a lot of great on-screen music.

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