Kurosawa's Ikiru is a story of a man (Wanatabe) dying
of cancer trying to reclaim his life in his remaining
days.  The film contains technical elements that reminds
me of the various elements in Fellini films and "It's a
Wonderful Life" and Kurossawa's later film "Ran".  While 
watching it, I kept thinking that this is Capra with 
depth and Fellini with a soul.
 
As soon as Wanatabe realized his condition, he decided
to experience life one more time before his death.  He
started drinking and asked a writer he encountered in a bar
to show him the life he had been missing for the last
twenty-five years.  With that we entered the decadent and
self-indulgent world of Fellini.

The first half contains scenes that are straight
from "La Dolce Vita", but are done with taste and
restraint.  Moreover, they are there to serve a purpose--
to build up to the moment when Wanatabe sings his
"Life is short, dear Maiden.  Fall in love..."   At this point
Wanatabe made the discovery that all is empty and shallow in
this world.  In fact, the world of the writer (who jokingly
calls himself, Mephistopheles) was hell.  When morning
came, Wanatabe was hollow and miserable as ever.

As in "It's a Wonderful Life", Watanabe had his own
guardian angel in the form of the young
coworker.  She was ill equipped to handle
the formidable task of giving direction to a dying
man who had been lost for longer than she had lived.
Fortunately, Watanabe was a much older and wiser
man than his Jimmy Stuart counter part.  All he
needed was an insight in the right direction.
This the girl provided, not in the form of wisdom
but in the form of her innocent ideal and vision.
The final encounter of the two was one of the
greatest cinematic moments.  It began with a static
scene where Watanabe and the girl sat in a
Chucky Cheese style restaurant in silence.  In the
background, the restaurant staff was preparing a birthday
party and bright youthful marching music was coming
through, but the girl sensed a gravely troubled man.
Wanatabe began to tell the story of his life and the
tension gradually mounted as the music grew and grew.
Finally Wanatabe asked for directions for the short
remaining days of his life.  We saw the girl was
afraid and we feared for her.  How could anyone offer
advice to a dying man who was three times one's own age?

But Wanatabe's instinct was correct.  She offered him
exactly the wisdom he lacked.  After a few brief moments
of intense contemplation, Wanatabe reached his moment
of enlightenment and the background music exploded into
a thunderous "Happy Birthday to You!"
 
When I was watching the film on tape, I kept rewinding
and repeating this part.  On the fourth repeat,
my eyes got misty.  In Asian fables, it is usually
the old who offers wisdom and insights to the young 
who has lost his way.  Here it is the opposite.  
Wanatabe lost his life a long time ago and his innocent 
guardian angel helps him to regain it back.
 
The film is not without weakness.  The sobbing fest
among Wanatabe's coworkers should be cut short.  Instead
of letting those clowns diminishing the mood of the film,
they should simply end the film with Wanatabe sitting
on the swing (which is another moment that made my
eyes misty).  There is too much of this Confucius
philosophy/lecturing of what a good bureaucrat should be.

In the final analysis, Ikiru is an optimistic film
with an inspiring message even though the mood of
the film is intensely somber.  It invites us to 
exam and re-exam our lives and offers a way and hope 
for the dying that is all of us--not in the form of 
our own salvation, but how to help others achieving 
theirs and our salvation comes as a result of this
giving not the purpose.

Eugene Xia