A humble civil servant, learning that he is dying of cancer, discovers the meaning of existence - when one lives, one must live entirely. An elaborate and rigorous formal system of symmetrics and asymmetrics contained within the overall ‘rough-hewn geometry’ has been analysed by Noel Burch. The first two-thirds shows Watanabe’s actions, his own reactions to his approaching death. The last third ironically shows the reactions of others - their rejection of Watanabe and the meaning of his death. This sets up a complex interaction between emotional involvement and distanciation. Also available on 16mm, VH and LD.
Credits: Director, Akira Kurosawa ; writers, Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni ; photography, Asaichi Nakai ; music, Fumio Hayasaka.
Cast: Takashi Shimura, Miki Odagiri, Nobuo Kaneko, Kyoko Seki.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
F000051
Languages
English
Japanese
Subject categories
Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Japan - Social life and customs
Feature films → Feature films - Japan
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Death - Psychological aspects
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
35mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)