An old man sat on a swing, the snow formed a blanket on his hunched back, his heart was warmer than ever. For the past 50 years he had rushed through life, and we all know bad things happen to those who hurry. They would look back and realize all the effort was for nothing. The man got disconnected with his only son, lost all his friends, and most importantly, forgot to admire the grossly incandescent sun. "Not enough time" was the excuse he used to give himself. "I have work to do! I must sweat and frown and sit at that same table every day for--"

For what?

That night on the swing, he had all the time in…

(NOTE 12/02/2019): This is not exactly my best writing - as I was only starting to develop my skills as a teenager with writing single paragraph-long reviews, but eventually I plan to write a more detailed review explaining why this is my favourite film of all time to take over this space. I will leave this old review up for keepsakes, but I will also include the new text to be visible first in the foreseeable future.

Before I begin, I would like to say that this is not going to be a proper review and I want you to keep the one person behind it in mind.

My name is Jaime Rebanal, and I am a hopeless individual who…

Once again I've seen why Kurosawa is constantly quoted by film buffs, modern directors, and lecturers as among their favorites. He is indeed a master of his craft.

This beautiful tale could have been so ordinary...really it SHOULD have been so ordinary. "Life is about living" is no longer a unique thought. You'd find quotes saying as much in dozens of modern popcorn flicks and Pinterest boards alike.

What Kurosawa has done here, though, is take a film that's premise is "What would you do with six months to live?" and instead asked the question "What makes a life worthwhile?" And surprise: The answer is not climbing Mt. Everest, or parasailing, or bungee jumping, or going from event to event…

Ikiru is a "loud" movie. Compared to other classics that deal with life and death, namely "Wild Strawberries" or "Ordet", Ikiru is less far atmospheric or philosophical than it is conventionally narrative, meaning other than several scenes where emotions outburst, it's a straightforward narration of a story without much emotional resonance.

Then, Ikiru is not solely about an old man's last days after being diagnosed with cancer. A even larger runtime of the movie is allocated to the out-loud accusations of the Japanese bureaucracy. Even at the old man's wake, the supposedly climax of the movie is superseded by each of the old man's colleague accusing their superior of being impotent, so much so you would be kind of glad…