Movie Review: Ikiru

Ikiru - You all know that I'm a big fan of movies. And that I llove great movies, especially ones that move me in some way. Well, folks, I'm here to tell you that there is a new movie in my top five, and that movie is Akira Kurosawa's brilliant Ikiru ("To Live"). It's the story of a man who's never really lived who is about to die. Roger Ebert call it "one of the few movies that might actually be able to inspire someone to lead their life a little differently" and I have to agree with that to a degree. I don't think that it's a life-changing movie for everyone who goes to see it, but it will be instantly inspiring to someone at the right point in their life. I don't know if I'm at that point or not, but it did have and effect on me and the effect has grown in the last 16 hours since I've seen it. It's not available on an official dvd in the USA, but i just bought the Hong Kong release of the movie (not region encoded, but said to be "official") on eBay. Even a crappy dvd is worth it for this film. The movie also inspired the icon that I'm using for this post, which is from a scene in the movie. Joey gives Ikiru the official JoeyHemlock Amazing Movie Seal of Excellence™ and declares is to be one of his favorite films of all-time.