Ikiru

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Ikiru!

Original image located here. Accessed 1st August 2025

This is my 500th post on this blog so here's something that I've been saving for a special occasion. 

Much has been said about this movie already: One of Akira Kurosawa's most famous movies. Kurosawa at his most human. Takashi Shimura giving the performance of his career. The Japanese Its a Wonderful Life. So what can I add to the pile?

What is there to say? This is the story of a boring man who, upon diagnosed with a terminal illness, decides to make his remaining time count. And yet such a description doesn't do the film justice: It isn't predictable and it never once makes our protagonist pathetic or a punchline. And that is some remarkable restraint. 

Certainly this movie touched me on a deep level. As I'm getting older, I do ponder on my mortality and wonder if I will get everything I want to do done. Certainly, it's not the first time I've made such ponderings - I recall doing as many outstanding things as possible back in 1999 - but it still makes for an effective motivator. So there's something to be said about someone using his time to go from a  boring, meaningless life into finding something substantial. 
And there is something universal in that message. And seeing it shown in a movie like this is something else: Certainly there may some who would write this off as insincere but hey, who hasn't been confronted with thoughts on their own mortality?

Truly a magnificent movie. 

And as I close out this five hundredth post, I realise: Maybe there is still more to do...

Singin' in the Rain

 And this week's Friday night movie has been... Singin' in the Rain!

Original image located here. Accessed 23rd May 2025

Last year I watched quite a few musicals - more than I would regularly watch in a year (i.e. more than zero). So I may as well go the whole hog and go for the big one. Sure we all know the titular song but what of the movie attached to it?

Have you ever seen the kind of person who can enter a room full of people and, through a combination of personality and charisma, win over everyone in said room with little to no effort? That's what this movie is. The songs are catchy, the dancing sequences are insane, the humour hasn't aged at all, and exuberance just leaps out of the screen. 

Not much else to say except that it seems that this is an eternal classic for a damn good reason. 

High Noon

And this week's Friday night movie has been.....High Noon!

Original image located here. Accessed 3rd August 2018

"Do not for-sake me oh my Dar-lyn...."

Okay seriously this must be one of the most famous films ever made, let alone one of the most famous westerns. So there is a degree of intimidation that comes approaching it. Personally, i was impressed with this movie on three fronts: a) the whole thing is done in real time which is still remarkable over sixty years later, b) it has a degree of suspense that I haven't seen in any western prior and c) the final shootout still holds up, even with the passage of time and the whole 'one-man-army' trope that has been done a thousand times since.
Throw in some solid directing, Gary Cooper's performance (which snared him a well-deserved Oscar) and this is still an excellent movie.

Funny thing though: This movie is often regarded as a product of it's time: It was made during the era known as McCarthyism hence there are some themes tied to it within the movie itself. Personally I didn't really see it, so I think it;s safe to say that this is one of those rare movies that transcend the era they were made (treasure them folks for they are rare indeed). If anything, the idea of one person who is committed to doing the right thing even when everyone else is walking out on them is remarkably universal theme.
Even with the distance of sixty six years