“I will be true to you. Whatever comes.”

— The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)

Clerks (Kevin Smith, 1994)

Dante was right. Empire is better.

Can’t stand this level of hilarity. The Pythons are gods.

Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)

‘Ikiru’ (Akira Kurosawa, 1952).

Kurosawa is forever associated with epic movie. For someone who knew him only by Seven Samurai, Rashomon and Yojimbo, I found Ikiru is rather surprising. It is much smaller movie in scale, slower in pace, yet still a very powerful one.

I suspect this movie was aimed for special crowd, not for the swashbuckling-samurai lovers, or those who only seeks fun and entertainment in cinema, but for those who love to hear (or read or watch) stories. The movie is unsettling to be watched: it is gloomy, bleak and rather depressing, the kind of movie that’ll break your heart because of its honesty. In all, Ikiru is a great movie by Kurosawa, if not his greatest.

Oh, and those opening narrations really sets the mood for entire film: a man try to live his life again before death greets him. Go watch the movie, I oblige you to.