Toshiro Mifune lives in fear in Kurosawa classic
I LIVE IN FEAR (IKIMONO NO KIROKU) (Akira Kurosawa, 1955)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Thursday, January 21, 1:00, 3:45, 5:30, 7:45, 10:00
212-727-8110
www.filmforum.org
Akira Kurosawa’s powerful psychological drama begins with a jazzy score over shots of a bustling Japanese city, people anxiously hurrying through as a Theremin joins the fray. But this is no Hollywood film noir or low-budget frightfest; Kurosawa’s daring film is about the end of old Japanese society as the threat of nuclear destruction hovers over everyone. A completely unrecognizable Toshiro Mifune stars as Nakajima, an iron foundry owner who wants to move his large family — including his two mistresses — to Brazil, which he believes to be the only safe place on the planet where he can survive the H bomb. His immediate family, concerned more about the old man’s money than anything else, takes him to court to have him declared incompetent; there he meets a dentist (the always excellent Takashi Shimura) who also mediates such problems — and fears that Nakajima might be the sanest one of all.