Movielogr
I Live in Fear (1955)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Twitter Facebook Google+Overview
Kiichi Nakajima, an elderly foundry owner, is convinced that Japan will be affected by an imminent nuclear war, and resolves to move his family to safety in Brazil. His family decides to have him ruled incompetent and Dr. Harada, a Domestic Court counselor, attempts to arbitrate.
Length 103 minutes
Actors
Toshirō Mifune | Takashi Shimura | Minoru Chiaki | Masao Shimizu | Eiko Miyoshi | Kyôko Aoyama | Haruko Tôgô | Noriko Sengoku | Akemi Negishi | Hiroshi Tachikawa | Kichijirô Ueda | Eijirô Tôno | Yutaka Sada | Kamatari Fujiwara | Ken Mitsuda | Atsushi Watanabe | Kiyomi Mizunoya | Gen Shimizu | Toranosuke Ogawa | Nobuo Nakamura | Bokuzen Hidari | Yoshio Tsuchiya | Akira Tani | Kokuten Kôdô | Noriko Honma | Kazuo Katô | Yoshiko Miyata | Toyoko Okubo | Saoko Yonemura | Gorô Sakurai | Senkichi Ômura | Haruo Nakajima | Takuzô Kumagai
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02/03/2013 | TV | DVD | Library | 7.5 stars |
| (Average) 7.5 stars |
Viewing Notes
Had another Kurosawa film finally arrive from the library that I ordered back when I was doing my mini AK project, one his post-war films from the Eclipse collection. If you want to see a stellar Mifune performance (well, he’s rarely not stellar) then this is a must watch. Just in the opening scene when I identified him as the elderly father I laughed out loud. He’s literally playing a man 30+ years his age, a grandfather character w/his hair gray and wearing a fat suit under his clothes. Mifune twists his face into a permanent grimace and hobbles around in constant disagreement w/his family about his plans to evacuate Tokyo for green pastures of Brazil because he fears the H-Bomb.
The story is wildly simple and yet once born from the climate at the time yet Kurosawa is the master in making it so compelling. Helps that he has his stalwart leads with Takashi Shimura and Mifune to layer on the emotion and give it gravity. What I also love here his the demonstration of AK’s range once again and general framing and tracking. The shots are so well composed. The camera pauses at the right moments to capture the feelings just right.
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