Movie Description
As Akira Kurosawa's I LIVE IN FEAR begins, Harada (Takashi Shimura), a soft-spoken dentist, is summoned during a hot summer day to his volunteer position at the Tokyo Family Court. He dutifully responds and arrives to hear a family dispute in a sweltering court room. However, the case is far from clear-cut; it involves Nakajima (Toshirô Mifune), a rich elderly industrialist who is utterly convinced that his family will only be safe from the threat of the nuclear bomb by moving to Brazil. His relatives (including his wife and various daughters, sons, mistresses, and illegitimate children) are almost unanimously opposed to his plan and aim to have him declared "incompetent," which would negate his authority over both the family and his company. Although the bullheaded Nakajima does come across as bitter and eccentric, Harada begins to empathize the curmudgeonly man and his almost paralyzing fear of the atomic bomb. When the judgment is finally made, it sets off a tragic series of events that will leave both Nakajima and Harada irrevocably changed.
Filmed less than a decade after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I LIVE IN FEAR, upon its Japanese release in 1955, tapped into a national and global mood of anxiety and apprehension. A drastic departure from Kurosawa's previous film, the highly successful and acclaimed SEVEN SAMURAI, this somber drama features the fiery 35-year-old Mifune transformed into a world-weary 70-year-old with only the benefit of minor make-up. His portrayal of the cantankerous Nakajima is utterly convincing and stands as one of his most remarkable performances. As always, Shimura plays an excellent counterpart to Mifune as the pensive doctor, torn by duty and his own conscience. Also known as RECORD OF A LIVING BEING, Kurosawa's bleak tale is a poignant story of humanity pushed to the breaking point by its own horrific inventions.
| Credits | | Cast: | Masao Shimizu, Minoru Chiaki |
Editorial Reviews
"Toshiro Mifune gives a virtuoso performance..."
Sight and Sound - Geoffrey Macnab (06/01/2005)
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