My picks for the weekend...Ikiru
So I mentioned last week how I've been falling asleep every time I start watching Ikiru. Well, it happened again this wkd. 15 minutes in and I was out. Fortunately, I woke up, rewinded it, forced myself to stay up, and made it through the entire movie. Now the bad news is, I should've remained asleep. I didn't like it at all. Without giving away spoilers, here's the gist of the story. It takes place in post WWII Japan. A man who has worked the past 30 years of his life in City Hall finds out one day he has cancer. This makes him realize what a waste his past 30 years have been. He's been living the life of a robot. Goes to work, pushes papers, goes home. So he wants to do something meaningful before he passes on. I totally get that. That plot is what made me want to watch this movie. (That and the fact that it has a near perfect rating on Amazon out of 120 reviews.) But it just didn't live up to the hype. A movie with a somewhat similar plot (life/death/old age) is Cherry Blossoms, which I absolutely loved and highly recommend.
Throughout Ikiru, I just didn't care for the main character. He annoyed me, especially since he mumbles so much. I'll give the movie another try in a few months, but this initial viewing turned me off. In Japanese w/ subtitles. Streamable on Netflix.
Vengo
I'm not sure I "got" this movie. It's about two families in Spain who hate each other. But the majority of the movie (which is pretty short) is about one family and their daily routine. They wake up, plan dinner, go to a restaurant, feast on paella, sangria, and wine, and listen to a live flamenco performance. Repeat that for one hour and you have the movie. That said, the flamenco performances are great. (They're about 5 minutes long.) So if you love flamenco, this is a must-see. Just don't think of it as a "movie." It's just a long "flamenco" performance w/ some actors thrown in.
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