Saturday night, Ikiru was the Movie of the Month @ Gary's for February. The doomed Watanabe, who has dutifully worked everyday for 30 years, gets the news from his chain smoking doctor that he has stomach cancer and decides he needs to do something, he just doesn't know what.
He has 2 Tour Guides to help him out.
Tour Guide #1 is a journalist who looks like a Toulouse-Lautrec-ish character; he is clearly Akira's homage to Toulouse-Lautrec's paintings of Aristide Bruant. He volunteers to be Watanabe's Mephistopheles to the netherworld of bars, booze, and broads. Watanabe's hat is stolen but is replaced with a much nicer one. These bar scenes are very densely packed with artfully arranged dancing. I will have to check this out again on the library copy.
Guide #2 is Miss Toyo Odagiri, his co-worker who has come to check on him. She is so pretty and full of life. She is leaving for another job and wants to make sure she tells him goodbye. She made him the butt of several jokes at work for eating the same thing for lunch everyday and never missing a day of work. Her nickname for him was Mummy. Watanabe takes her out to dine, amusement parks, and shopping. He buys her a much needed, but expensive pair of stockings to replace her worn out pair. At their last dining excursion, he picks up a cheap mechanical rabbit the girl makes at her new assembly-line job, and decides that life must be made meaningful in the time left.
Journalist:
Toulouse-Lautrec's painting of Aristide Bruant:
Joe and Brian from the Indy Film Buffs hosted their second annual Oscar Party Sunday night. I knew when I got out of the car and saw the smartly arranged, high tech cooking ware sitting in the front window, I was in for a trip to Yumstreatville. The food was fab! Everyone gets into the red carpet best dressed chick stuff. Again this year - my top 2 picks were Michelle Williams and Gwyneth Paltrow. Milla Jovovich was jaw droppingly elegant. Nick Nolte was unrecognizable.
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