This is my final paper in the Great Novels on Film course that I took in the Winter/Spring of 2015. I discuss that while Linda Costanzo Cahir applies Akira Kurosawa'a film Ikiru directly to one of her points in a rubric of what makes a successful book to film translation, she fails to identify that it also applies to another one of her points in her rubric. I have included a video that contains a portion of the film. The sequence that I look at begins around the 43 minute mark and ends about the 57th minute.
In Linda Costanzo Cahir’s book Literature Into Film: theory and Practical Approaches she outlines a four point rubric for the evaluation of a successful book to film translation. The third point of the rubric states " The film must demonstrate an audacity to create a work that stands as a world apart, that exploits the literature in such a way that a self-reliant, but related, aesthetic offspring is born." In her explanation of this point in her rubric she specifically discusses Akira Kurosawa’s film Ikiru because of its radical translation of Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych. Her main point is that even though Ikiru is so different from the novel it still maintains the core themes but in a much different way. She discusses how the similarities and differences between the two and even how those differences connect with the novel while creating an independent piece of work. But what she fails to mention is what Kurosawa specifically does to bring about this collaboration of similarities and differences. I believe that it is important to point out that the second point in her rubric, “The film must exhibit a collaboration of filmmaking skills”, is paramount in creating this new offspring from the novel. Especially when you see how different Ivan Ilych and Kanji Watanabe search for their personal meaning in life.
In the novel, Ivan Ilych pursues his search for personal meaning in life through a passive approach of internal thought and self reflection. His revelation of a wasted life is not achieved until the very end of the novel while he is very close to death. His revelation comes too late for him to do anything concretely significant to remedy it. In the end, his passive approach does lead to an ambiguous level of peace, but only as death overtakes him. In Ikiru, Kanji Watanabe initially takes a passive approach by wallowing in a depressive state in a bar drinking his sorrows away. Similarly to Ilych, Watanabe comes to the realization that his life has been wasted. Fortunately for him, he makes this discovery early on in his journey towards death and is able to pursue his personal meaning of life in a more actively aggressive way. His first attempt is by spending a night on the town with a young Novelist who wants to help him discover a new life.
Akira Kurosawa utilizes his masterful collaborative filmmaking skills to illustrate how this new way of life was not the right one for Watanabe. The scene begins with an extreme closeup of a gaming machine. The light exuberant sounds emanating from it contrasts with the depressive dark mood of Watanabe. The next shot is a tight medium close up of Watanabe and the Novelist, the tightness of the shot portraying Watanabe’s isolation in his new environment. The Novelist explains the meaning of the gaming machine to Watanabe’s situation in life by saying, “Listen, these silver balls, they’re you. They’re your life itself. This machine liberates people who strangle themselves in their daily lives. A vending machine of dreams and infatuations.” These words are interesting because they describe Watanabe so well in that moment, he is searching for a way out of his rigid life that has been strangling him without him even knowing. He craves a new life dream, an infatuation to give his life new meaning. Also, it is no coincidence that the Novelist then pours money into his hands and gestures towards the machine. It leads to a question, are money and games a new avenue of life that Watanabe wants to pursue? The camera then dollys back and to the left as Watanabe and the Novelist move towards the machine. The new camera angle makes the mise en scene more significant. A viewer can now see that there are other people in the background at other machines. Also, a new man comes into frame, using the machine next to Watanabe; his machine is making the same happy noise as others. Watanabe looks over at this man and wants to experience what he is experiencing. He proceeds to then insert money in his machine with a smile of hope that he is finding some new joy in his life. The next shot is the same as the opening shot of the scene except we now see the machine operating from an over the shoulder camera angle of Watanabe and the Novelist. The difference is that now it is not an extreme close up but a wider shot that shows Watanabe in the frame, signifying that he has now begun to immerse himself in this new life.
The next two scenes in the sequence are connected because they both show that Watanabe has entered a different world than he is used to. The first scene is very short but shows a lot visually. It is a wide angle camera shot of Watanabe and the Novelist sitting at a table drinking, but they are along a large mirror that reflects the room. The mise en scene shows the room is filled with people talking, drinking, and yelling. Then, unbeknownst to Watanabe a couple of trombones enter the frame and the sound they make frightens him so that he gets up from his seat and looks in surprise terror offscreen in the direction of musicians. Despite the noisy and crowded room, Watanabe is still able to sit alone with his new friend and have a drink and share a conversation. He seems to be having a nice time, but Kurosawa uses the loud protruding noise of the band to eviscerate any comfort. The look on his face is that of a frightened man who is not prepared for the unpredictability that this nightlife has. The next scene begins with a tracking shot panning from left to right of Watanabe and the Novelist as they are making their way through crowds of people. As they are walking, they are being constantly bumped by people into fences and store fronts creating a hostile environment that culminates in a woman stealing Watanabe’s hate. Upon the theft of his hat, Watanabe wants to chase the woman and retrieve it, but is stopped by the Novelist and then pushed by a woman in to what looks like a fence made of chicken wire. The shot is a close up of the two men who are now pressed up against the fence which takes up the whole frame, signifying that even in this new life Watanabe is trapped, That point is further emphasized in the next shot when they move from their previous location to stand in front of a store window that gives the appearance of them being trapped behind bars. The shot is an even tighter close up than the previous one, perhaps signifying an even further confinement.
The next four moments within the sequence are all connected because this is when Watanabe gets his new hat that is supposed to symbolize his beginning a new life. After the wipe scene transition, there is a camera pan from right to left as Watanabe and the Novelist leave a store, cross a street, stop while the Novelist inspects the new hat, and then continues to pan as they enter a bar. The camera is perfectly situated where Kurosawa can get all the shots he needs without having to movie the camera or edit. They sit down and order a drink from the woman behind the bar and everything is fine until Watanabe removes his hat and the woman goes to put it away. After having his previous hat stolen he forcefully grabs it from the woman and holds it close. The awkwardness of the situation leads he novelist to laugh because he understands Watanabe’s actions. In context the situation is ironically funny, but it also shows that Watanabe is trying to adapt to his new life. He has already seen his hat stolen once and does not want that to see that happen again. But, what he does not understand is being able to recognize the difference in the situations. The new life he is trying to live is very confusing for him because nothing is black and white, it is s mixture of good and bad. One moment someone is smiling and pouring you a drink and then another person smiles and steals your hat.
The next scene within the montage that depicts a collaboration of filmmaking skills is when they venture into a piano bar. The scene begins with a close up of a piano playing fast paced exuberant music. Then the camera pulls back to show a woman pouring alcohol into the musicians mouth as he plays. The camera then tilts upward to reveal a mirror on the ceiling that reflects what is happening below. Then there is a cut to Watanabe as he is following a dancing woman throughout the dance floor. The camera follows him as he pursues this woman, but she is always slightly out of reach. These shots of a fatigued Watanabe, accompanied with the loud festive music and camera movement show that this life is not for him. He literally can not keep up the pace of it like everyone else can. I believe this point becomes more apparent to him when a moment later he is sitting almost half asleep in a chair and requests the song Life is Brief. As the musician begins playing the song, a group of young people begin to slow dance; they are shot through a beaded doorway, yet another shot signifying confinement. But this shot begs the question are these people also confined in their world as Watanabe is to his? As he begins to sing this melancholic song the camera focuses solely on him, but then it moves so that the misc en scene shows the reaction of the people around him. They are are transfixed on this elderly man singing this melancholic song. Then the camera cuts to the woman moving back towards the musician and then to the piano, mimicking the first shot of scene but only in reverse. The song is the opposite of the opening song, the emotion of the people in the room is also contrasting. In this moment the new life that Watanabe has ventured in and his old one come crashing together. He has now realized that he can not escape his old life by venturing so aggressively into this new one. He will not find his personal meaning of life this way.
That point is further emphasized in the last scene in the sequence when he is sitting in this taxi with two women that he and the Novelist have just been dancing with. There is a close up of him sitting between these two women, and he looks like he is about to be sick. The camera pans to the woman on his left, who is fixing her makeup, and then cuts to a shot of the woman on his right counting money with him situated on her left. He then tells the taxi driver to stop because he is going to vomit. What the shots show is that in this new life is a shallow, hollow, meaningless existence filled with fake people and he is surrounded by it. Surrounded by all this meaninglessness, his mind and his body is rejecting it, forcing him to vomit in an alley. Of course, the vomit literally is a result of his stomach Cancer, but the night’s lifestyle has taken a toll on his body. There is beautiful close up of his face as he emerges from the alley, his face is half hidden in darkness but his new hat is shining because of the street lights. He looks melancholic but then gives a little smile to the Novelist. The camera then cuts to a reaction shot of the novelist with this concerned look on his face, then back to Watanabe, then back to the Novelist. No words are spoken it is just the look that says it all, Watanabe is done pursuing some meaning this avenue of life, he will not find it here.
Ikiru is an audacious work that is independent of its literary counterpart, but it does so because of Akira Kurosawa’s brilliant ability to utilize his collaborative filmmaking skills. The film and the novels protagonists are in search for their own personal meaning of life. Ivan Ilych finds it only at the last moment before his death. Meanwhile, Kanji Watanabe will pursue a more aggressive path of trial and error. His pursuance of his meaning in life initially fails when he tries to go live his life in a drastically different way. It will not be until he meets a young woman named Toyo that he will find that there is one last thing he can do to salvage his life and that is to get a local park built for the community. I believe the main point of both works is to pursue some meaning in life regardless of whether its through passive or aggressive ways. Which path you take is dependent on what type of person you are.
