Madadayo
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Year Released: 1993
Rating: 1.0
A professor of German retires from teaching to spend time writing (and be with his wife) - the picture documents his later years (in fragments), focusing mostly on his birthday celebrations, where he keeps denying that he's ready to die. For a great director's final picture, this is disappointingly self-indulgent and the humor is corny - a major plot point actually involved the Professor losing his cat and subsequent (and quite pathetic) nervous breakdown, but the film is quick to explain that with "geniuses" and "artistic types" (Kurosawa presumably referring to himself), special allowances need to be made. I'm not so permissive, and consciously crafting one's own swan song - complete with final camera tilt to the sky! - isn't recommended.
