Saturday, October 14, 2006

Madadayo. Not Yet! 1993

Madadayo (1993) was the last film of Akira Kurosawa and it is funny that his farewell was a movie titled like that!.
I am amazed of all the resources of Akira to make the movie work the same as a theater play and to make the movie feel like it is not a movie...and his storytelling for epical work or urban is in just two words elegant and spotless.
The main story of the film is based on the life of a Japanese academic and author, Uchida Hyakken (1889-1971). The film opens with him resigning as professor of German, in the period immediately before the Second World War. The plot of the film is centered around his relationship with his former students, who care for him in his old age. The title, Not Yet in English, is an allusion to an ancient Japanese legend mentioned in one scene of the film, of an old man who refuses to die. This story is constantly referred to in the movie, as every year on the old man's birthday, his students throw him a party in which they all ask him, "Mada kai?" (Are you ready?). He responds by drinking a large ceremonial glass of beer and shouting "Mada dayo!" (Not yet!), implying that death may be near, but life still goes on.
Great Movie!!

Now I am just working in my political strip so see ya later!!

JESUS ANTONIO

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