Madadayo

Professor Uchida taught German for many years and is retiring. Now he will only write. The war comes, his house is bombed, and he moves with his wife into a small hut. His former students will not leave him alone; they visit, find him a house, raise money, and hold a ceremony every year on his birthday. At the ceremony a question is asked: are you ready. He gives the same answer every time: not yet. The years pass and the ceremony goes on. Akira Kurosawa writes and directs. Tatsuo Matsumura plays Uchida. It is Kurosawa's last film. The man at the centre is real: Hyakken Uchida was a well known writer and professor in Japan and his relationship with his students was famous. The matter it works at is ageing and putting off death; the question and answer at the ceremony are built directly on that. The narrative builds no plot; the sections proceed by years and each works like a scene. The section about the lost cat is the longest part and there the narrative concentrates entirely on one small event. Kurosawa made this at eighty three and it was widely read as a personal farewell. The ending is a dream scene and the narrative deliberately returns to childhood there. Who it is for: viewers who like Kurosawa and quiet narratives without plot. Who it is not for: it is very slow, almost nothing happens, and the emotional register is heavy in places.