Japanese goodness

The war on ignorance continues. The main campaign at present is film, with ongoing attempts to fill in the gaps of my cinematic knowledge via the mighty Lovefilm. After a decent week that encompassed The Battle of Algiers, Rushmore, and ... erm the execrable Audition I finsihed things off with Ikiru,
One of the samurai-free Kurosawa films the theme of a terminally-ill man trying to do one act of good after a life of blank mediocrity is gentle, touching and surprisingly biting in places, especially in its indictment of bureaucracy and officialdom. The jerky structure is reminsicent of Rashomon (made two years previous) but whereas flashback and subjective recollection are key to that film, here such techniques muddy the water, and detract from what is ultimately a simple tale. Lovely seen in the snow at the end though.
Ratings on the Romero scale? Generously I'll give it a '5'. The main character does die, though admittedly he fails to rise as a brain-eating zombie. However, he does know of his fate throughout, so technically is one of the walking dead. Tenuous but I'm prepared to run with it.