[Note: Episode recorded in 2024]
Tokyo, 1952.
Seven years after World War II, Japan's public sector is in shambles: inadequate funding, multi-layered corruption, and bureaucratic apathy have left the people desperate for systemic change. Amidst this turmoil is one man, Watanabe, who has been a civil servant for close to thirty years, busying himself thoughtlessly and monotonously to the point of dehumanisation. However, unbeknownst to anyone, there is something special about him: in less than a year, Watanabe will be dead.
Work. Service. Meaning. What is it all for? Are work and labour the same thing? How have we historically envisioned the importance of work as a social and cultural phenomenon? Under the umbrella of state-capitalism, how do workers become Subjects; what are the tensions between community-oriented and nationalist work; fundamentally, by what processes and associations do we ascribe "value" to certain individual and social projects?
Ikiru, Akira Kurosawa's daring and dioramic critique of the relationship between individual and community, community and nation, and nation and morality is oft-considered one of the greatest films of all time. Its relevance cannot be understated in a time of growing communal tensions, increased global shifts towards the far-right and jingoism and, of course, the further fragmentation of work and labour.
This latest episode is in two parts: the first, on Ikiru, and the second, on a surprisingly similar film by Wim Wenders: Perfect Days. We had a fantastic time thinking through both stories' impact, and hope you gain as much from our discussion as we did from the films! As always, we would love to hear your thoughts, so please don't hesistate to reach out to us on Instagram, e-mail, or using a voice note on Spotify!
References:
1) Ikiru screenplay and Donald Richie
2) The Farewell (Chinese film), directed by Lulu Wang
3) Louis Althusser - Ideology and Ideological State Apparatus
4) Shin Godzilla, directed by Hideaki Anno
5) Living, directed by Oliver Hermanus
6) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
7) Off/Screen article: A Study of Kurosawa's Ikiru
Note: At one point, Shrish refers to Donald Richie as Donald Richardson; we just wanted to apologize for that oversight!
