The Top 250 and Ikiru

I have my suspicions of why Ikiru is not rightly honored as a top film is largely due to fanboy nerds clinging to film subjects that are in the realm of "cool."

Let's examine some of the top movies.

1.) The Shawshank Redemption: Here's a common theme - an innocent man wrongly accused is sent to prison for life. And the movie even has a happy ending! Such an obvious theme to get behind, with many elements borrowed from other prison movies. I think the reason that this film is so popular is because it codified all of the populist, prison film language leading up to that point and turned it into an artistic crowd pleaser. But for me it's hardly the best movie ever made.

2, 3) The Godfather I & II: It's about the mafia and it is romanticism of crime and violence. Isn't it cool? All kidding aside, it's obvious why the original is so hailed, but I'm not so sure about the sequel. For most people, crime oriented films are easy to get into it, rather than films about human pathos and existential crises.

4) The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: This is actually one of my favorite films. But it's another easy and obvious one for nerrrrrds. It's Sergio Leone showing the bleak, harsh amorality of the American West. Perhaps this movie belongs very high on any list, but I can see why people cling to it, especially since Quentin Tarantino named it his favorite film of all time.

5) Pulp Fiction: And it's Tarantino! What a coincidence. Tarantino is the great copy and paste artist, and a very skilful craftsman. But I've never fully bought into his fresh and original dialogue; it always feels like Tarantino is simply echoing his favorite movies as actors recite these lines through him, rather than feeling natural at all. Another movie about crime that is all about style. Easy to be cool while watching this, even if you're a nerd.

6) 12 Angry Men: What the hell? An intelligent stage-play like drama which actually has cultural value as well as artistic depth? I'm shocked to find this ranked so high, but I won't complain about it. But any kid is going to feel like a total square screening this movie for his Christopher Nolan loving buddies.

7) Schindler's List: I've only seen this once, in 1993. I won't comment on its inclusion here since it's simply a depressing film that I haven't watched twice. It has no cool factor that I'm aware of.

8) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Great movie, but this being ranked so high and "Five Easy Pieces" being absent from the top 250 is really a good indicator that the average movie goer enjoys being manipulated rather than thinking deeply about subjects. If Soccer Mom's made a movie list, I'm sure that "Patch Adams" would be way up there.

9) The Dark Knight 10) Inception: These movies are in vogue because the movies that surround them are so witless that these stand out as pillars of genius. I actually haven't watched these yet, but their "cool" factor is obvious.

How should a film like "Ikiru" stand a chance in any popular rankings? Look at Kurosawa himself - his Samurai epics are rightly praised, but the cool factor elevates them past work with higher cultural value, movies that could help instruct us to be better people. A film like Ikiru attempts to deal with problems that most people don't want to consider or even think about. I like this Roger Ebert quote about the film:

"I think this is one of the few movies that might actually be able to inspire someone to lead their life a little differently."

A films "cultural value" is something I determine by its actual worth to the people viewing it - to examine their own lives and possibly better themselves as a result, and influence their behavior, however subtle, in the world around them. Films about the mafia and Batman aren't going to do that.