[Impaler]

I hesitate to post this when Tom Carter already has a movie thread up, but I'd hate even more to hijack his thread.

Madadayo, by Akira Kurosawa. Go find the DVD. This is one of those quiet movies that makes all the other movies you've seen recently seem contrived, trivial, boisterous, ugly.

It's the story of Hyakken Uchida, famed Japanese essayist and professor, in his retirement years. The story centers on his yearly birthday celebration, where his loving students shout "Maadha kai!?" (are you ready?), to which he downs a tall glass of beer and shouts back "Madadayo!" (not yet!)

It's important to note that nothing really happens in this movie in the usual cinematic sense. There's no complex plot, no epic soundtrack, no fast-cut editing. It's a movie built on themes that are perhaps grander than the viewer can understand. There's a scene that follows, without words, the changing of the seasons over one year. It's beautifully shot, but one feels like there is a deeper truth just below the surface, something lost on the audience but there nonetheless. It deals with universal issues: confronting one's mortality, losing your pet cat, heartfelt generosity, respect for wisdom. Watching Madadayo is a much more gratifying experience than one could ever cull from exploding aliens, light saber battles, car chases or melancholic Bette Midler ballads.
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QED, sort of.

[Ragnarok]

I'll go find it. It sound like Ikiru, another movie by Akira Kurosawa, but made in the 50's, you might be interested in it, it's about a public worker who discovers only has a month of life because of cancer.
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"Ever forward, my darling wind." -Master Yuppa
Seigetsu

[A.Buttle]

Nothing will beat the Samurai movies. I mean, fucking MacBeth with samurai? That shit is awesome.
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