http://tags.library.upenn.edu/tag/movies+japanese_film PennTags Feed http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/voyager/1766 http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/voyager/1766 Anderson and Richie separate the book into two parts; the first focusing on the &ldquo;background&rdquo; of Japanese Film, such as the development of editing techniques, camera angles and techniques, and sound.&nbsp; The latter part focuses on the &ldquo;foreground,&rdquo; which is made up of the directors, techniques and actors that gave Japanese Cinema its international (and national) identity.&nbsp; The book first mentions Ikiru, which it calls Living&nbsp; after its English translation, in the chapter on the development of atmosphere in Japanese cinema from 1949-1954 (Chapter 10) .&nbsp; The authors give a brief synopsis of the film and mentions that &ldquo;the Quarterly of Film, Radio, and Television [&hellip;] called [Ikiru] &ldquo;one of the greatest films of our time.&rdquo;&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ikiru is described as an example of Kurosawa&rsquo;s humanist cinema,&nbsp; which is encapsulated by its mood and atmosphere.&nbsp; The authors actually do criticize the film, which the other authors I read did not do, saying, &ldquo;The film&rsquo;s fault is perhaps that Kurosawa&rsquo;s genius flows unchecked and that sometimes he carries things too far.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp; This quote underlines the strategy taken by Anderson and Richie in their analysis of Kurosawa&rsquo;s films (as well as the films of other Japanese directors).&nbsp; Instead of delving deeply into the meaning of various shots and sequences in films, the films are analyzed more in terms of the authors&rsquo; views.&nbsp; Films are listed in relation to the given topic of the chapter, but not much space is given to actually explaining, for example, what in the film creates the atmosphere.&nbsp; A few interesting facts about Ikiru, learned from the book, is that Watanabe was Takashi Shimura&rsquo;s only lead role in a Kurosawa film&nbsp; and that the film was the first film that Kurosawa edited solely by himself. <br /> While the book doesn&rsquo;t have as much relevant information to Ikiru as other books I read, it does present some new information concerning the film in its own right, not on its aesthetic principles or themes.&nbsp; The book is able to ground the film in relation to other Japanese films of its time, which no other book does, which is valuable in a complete understanding of the film beyond its importance as an Akira Kurosawa film. <br /> <br />