Very well executed

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

A minor film by Kurosawa's standard, but still surprisingly gripping. I put off watching this for some time - I felt the theme would be very dated and many reviews of it have been lukewarm. But it is actually a tight, gripping and superbly acted drama. What makes it truly stands out is that Kurosawa never falls into the trap of siding too much with one or other character. The central character, a businessman called Nakajima, is obsessed with the H-bomb and convinced that Japan is doomed tries to persuade his family (including his mistresses and their children) to move to Brazil, where he feels they will be safer. His family, unsurprisingly, think he has gone mad and try to have him declared incompetent so they can seize control of his business. But there are no bad guys or good guys here - everyone is struggling to do the best they can. All this is observed by a sad eyed dentist (Harada), played brilliantly as usual by Takashi Shimura who is left wondering who is mad - a man who seeks to flee nuclear destruction, or those who simply shrug and accept it as inevitable.As usual with Kurosawa, the editing, photography, and camera movements are outstanding. Not many directors can create visually memorable images from an essentially domestic drama, but Kurosawa is one of them. I found one of the final scenes particularly striking - the two main characters looking at the sun, shaded through blinds - the now completely insane Nakajima convinced its the burning earth. It was impossible not to think that the obsession of the latter half of the 20th Century of nuclear Armageddon has turned into another fear, of a heating planet. So even when dealing with the immediate concerns of his day, Kurosawa still manages to be contemporary for our time.

From the very very beginning during the opening credits sequence, we are given the ominous feeling of paranoia, the feeling with which it's vital to sympathize with Toshiro Mifune's character, an old foundry owner convinced that Japan is on the brink of nuclear obliteration, trying to force his reluctant and resentful family to safety in Brazil.Mifune's performance is so very masculine and real, as are nearly all of them. In this film, he displays a self-assurance that allows him to descend into pathetic helplessness. Of all the post-war Kurosawa films that I've seen so far, I Live In Fear is the most direct and informative. America may feed off of the dread showcased by the Japanese culture in this film and some may feel terribly sad for the individualistic portrayal of the debilitating fear stricken into the immovable hearts of stubborn old men like Mifune's character.Even as early as WWII, I learned, America's most powerful weapon has been fear. However, in those times, it was a much purer, less vain utility. But what about the people it destroys for the sake of its own feeling of security?

My own view of this movie, having just watched it, is that it's a typically moralistic piece from Kurosawa. His protagonist, wonderfully portrayed by Mifune, is a man who has made his life impossible by his philandering behaviour. He has three families altogether; none of whom really regard him with much affection.I feel the "fear of the hydrogen bomb" is merely his ideation; a way to explain to himself, in his denial, why his life has gradually become impossible to live. As one of the other characters remarks: 'everyone is scared of the bomb, nowhere is safe.'After he made Rashomon a Buddhist clergyman of high rank said to Kurosawa: "for the benefit of all mankind." I believe all of Kurosawa's movies are highly moral tales.

There is something Shakespearian about Kurosawa. He deals with huge themes, and is willing and able to deal with multiple themes and work on many levels. A strong and evocative story-line with fascinating central characters is his starting point, and he directs with compassion, imagination and the eye of an artist. Many of the frames are filled with beautifully balanced shots that are rarely seen outside of the work of a handful of great directors. He is not afraid to shoot actors from behind or from awkward but revealing angles. This is one of the most gripping and satisfying Kurosawa films I have seen. The image of the sacrifice of the foundry and the theme of destruction by atomic war brings to mind Tarkovski's The Sacrifice. Indeed, with so much drenching rain in some scenes, and with Tarkovski's known admiration for Kurosawa, it is quite possible that this film did have some influence. The story is about an extended family who are charging their father with insanity as he is determined to sell up the family business and move to Brasil because of his fear of atomic radiation engulfing Japan. Atomic radiation was a major cause for concern in post-war Japan, and there were many books and newspaper articles at the time explaining that the Earth's wind currents would bring radiation from atom bomb tests and from atomic war to Japan. This fear was the impetus for such monster films as Godzilla. However, Kurosawa is also using the radiation as a symbol for modern development - the changes that are taking place to the traditional Japanese ways, mainly from the mysterious modern world beyond Japan's shores. The film opens not with the family, but with a dentist who is to be one of the judges who will decide on the old man's sanity. It is notable that the dentist works in bright, clean, modern surroundings with modern equipment, while the old father owns an old, dirty, dark, dangerous foundry where the workers have to be warned to take care of the fires or the place will be engulfed. We first encounter the family as they squabble outside the informal family court room where the case will be heard. The heat, anger and irritation are made very clear - there are sweat stains and angry swishing of fans throughout this and many of the other early scenes. It was at this point that I knew that I was going to enjoy this film a lot. There are many films that within the first ten minutes you know if the director is confident and in charge, and is ready to take risks. There is no doubt at this point that the placing of the actors, the camera angles and even the actors' gestures has been controlled by the director and that everything is working smoothly and effortlessly in the right direction. Even though the story is about the father and his family, we are kept in contact with the dentist throughout the film, even when the court case is over. And it is he we see in the final scene walking down the slope of the hospital as the father's youngest daughter walks up.This is a film about a family. This is a film about moral values in a changing world. This is a film about the fear of modern society. This is a film about a Japanese society coming to terms with itself and its relationship with the outside world in the aftermath of the Second World War. This is a film about living in fear. This is an awesome film. I understand that this is the film that Kurosawa himself was most proud of. And I can certainly see why.