Akira Kurosawa may be best known to Western audiences for his samurai epics, but the legendary Japanese director was equally adept with intimate dramas exploring the inner lives of ordinary men. His greatest single work in this form may well be Ikiru, the story of a minor bureaucrat (Takashi Shimura) who reconsiders his life and his impact on the community as he faces his mortality. A lost weekend becomes a quiet quest to leave something of meaning through the tools at his disposal – paperwork. Monday’s screening is free for AFS members. – Richard Whittaker
Aug. 11 & 14
