Madadayo

Kurosawa’s final film — his thirtieth feature — is a tranquil, autumnal drama, infused with his trademark humanism and belief in the transcendent power of art, but very unlike his celebrated spectacles and epics. Based on the life and work of the Japanese author Hyakken Uchida, it tells the story of a retired teacher and his relationship with his wife, his cat, and his former pupils. The Professor (played by Tatsuo Matsumura) is a man of humour and grace who teaches German literature at a military academy. He decides to devote himself full-time to writing; his new, reclusive life is interrupted once a year by a birthday banquet attended by his adoring acolytes. The story unfolds from the war years to the early 1960s. The film’s title, deriving from a game of hide-and-seek, is a response to the question, “Are you ready?’ Madadayo means, “Not yet!” Kurosawa, like his protagonist here, was not yet ready to die; the great sensei would live another five years — but he wouldn’t make another film. “Extraordinarily moving . . . It [has] a quiet, valedictory power (A. O. Scott, New York Times). “Unabashedly personal and uncool . . . I love it to death” (Amy Taubin, Village Voice). Colour, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 134 mins.