Allreaders.com

I Live in Fear (Record of a Living Being) Movie Review Summary

Actors: Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of I Live in Fear (Record of a Living Being)


Between the sword epics "Seven Samurai" and "Throne of Blood," the great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa chose to make a contemporary (1955) film about a man obsessed by the H-bomb. Before the movie starts, he has bought land in the hinterlands and tried to build an underground shelter. Now he wants to sell his home and factory and take his large family -- as well as several mistresses and their children -- to Brazil, where he thinks they'll all be safer from fallout. The family, unwilling to go and fearful about the loss of the family fortune, takes him to court to get him declared mentally incompetent. A dentist (Shimura) who volunteers as a mediator in the family court serves as chorus and audience surrogate, trying to weigh the hero's sense and sanity. Mifune, then 35, plays a man twice his age, and though his makeup is poor and body language inconsistent, it's still a striking performance in a thought-provoking movie.
Click here to see the rest of this review...

The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus



Script Analysis of I Live in Fear (Record of a Living Being)

Click on a plot link to find similar books!

Plot & Themes

Time/era of movie:    -   1930's-1950's Family, struggling with    -   Yes Struggle with:    -   Father Inner struggle or disability    -   Yes Struggle with    -   (General) search for meaning/identity Ethnic/Regional/Gender story?    -   Yes Ethnic/region/relig    -   Japanese Brain/Body not working?    -   mental illness

Main Character

Identity:    -   Male Profession/status:    -   business executive Age:    -   60's-90's Ethnicity/Nationality    -   Japanese Unusual characteristics:    -   Super sensitive soggy jelly muffin

Setting

Asia/Pacific/Middle East    -   Yes Asian country:    -   Japan City?    -   Yes Misc setting    -   mental hospital

Writing Style

Accounts of torture and death?    -   no torture/death Any profanity?    -   Occasional swearing

Movies with storylines, themes & endings like I Live in Fear (Record of a Living Being)

I Live in Fear (Record of a Living Being) Message Board (click here)
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
2 Ways to Search!
Or



Our Chief Librarian