Having seen the pitiful "I, Robot", I long for this one. I recently bought it. From the Criterion site:
Considered by some to be Akira Kurosawa's greatest achievement, Ikiru presents the director at his most compassionate“”affirming life through an exploration of a man's death. Takashi Shimura portrays Kanji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat with stomach cancer forced to strip the veneer off his existence and find meaning in his final days. Told in two parts, Ikiru offers Watanabe's quest in the present, and then through a series of flashbacks. The result is a multifaceted look at a life through a prism of perspectives, resulting in a full portrait of a man who lacked understanding from others in life.
Does that not ring true? I have got to see it.
On that note, I think most people right now just look for "the genuine article" instead of all the Spritney Bears, Will Smiths, George Bushs and Marian Keyes we have. I've had conversations about this with several friends, who have approached me with the matter. For example, people who love music find themselves moving into bands from genres they haven't dug into before, as they're just sick with the same old banal crap that not just the radio, but also the TV, papers, internet media and what-have-you-not, and I think that's totally expected. I firmly believe that these matters go through a sort of "standard revolution" every 20-30 years. For example, just before punk broke with Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers, Ramones, Television, Sex Pistols et.c., the three-chord-and-something-real-to-say, Linda Ronstadt (who, though, must be applauded for this), The Eagles, The Doobie Brothers, Rod Stewart and disco was polluting modern music. Also, one had to be an accomplished musician to play that stuff. So back again, were the hey-days of songs like "Louie, Louie" and a different kind of political agenda, speaking to the people. I believe it's all about people wanting stuff that touches their hearts, not...artists who hold Diet Pepsi while slutting themselves out to the max to sell as much as possible.