Perhaps he himself had not been aware of it at the time, but Japanese director Kurosawa Akira ( 黒澤 明 , 1910-98) delivered the film of his life in 1952, a triumphant statement on the human condition that would immortalise him as director extraordinaire . The film was Ikiru ( 生きる , "To Live" ) , starring the director’s favourite actor, Shimura Takashi ( 志村 喬 ) , who would later appear in the crowd-pleasing The Seven Samurai and The Bad Sleep Well . Unlike these later films, Ikiru is an unfussy, quietly introspective journey about a middle-aged widower who has just discovered he only has six months to live because of stomach cancer. Having worked all his life as a civil servant with an impeccable record (he has never been taken ill in thirty years), he has never known the joy of living. After the early decease of his wife, he has chosen to work hard to sustain his only son, who later turns out to be an ingrate, and forego all the pleasures in life. But now he is at