This film was a powerful film for me. It really makes you stop and think. That is what I want in a film more than anything else. Takashi Shimura is brilliant in this film. One of my most fave films! I think I know a lot of people like the character Watanabe that he plays. You will ask yourself a lot of questions about your own role in this world.

Kanji Watanabe is a longtime bureaucrat in a city office who, along with the rest of the office, spends his entire working life doing nothing. He learns he is dying of cancer and wants to find some meaning in his life. He finds himself unable to talk with his family, and spends a night on the town with a novelist, but that leaves him unfulfilled. He next spends time with a young woman from his office, but finally decides he can make a difference through his job… After Watanabe’s death, co-workers at his funeral discuss his behavior over the last several months and debate why he suddenly became assertive in his job to promote a city park, and resolve to be more like Watanabe.