Hymn to a Tired Man

Adapted from the Shusaku Endo novel Lord, Have Mercy, Masaki Kobayashi’s Hymn to a Tired Man is a combination of his own The Thick-Walled Room and Kurosawa’s Ikiru, a re-evaluation of war crimes of the Japanese Army during World War II and the embrace of what can be done with one, small life. It has the hallmarks of a carefully considered novel while, at the same time, feeling distinctly cinematic at the same time thanks to the combination of Endo’s source and Kobayashi’s cinematic talents. ...