Madadayo

is a 1993 Japanese comedy-drama film. It is the thirtieth and final film to be completed by Akira Kurosawa. It was screened out of competition at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. The film was selected as the Japanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 66th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. Plot The film is based on the life of Japanese academic and author Hyakken Uchida (1889–1971). While playfully teaching a class as a professor of German in the period immediately before the Second World War, Uchida tearfully announces his retirement to his crestfallen students. In 1943, he moves into a spacious house but his wife is concerned about the safety of the neighborhood. Two students arrive to pretend to burglarize the home, but instead find a series of directions written by Uchida on how to break in to the house. He hosts a dinner for several of his students, but as a result of wartime shortages he is embarrassed that he and his wife can only serve venison and horse meat. Their house burns down as a result of U.S. bombing raids, and Uchida and his wife are forced to live in a small shack with no indoor toilet with their few remaining possessions. After the end of the war, his former students get together to host a banquet to honor him. As a result of his frequent answer to the question of whether he is ready to die of "not yet", the banquet is the first Not Yet Banquet. At the end of the raucous celebration, two American military policemen arrive but smile after they see that everyone is enjoying themselves.