Ikiru
(1952)
Overview
Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.
Director
Akira Kurosawa
Writers
Shinobu Hashimoto, Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni
Top Billed
Takashi Shimura
Keywords
Top Billed Cast
Crew
Reviews
CinemaSerf
⭐ 7/10September 9, 2022
Takashi Shimura is "Watanabe", an elderly civil service lifer who is told that he has terminal stomach cancer. After years of a disciplined, rather pedestrian existence he now feels a need to emancipate himself and start to live a little. The story is told through two threads: one looks at the end of the old gent's life from his own perspective; the second takes a retrospective view from the wake as his family and colleagues gather to remember hi… read the rest.
Peter McGinn
⭐ 7/10April 20, 2023
I watched the English follow-up version (Living) before watching this original, and wished I had reversed my order. I liked Living much more than this original, but since both were written by the same Japanese scriptwriter, my preference might be cultural rather than due to quality issues, not to mention the scriptwriter had come up with improvements through the intervening years.
The club and bar scenes near the beginning seem to go on much l…
read the rest.
badelf
⭐ 7/10July 18, 2023
Typical Kurasawa creative framing in the beginning of the movie. The scene of dancers shot through bead curtains swinging in time to the music was brilliant. His choice of Miki Odagiri for muse is brilliant. Her laugh is infectious. The last act stuck me as rather static. It's perhaps from cultural mores about the dead I don't understand (like the taboo of not ever sticking your chopsticks into the rice bowl!). Kurasawa waxes philosophical on li… read the rest.
Status
Released
Original Language
JA
Budget
$85,000
Revenue
$55,240