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Ikiru (1952)
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Overview
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Director:
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Release Date:
25 March 1956 (USA)
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Plot:
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...
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Awards:
Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.
Another 5 wins
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NewsDesk:
(9 articles)
This Week On DVD and Blu-ray: December 8, 2009
(From Rope Of Silicon. 8 December 2009, 1:20 AM, PST)
Will Departures be this year's sleeper film hit?
(From The Guardian - Film News. 30 November 2009, 1:31 AM, PST)
(From Rope Of Silicon. 8 December 2009, 1:20 AM, PST)
Will Departures be this year's sleeper film hit?
(From The Guardian - Film News. 30 November 2009, 1:31 AM, PST)
User Reviews:
Complex and thought-provoking masterpiece
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Takashi Shimura | ... | Kanji Watanabe | |
| Shinichi Himori | ... | Kimura | |
| Haruo Tanaka | ... | Sakai | |
| Minoru Chiaki | ... | Noguchi | |
| Miki Odagiri | ... | Toyo Odagiri, employee | |
| Bokuzen Hidari | ... | Ohara | |
| Minosuke Yamada | ... | Subordinate Clerk Saito | |
| Kamatari Fujiwara | ... | Sub-Section Chief Ono | |
| Makoto Kobori | ... | Kiichi Watanabe, Kanji's Brother | |
| Nobuo Kaneko | ... | Mitsuo Watanabe, Kanji's son | |
| Nobuo Nakamura | ... | Deputy Mayor | |
| Atsushi Watanabe | ... | Patient | |
| Isao Kimura | ... | Intern | |
| Masao Shimizu | ... | Doctor | |
| Yûnosuke Itô | ... | Novelist |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Doomed
Living (International: English title) (informal English title)
To Live (International: English title) (informal English title)
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Living (International: English title) (informal English title)
To Live (International: English title) (informal English title)
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Parents Guide:
Runtime:
143 min | Sweden:123 min (cut version)
Country:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
USA:Not Rated |
Sweden:11 |
Finland:S |
UK:PG (video rating) (1994) |
UK:A (original rating) |
Singapore:PG
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The literal translation of Ikiru is "To Live".
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Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: A beer sign is backwards in a bar scene, revealing the use of a mirror image.
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Quotes:
Movie Connections:
Featured in Kurosawa: The Last Emperor (1999) (TV)
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Soundtrack:
Come On-A My House
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FAQ
What Are The English Lyrics To The Song Kanji Watanabe Sings? (+More Info.)more
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Ikiru is a film about life. Constantly complex and thought-provoking, although simple at the same time; it tells a story about life's limits, how we perceive life and the fact that life is short and not to be wasted. Our hero is Kanji Watanabe, the most unlikely 'hero' of all time. He works in a dreary city office, where nothing happens and it's all very meaningless. Watanabe is particularly boring, which has lead to him being nicknamed 'The Mummy' by a fellow worker. He later learns that he is dying from stomach cancer and that he only has six months to live. But Watanabe has been dead for thirty years, and now that he's learned that his life has a limit; it's time for Watanabe to escape his dreary life and finally start living. What follows is probably the most thoughtful analysis of life ever filmed.
Ikiru marks a departure for Akira Kurosawa, a man better known for his samurai films, but it's a welcome departure in my opinion. Kurosawa constantly refers to Watanabe as 'our hero' throughout the film, and at first this struck me as rather odd because, as I've mentioned, he's probably the least likely hero that Kurosawa has ever directed; but that's just it! This man is not a superhero samurai, but rather an ordinary guy that decides he doesn't want to be useless anymore. That's why he's 'our hero'. Kurosawa makes us feel for the character every moment he's on screen - we're sorry that he's wasted his life, and we're sorry that his wasted life is about to be cruelly cut short. However, despite the bleak and miserable facade that this movie gives out, there is a distinct beauty about it that shines through. The beauty emits from the way that Watanabe tries to redeem his life; because we feel for him and are with him every step of the way, it's easy to see why Watanabe acts in the way he does. Ikiru is a psychologically beautiful film.
It could be said that the fantastic first hour and a half is let down by a more politically based final third - and this is true. The movie needs it's final third in order to finish telling the story, but it really doesn't work as well as the earlier parts did. However, Kurosawa still delights us with some brilliant imagery and the shot of Watanabe on a swing is the most poetically brilliant thing that Kurosawa ever filmed. Together with the music and the rest of the film that you've seen so far; that picture that Kurosawa gives us is as moving as it is brilliant.