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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 of significance. After discovering he is suffering from a ...( read more 
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:September 29, 2008What does it mean to live? This exploration by Akira Kurosawa into what it means to live a meaningful life finds answers in its own execution... few films can inspire someone to change their life, but if one could, that film would be Ikiru.
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MCT:September 14, 2008
A very touching story about a dying man's struggle to leave his mark on the world. A very sad and depressing tale with a very strong moral message that makes you rethink the value and usefulness of your existence. Would the world be a diffrent place if you were never born?
Akira Kurasawa proves again with this film why he is the master of film making. -
MCT:September 8, 2008
I was waiting to be disappointed because it just couldn't be *that* great of a movie but i was wrong. Which is not something i often admit, btw. It was breathtakingly beautiful, poignant and simple. None of that heavy-handed melodrama you usually find in the "classics". A must see for anyone who truly loves movies.
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MCT:August 22, 2008
this is kurosawa's greatest film. if there were a nobel prize for film, this would have won it. it has an almost ozu pace, not quite as rough as kurosawa's usual work.
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MCT:July 1, 2008
"Ikiru" (1952)
This is one of my favorite Akira Kurasawa directed (and written) movies. The word Ikiru means to live. It features Takashi Shimura as Kanji Watanabe, a mild-mannered bureaucrat. He is the protagonist, who has been living a lifeless 35 years of stamping papers and staying under the radar. He cleans off his stamp using torn-out pages of an old report, suggesting some changes to improve the department's efficiency. No doubt the report was completely denied and forgotten.
The movie shows the frustration that people experience trying to get anything done, being turned away from from one department to another. Nothing ever seems to get done. The bureaucrats are so frightened to lose their jobs, that they try hard not to rock the boat.
Kanji is widowed and has a Son and Daughter-in-law who lives with him, who seem to be waiting for him to die off. Then, one day Kanji finds out that he has stomach cancer and has anywhere from six months to a year to live.
At first he starts trying to live the rest of his life with wine, women, and song, but that doesn't seem to be very rewarding or satisfying. Kanji says that he feels like he's drowning and there's nothing to grab onto. Then he finds that he might be able to make some changes in his community and works towards those goals. He becomes driven, almost to the point of losing his job.
This is a very, very sad movie, not in the melodramatic sense (well, maybe it is) like in your average chick flick, but in how a guy sees life. If you want to see a guy cry, show him this movie. But, at the same time, it's very positive and up-lifting. It also shows us old post-war Japan in the early 50s. I really enjoyed this movie and hope that you will catch it with your next opportunity. Be sure to bring plenty of tissues. ;-) -
MCT:June 29, 2008
Films don't come much better than this. Ikiru, which means "To Live" in Japanese, is the story of a city employee who after 30 years on the job, never having missed a day of work, finds out he has cancer and has less than a year to live. As he starts to evaluate his life, he realizes that he didn't have one. Not only had he never had any fun in his life -- he's even accused of being miserly several times -- he doesn't even know HOW to have fun. His entire time on earth was just a prologue to his death. After much soul-searching, he discovers he can make a contribution and end his life with some kind of accomplishment uder his belt.
Takeshi Shimura, who was a staple of director Akira Kurosawa's earlier films, gives a heartbreaking performance as Mr. Watanabe. A memorable scene is when Watanabe is in a bar and begins to sing a song that begins "Life is brief". The camera pans in for a close-up and tears well up in his eyes and roll down his face as he sings. You realize that he never gave that phrase a second thought until that very moment. After just one viewing of this film, I can place Shimura's performance in my top favorites of all-time.
If it's possible for a film to change people's lives, this one could do it. High schools should make Ikiru required viewing for graduation. Even if it saved one person from wasting his or her life, it would be worth it. -
MCT:June 14, 2008
"to live" is the perfect title and summary of this almost Capra-esque film--a riveting expose of the final days of a man's life and the realization of self and purpose they bring to him. touchingly honest drama and clever satire blend beautifully in this triumphant celebration of life.
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MCT:May 21, 2008
A highly humanistic and sympathetic film, Ikiru endeavours to shine light on the dark recesses of a modernising world - the corporate sector. The mundanity of work and it's ability to strip us of a real sense of purpose in life is explored as a pinhole in the grander notion of our outlook of life - and death. It seems a strange point that life is cherished most when death is given a voice. With Kurosawa's brilliantly placed camera, segregating cast members as mere pylons in their environment, and the beautiful touches of Shimura in a class defining performance, Ikiru is a film that works well. Yet, while there are moments of tenderness and connection, it just feels as though the severity in the sombre tone of the film tends to draw back on the potential for audience connection to be taken to a peak. I was touched, but I was never moved like I should have been.
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MCT:May 14, 2008
The first modern film of Kurosawa's that i've seen and it's a great one. A great Inspirational work.
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MCT:May 6, 2008
Filmmaking is a balance of numerous artists. But in this film it is impossible to see where director Akira Kurosawa ends and actor Takashi Shimura begins. It is the story of a burocratic zombie who comes to life at the moment of his imminent death. The film uses both first-person and second-person storytelling techniques. Also brilliant camera work and some of the truest acting that I have ever seen. The title means "to live". In this film, "to live" becomes a riddle of the Sphinx, and we follow one mans's solution to it.
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MCT:April 10, 2008Ikiru was a fine movie, and fairly memorable. Takashi Shimura was very charming as the man with no time left. However, I felt that the movie did not have good focus on its plot.
Shimura was able to hold the viewer's interest with his presence; folllowing his departure from the plot, the film got tedious. The funeral ceremony scene (wherein the mourners get drunk and talk about the recently deceased) was excruciating, i felt. -
MCT:April 10, 2008
Ikiru is Akira Kurosawa in full social commentary mode. It is the story of a civil servant who hasn't missed a day of work in 30 years, and when faced with the news that he is going to die, he realises that it was 30 years wasted. The engaging first half of the film is spent in the company of Takashi Shimura as he deals with the prospect of death, and tries to figure out exactly what it is that will make his last 6 months on Earth worthwhile. It's a touching portrait of a man so entrenched in the mundane he has no idea what's important anymore; a kind of anti-Lester Burnham. When he finally realises what he must do, we are introduced to his funeral, where the various factions within his life bicker and relive his last weeks, trying to dissect it to discover what had brought about such a profound change. This rather dry and less emotionally involving section is Kurosawa's attack on the petty bureaucracy of Japanese government, too involved with it's own selfish ends and politics to care about ordinary people. Ikiru is a film that examines what it SHOULD be that drives us to live our lives, and compares it to what actually does. Although quite Capra-esque in it's representation of a man suddenly fighting for what is right, the rose tinted glasses definitely come off for the climax when Watanabe's example is quickly forgotten in the busy hum-drum of everyday life. That is not to say the film is downbeat though; after all, it's down to each of us to decide which example we decide to follow...
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MCT:March 22, 2008
Ikiru works both as an existentialist fable and a perfectly compelling character study. It is perhaps the greatest meditation on living that has ever been recorded on film.
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MCT:March 20, 2008
I'm sure you've heard this type of story before, a man comes down with some sort of sickness and decides he wants to be a better person, que the inspirational corny music and watch as a director force feeds us our emotion. If you were going into Ikiru with this mind-set like I'm sure many of you have before, you'd be dead wrong. Through such a simple story, Kurosawa was able to create not only one of the finest movies ever made, but one that will stick with you your entire life.
Ikiru is a low-key masterpiece. A film that doesn't shove its messages into your face, but allows you to connect with the main character yourself and understand along with him the terrible plight that has befallen him. In the role of our main character Kanji Watanabe is none other than Kurosawa regular Takashi Shimura. He delivers a performance of such power and skill that I would put it up against any performance in any film ever. That's how fantastic Shimura is at conveying his utter desperation and loneliness without forcing us to feel a certain way or not. This is the film that cemented in my mind that it was Takashi Shimura and not Toshiro Mifune that was my favourite of the Kurosawa regulars.
Coupled with the great acting of Shimura, we cannot of course forget the direction of the genius himself, Akira Kurosawa. He crafted a film so genuinely human and honest that he should have not only been given best director for this year, but his film should have been given best picture as well (screw best foreign language film). What's interesting about this film in particular for Kurosawa is the way that he divided it up. He made the first half of the film about Kanji dealing with his life altering illness and coming up with the idea for the playground, and then the second half was about his colleagues and relatives at his wake. Some people may not enjoy the structure of this film, but I feel that it never loses it poignancy and was very necessary in a lot of ways. It really gives you a multi-faceted view of the events of the film instead of just giving you one perspective. Instead of giving us a feel-good happy ending to the film, Kurosawa instead shows us all-too-realistically what we are truly like as human beings on the inside. It's a heartbreaking, powerful film, but it's not unlike what we would truly see in real life.
Of course we come to the main theme of the film, which is of course the importance of every day. Not to waste your life, make every day count. This is one of the films where I think that it could truly change your life. It's such a fantastic film that I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in seriously sitting down and watching it. -
MCT:March 11, 2008
The story of a bureaucrat working for the City Council discovers he has stomach cancer. With not much time left he is determined to break free of the monotony of being a paper shuffling bureaucrat and make a difference for other people.
A masterpiece by Kurosawa which is still relevant today, a subversive film about the ineffective faceless bureucracy. -
MCT:March 10, 2008
A movie about a man dying of cancer is not particularly unique, but it's what Kurosawa does in this one that makes it so brilliant. Takashi Shimura is wonderful as Watanabe, but it's the story structure itself that makes this film. Not wanting to give too much away, the second half of the movie truly captures the meaning of the title "To live." We see how even a fairly lowly, powerless beaureaucrat can make his chosen profession, seemingly an insignificant one, into something bigger than him. Inspiring because it looks at the changes that can be made by the common man with a common job, heartbreaking because the ending isn't as uplifting as one would like, but all too realistic. A brilliant film.
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MCT:March 2, 2008
allthough mainly associated with samurai pics this film truly show akira's depth and talent asa filmmaker!! all in all a beautiful tender pic and story directed with love and intimacy for the value of life!!!
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MCT:February 23, 2008A beautiful story, but the flashbacks took me out of it. It works best as a satire of local government agencies more than anything.
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MCT:February 17, 2008
very good film perfect in it way of making you cry then laugh over some thing to lighting the mood. a amazing blend of a happy but sad, funny but depressing move. watching this move changed me after watching that is how powerful the story it.
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MCT:February 12, 2008
Dang
Good
Flick
This will be a bit slow for you younger folks, but the story is outstanding. It's up on the shelf there next to Life Is Beautiful. Interesting look at early post-WWII Japan, too, for those of you who aren't always paying attention to the story. -
MCT:December 31, 2007
What a beautiful movie! In the film Groundhog's Day, the main character wasn't really living until he discovered he was trapped in time. At that point, he filled his life with everything he could think of but nothing worked. He couldn't live until he learned to live for others. This is the anti-groundhogs day. He discovers he's going to die and so fills his life with everything he can find, but can't actually die until he learns to live for others. This should be required watching if you are a HUMAN.
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MCT:December 28, 2007
This was a great movie. Its one of those that makes you think that maybe you havent lived your life as full as you could be.
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MCT:December 27, 2007
My first Kurosowa beyond "Seven Samurai," possibly the best acting I have ever seen. Truly fantastic. Like my favorite Capra films only much deeper and timeless. If you liked "Death of Ivan Illych" you'll love "Ikiru."
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MCT:December 27, 2007
Akira Kurosawa and Takashi Shimura outdo themselves in this heartbreaking drama. dealing once again, with fantastic lirycism, the crucial issues of shaping individual destiny in a world where there's no reason to live as one more zombie-like bureaucrat. powerful statement.
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drago25posted 715 days ago
