George Tokoro, Hisashi Igawa, Kyoko Kagawa, Masayuki Mori, Masayuki Yui ...( see more  see more... ) , Tatsuo Matsumara , Tatsuo Matsumura

Set in postwar Japan, the film portrays the relationship between four students and Hyakken Uchida, one of the true free spirits of the Japanese literary world.

Flixster Users

80% liked it

2,536 ratings

Critics

87% liked it

15 critics

Unrated, 2 hr. 14 min.

Directed by: Akira Kurosawa, Ishirô Honda

Release Date: September 1, 2000

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DVD Release Date: April 7, 2001

Stats: 114 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (114)


  • November 26, 2008
    the farewell address from the greatest director in history. while this film is nowhere near one of kurosawas best, it is still very good. just watching kurosawa direct a film with modern developments in cinematography was a treat. the diologue was as profound as usual in kuros...( read more)awas scripts, and the broad sense of the story was intriguing. the only thing holding this film back was a 40 minute span of the film that seemed like a titanic waste of time where the professor and his students mourn feverishly over a lost cat. i actually cried for a week when my cat died so i actually kind of get it, but pausing an otherwise genius story for 40 minutes for this cat story felt misplaced, purposeless, and made for bad movie watching. really, its the only wasted section of any kurosawa film that he ever made. despite this, the film is profound and worth watching.
  • April 27, 2007
    beautifully done film a real depart from his earlier stuff but its a really sweet film worth watching
  • May 17, 2009
    This is the last film of the master Akira Kurasawa. The story is about going home, go back to the place we come from. In the story, man wasn?t ready to come home yet. so? we wait?
  • November 6, 2008
    A beautiful, poignant portrait of a professor's waning years. As he did in Ikiru, Kurosawa offers up a nostalgic and contemplative portrait of a man's life.
  • August 18, 2008
    I am a big fan of Kurosawa.And I never expected one of his films to be that bad.No atmosphere,scenes with no connection.It certainly had something to say,full of meanings,but the photography of this film was more than bad.
  • July 7, 2008
    good
  • August 16, 2007
    A fitting conclusion to a magnificent career. Kurosawa's old age was definitely beginning to show. There's an innocence and charm in this film that rarely appears in his work. At times, it is overtly sentimental. The subplot with the Cat is adorable.
  • July 10, 2007
    La ultima pelicula de Akira Kurosawa... termino siendo el epilogo de sus ideas, el final perfecto de su carrera, una despedida para nunca nunca olvidarlo.

Critic Reviews


January 1, 2000
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

It's not one of Kurosawa's great films; the compass of feeling is, in the end, too narrow, the scope of human reference too restricted. But it is, within its own proportions, nearly perfect. full review

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

This is the kind of film we would all like to make, if we were very old and very serene. There were times when I felt uncannily as if Kurosawa were filming his own graceful decline into the night. full review

View more Madadayo reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • Donegal
    September 18, 2006
    I really loved this movie! I loved the part where the professor talked about being afraid of the dark. That whole bit was just fantastic, so much so that I had to write it down so I can share it with my friends. I also liked how much the professor loved his cat and how upset he was when the cat disappeared. I especially liked the ending segment. At first I thought it was too abrupt, but I thought about it and it seemed appropriate, never knowing what happened after that, never having him say “I’m ready.”

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