Ikiru - Criterion Collection   [DVD 2004]

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Rave Reviews (25)*

• 1) Utterly beautiful and moving.

  by Anonymous on September 22 2003
    200+ helpful votes

  Since others have written lengthy, intelligent reviews (And I'm glad they did) I will use my space to be simple. The film, at its most basic level, is about redemption, living (Ikiru is "To Live" in english) and dying, and what matters most to really make a difference in your life, and the lives of others. The film is quiet yet utterly powerful, a basic study of a man trying to find meaning in his last days. But it's so much more than that, and I can only describe the film and its purpose as noble, genuine, warm, moving, and beautiful. It is not a sappy, happy movie, but it's so quietly affecting that I'm a grown man who is still reduced to tears seeing the pivotal "swing" scene that is on the movie's cover. What is happening in that scene, what it means, what it represents, and what is being said during the shot, is, to me, just about the most hauntingly moving scene I've ever witnessed. And I will remember it forever, as well as all of Ikiru, as a poignant, sad yet triumphant example of the human spirit to really persevere and make a wonderful difference.

• 2) One Of The Greatest Films Ever!

  by Ernest Jagger on August 09 2005
    180+ helpful votes

  There are many wonderful reviews on this site about why the film "Ikiru" is so great. And many are beautifully written. I have seen many films in my life, yet "Ikiru" stands head and shoulders above any I have ever seen. For me, the film is not only the greatest Japanese film ever, but the greatest film of all-time. One of the reviewers [BARRY C. CHOW] gave a very good and poignant review of this film. And I hope he is wrong that the film will not appeal "to those raised on a western diet of car crashes, yammering idiots and pixie dust." However, maybe in time, when these viewers have grown older, wiser, and have experienced life, then these viewers will come to appreciate the pure genius of this Kurosawa classic.
  
  I know that writing that this is the greatest film of all-time is a bold statement. So let me clarify it a bit more: It is my favorite film of all-time. I have seen countless films, but none have had the impact that this film has had on me. Ikiru (To Live) is not a film about dying: but how we live our lives. And in this short life of ours how we live our life matters. Are we kind to our neighbors? Do we care for our children? And just as important: Do we spend enough quality time with them? This is a quiet and simple film. The main protagonist Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) has gone through his life as another cog in the bureaucratic office where he works.
  
  Maybe at one time in his life he had dreams of better things; yet with time he grows accustomed to his job; and is no longer alive with the passion of what makes life enjoyable. Yes, one can belong to a bureaucratic machine; but one can also make a difference, as we the viewer are about to find out. Moreover, we can also live a life outside of our jobs. We can all make a difference no matter what our life's work entails. However, events in Watanabe's life are about to take a different turn. A turn for the worse, and yet, also a redeeming turn for the better. When Watanabe is diagnosed with an incurable illness, he sets about to give some meaning to a life wasted as a lifetime bureaucrat. For our humble protagonist realizes that his life must have a meaning. Watanabe realizes that through all the wasted years since his wifes death he has not accomplished anything worthwhile. Alienated from his son, he sets about to correct in what little time he has remaining to make some sort of contribution to society.
  
  And this contribution comes in the way of a childrens park. Akira Kurosawa does not insult his viewers with a grand design of a holy crusader about to change the world. No, for Mr. Watanabe, the simple desire to build a childrens park is all that he seeks. Simple and yet all so poignant. We the viewer follow Mr. Watanabe as he meets the very bureaucratic headaches that he himself was once a part of, but no longer. We have sympathy for Mr. Watanabe as goes about trying to cut through all the red tape in order to see the park built before he dies. No longer the obstructionist bureaucrat, he now comes face to face with the very obstacles others have faced when he was once the obstructionist.
  
  This is Watanabe's attempt to make amends for his own past. This is not only Kurosawa's greatest film, but the greatest film ever. There are no shoot-outs, explosions or car chases. This film is a simple reminder to those of us who are willing to take the time to see what Kurosawa is attempting to show us: That life is short. And that what we do with our lives matters. How many of us, like the protagonist Kanji Watanabe are alive, but have not lived life? Do we put off visting our loved ones? Are we just going through the motions of life? Or are we living a life of quality?
  
  And yes, our dear protagonist Mr. Watanabe does succeed in the end at making a contribution, no matter how small. And Takashi Shimura's character does succeed in giving some meaning to his short life and existence--his way of contributing, no matter how small, to those in his community. I first watched this film in 1977, and I never tire of viewing it again and again. There is not a scene in the film that I cannot recall. This is a heartfelt film, and Takashi Shimura [His greatest role] plays his part in the film with such outstanding humility, that we the viewer come to empathize with him. I have never forgotten the part where he sings, both in the drinking establishment, and at the end of the film; swinging in the now finished children's playground: So haunting, and yet so beautiful. This film puts what's really important in life into perspective. Life is too short, make the best of it. And more importantly, live your life as if each day were the last. There are not enough stars to give this great classic. [Stars: 5+++++]

• 3) A Film For All Seasons

  by Barry C. Chow on June 19 2003
    130+ helpful votes

  This is a humble film with the soul of an angel. It isn't about a life so much as it is about the act of living. This film, in its quiet way, asks us to ponder what makes life meaningful. And it argues that our pursuit of life's quantity is misplaced, because it leads to neglect of life's quality.

  It tells the story of a dying man's last days. Kanji Watanabe is a lifelong cog in a vast bureaucratic machine who has wasted his entire life shuffling papers. He is played by Takashi Shimura in one of the finest understated performances ever committed to film. Shot in black and white, it is melancholic, bleak and subdued. Likely, Kurosawa chose to film in black and white to reflect the starkness of the protagonist's last days; the way the world looks through dying eyes; and it works.

  It is the mark of Kurosawa's genius how the story and the character sneak up on us. At first, Mr. Watanabe seems an uninspiring study, hardly worthy of our sympathy. A small meek fragile man, he almost stoops under the weight of his own life. He learns of his illness in a well-known opening scene that combines pathos with cruel irony, and before we know it, we start to care about this little man who life treads so callously underfoot. What at first looks like lack of courage reveals itself to be lack of motivation. What we take to be a spineless career of dull conformity turns out to be a sacrifice made for the sake of an unappreciative son. This film has layers and subtlety and visual poetry presented with understatement, finesse and restraint: a wonderful combination that shows the deepest respect for the intelligence of the audience.

  The moral turning point in the story is reached when Mr Watanabe determines to accomplish one worthwhile achievement before his life ends. We don't realize how involved we have become in this little man's life until we find ourselves mentally urging him onward to overcome every bureaucratic obstacle he encounters. Not so long ago, with the prospect of a long life still stretched out before him, he was one of the very bureaucrats whose job it was to obstruct and confound just such aspirations. Now, with barely months to live, he makes it his duty to champion them. This turn of events is one of the most touching acts of redemption in all of cinema. By making amends for an unworthy past, an ordinary everyman finds life's meaning in his very last act of living.

  I have watched hundreds of films since Ikiru, but there are scenes from this film that have burned themselves into my heart and are as clear today as the moment I first saw them. This occurs not because the director achieved an especially vivid special effect, but because of how deeply we come to care for our little hero. The famous scene at the end is one of the most dignified and gracious artistic statements ever filmed, yet it is a scene of wounding simplicity: a perfect epitaph to a cinematic elegy.

  Kurosawa was one of the greatest of all filmmakers and this was his best and most personal film. It's a crime that his work is known only among the literati of the film world, and not to a wider audience. I cannot promise you that you will like this film, because it is paced with a measured and quiet deliberation that is utterly foreign to those raised on a western diet of car crashes, yammering idiots and pixie dust. You need patience, introspection and empathy to appreciate this gentle masterpiece, but if you are the kind of person who is moved by pity, tenderness, humility and grace, then I envy you your first viewing of this ode to the human spirit.

• 4) A Joyous Masterpiece

  by Sam Wood on June 27 2002
    40+ helpful votes

  "Ikiru," to my mind, may be the greatest film in the canon of one of the cinema's greatest directors. It is one of the most spiritually engaging films I have ever seen, and one that reveals new insights each time I watch it.

  The Japanese word ikiru is a verb meaning "to live," and provides a very concise summary of what this film is about. Kurosawa's subject is nothing less than the meaning of life itself, and how we obscure that meaning through the thoughtlessness of our daily actions, our isolation from other human beings, and the misperceptions affecting the limited relations we do have with others. Through his depiction of a crisis in the life of his protagonist, Kurosawa challenges us to examine our own assumptions about life and happiness.

  ******

  In "Ikiru," we meet Kanji Watanabe, a public official with no passion for his work duties. A narrator informs us that Watanabe has been more dead than alive for some time now, and simply goes through the motions at his job. His desk contains an enormous stack of petitions and requests from the public, along with various forms and memos. Watanabe doesn't seem interested in reducing the size of this mountain of paperwork. When he opens his desk drawer, we see a document entitled "A Plan to Raise Office Efficiency." He tears off the first page of the plan and uses it to clean his glasses, finally throwing the crumpled paper into his trashcan. As we watch Watanabe's barely conscious attempts to do his job, the narrator asks us if this type of detachment is morally acceptable.

  As the film unfolds, we learn that Watanabe's zombie-like activities at the office are only part of his problems. He lives with his son and his son's wife, and seems to have a strained relationship with both of them. After Watanabe discovers that he has cancer, the awareness of his pending mortality causes him to sense the meaninglessness of his life for the first time.

  Determined to escape from his depression, Watanabe makes various attempts "to live." Overtures toward his son and daughter-in-law fall flat. He makes the acquaintance of a young writer, and his new companion tries to cheer him up by taking him out to experience a few cheap thrills. They go to bars, nightclubs, and strip shows, but Watanabe is unable to overcome the feelings of utter hopelessness inside him. As the film progresses, we gradually learn the details of Watanabe's final quest for meaning.

  ******

  Ikiru is a fascinating and unique film on many levels. The nonlinear use of time and the circular structure used to catch all of Watanabe's coworkers shirking their responsibilities are used to great advantage. For instance, Kurosawa cuts from Watanabe's desk to the desks of all of his coworkers and then back again to show that he is part of a culture of denial and apathy that distinguishes his office as a whole. The circular structure also neatly and humorously summarizes the "vicious circle" of bureaucracy, and shows the surprising amount of time wasted in this fashion. What at first seems to be a relatively short time interval spent between one employee's refusal to accept the complaint and the next turns out to be much longer - so long that Watanabe has apparently left his desk long ago and hasn't been back. This sequence sets up the next scene, in which we will learn of Watanabe's cancer and way it begins causing him to look more critically at the environment of apathy we have just witnessed.

  This movie also expertly examines some of the "meanings of life" common in contemporary culture. To the young writer Watanabe meets in the bar, the meaning of life is literally found in wine, women and song. He fails to understand that Watanabe needs something deeper than pleasures of the flesh. What then is Watanabe's problem? One interpretation of the film maintains that Watanabe must come to realize that he alone is responsible for the choices he makes in his life. We may call this the existentialist interpretation of the film. According to some existentialists, the film tells us that `life' is meaningless when everything is said and done; at the same time one man's life can acquire meaning when he undertakes to perform some task that to him is meaningful."

  This interpretation of "Ikiru" conjures memories of Albert Camus' classic existentialist riff on humanity in The Myth of Sisyphus. That is, all of us must push our boulders up the hill of life repeatedly, only to have them roll back down again, but we can find meaning in even the most repetitious and purposeless circumstances if we try.
  Ultimately, however, I think the existentialist reading fails to account for the full meaning of Watanabe's spiritual crisis and eventual rebirth. It is true that Watanabe needs to look more deeply into his life and disregard the ways others perceive his actions. But I don't think Kurosawa's thesis is that life is inherently meaningless until we resolve to perform tasks that are meaningful to us. The existentialist interpretation begs the question of why Watanabe was not able to find meaning in the nihilist ecstasy championed by the young writer, or in the company of a young girl.

  Kurosawa's point seems to be that these kinds of actions inherently cannot bring fulfillment to our lives. So it isn't just a matter of being able to choose meanings wherever we see fit. Only certain types of thoughts and actions seem to be capable of rendering true meaning. In this regard, Kurosawa has much in common with the great Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, a writer initially embraced but finally rejected by many existentialists (especially Camus). Dostoevky best expressed his philosophy of life in his last and greatest book, The Brothers Karamazov. The central theme of Karamazov is that all people are guilty before all others, because all of our ideas and actions affect the lives of others, and the ideas and actions of others affect our lives. This means that we are all responsible for each other. Instead of asking why life seems to be meaningless, we should therefore ask whether our own thoughts and actions lessen or increase the sense of meaning in the world - whether we add or subtract from the sum of human suffering.

  Kurosawa adapted Doestevsky's novel The Idiot immediately prior to making Ikiru, and considered Dostoevsky a major influence throughout his career. He also considered Ikiru to be most Dostoevskyan of all his films. In light of these facts, we can begin to see Ikiru as an exploration of the Dostoevskyan concept of shared responsibility, and the liberation from despair it entails when properly understood.
  
  In the world of Ikiru, isolation reigns supreme. Each department in Watanabe's public works office is an island unto itself, and will not assume responsibility for a single project. As we have seen, they refer the complaint about the sump from one desk to another in an endless cycle of buerocratic duty shirking. Watanabe drives home this point after his spiritual awakening, when he tells his coworkers that all of the departments must work together in order to fulfill their responsibility toward the public. He awakens to the realization that his actions can make a difference, because each human life intersects with every other.

  ****

  At a recent special screening of "Ikiru," Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Wilmington discussed the "shadow of death" that hangs over the film. Legendary writer Studs Turkel, who was also present at the screening, gave the appropriate reply: "It's about death you say? But, of course, it's about life."
  In the final analysis, I think Studs is right. After all, the name "Ikiru" does mean "to live," and that can't be an accident. The film is a beautiful and insightful reminder that none of us are truly alone if we recognize our responsibility to others who share the world with us. At a time when world events make us feel scared, threatened and isolated, we may need this message more than ever before.

• 5) A simple story

  by Phillip Kay on January 08 2006
    30+ helpful votes

  Akira Kurosawa made Rashomon in 1950, Ikiru in 1952 and The Seven Samurai in 1954. All these films have quite a complex structure. Yet Ikiru remains a very simple film, which says nothing original: it's not what is shown, but how, that is important, as in Flaubert's story "A Simple Heart". It will be appreciated best by those who've realised they're going to die (you'll know what I mean). Watching Ozu's Tokyo Story beforehand will prepare you for the subtle style. In Ikiru five themes are interwoven:
  
  1. Learning to accept death
  At the start of the film Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) learns he has stomach cancer and has six months to live. He has retreated into his work after his wife's early death and become devoted to routine. The camera shows us several shots in closeup of Shimura's face after he speaks to his doctor, and we see the anguish in his eyes. It's not fear he shows: it's horror, horror of what his life has become. The shock of his wife's death has caused him to stop living. The shock of his own coming death makes him realise he must start to live: only then will he be ready to die. There is a contrast in the documentary style depiction of the hospital scenes and Watanabe's office compared with the closeups of Shimura, hunched up with horrified realisation or showing eyes that are black pools of despair. This is the hardest thing to do in any art form: this is simplicity, and the effect is overwhelming, the acting superb.
  
  2. Placing value in your life
  Watanabe has not much expertise in how to live. His son Mitsuo (Nobuo Kaneko) and daughter-in-law Kazue (Kyoko Seki) share his home but not much else. Watanabe cannot speak to them about his cancer. Cast out on his own resources, Watanabe tells a complete stranger (Yunosuke Ito) what he could not tell his son. He asks his burning question, how can I live? The two drunken men go and sample what they imagine is life: drinking shops, reviews, dance halls, strip clubs. This is desperate living, another way of dying. Watanabe brings the whole thing to a halt when he requests a pianist to play an old song, and sings the words, about young girls who fall in love and how they should enjoy that love for life is short. Perhaps it was a favourite of he and his wife when they first met. The melody is haunting, and is Watanabe's theme at several key points in the film. Later Watanabe sees Toyo (Miki Odagiri) one of his office colleagues. Watanabe is exhilarated by her joyous love of life, her enthusiasm, even her appetite. Perhaps she will teach him how to live. She teaches him he cannot live by proxy. Watanabe finally discovers fulfillment in doing good for others by using his position at work. Kurosawa opens out the sets progressively. We see the small rooms of Watanabe's house, then the cafe and dance hall scenes at night, then the streets and shops by day, then finally offices, streets and slums as Watanabe moves between the company of government heads of departments, yakuza trying to extort money from them, fellow bureaucrats, workmen and slum dwellers in his quest to have a children's park built. Giving meaning to your life is within everyone's scope, no matter how narrow that scope may be, and enlarges it. There is a touch of the moralist here, but we are liable to forget it as we watch Shimura, small, fragile, bowed over with pain, absolutely determined to make others respond. And they do.
  
  3. The dangers of grief
  How did Watanabe become the man he is? In his bedroom is a photo of a young, attractive woman, his wife. In a flashback sequence we see her funeral, learn she died unexpectedly when her son was only five or six years old. The beautiful has vanished. This is a theme with haunting overtones in Japanese culture. That power, greatness, beauty is transient can teach us how to live more deeply. But Watanabe has given the dead woman his love and now he cannot stop grieving. In Watanabe's bedroom the photo is next to his citation for exemplary attendance at work. In the funeral car Watanabe watches as the hearse draws further away from him: it's a distance he has tried to deny ever since.
  
  4. The entropy inherent in large structures
  Watanabe started his bureaucratic life with ambitions to reform. His idealistic report is mouldering away in a bottom drawer. But he's working in a place where the only activity is the filling out of reports, not the achieving of change. It's a kind of tomb. Here no one will accept responsibility; anything unusual, such as the request of a group of neighborhood mothers that a swamp be filled and made into a playground, is frantically passed on to another department. This is not merely satire. The government, of the country as of the local region, is behaving as Watanabe, withdrawing from living and substituting empty formalism in its place. It is no accident Watanabe is head of a department. If we want to we can ask, is it my problem too? The moralist is much more in evidence here.
  
  5. The political response we have to others' actions
  That Watanabe is not the entire subject of the film is made clear as his death occurs halfway through it. We see the Buddhist wake. The guests at the wake at first give lip service to Watanabe's virtues, then the politicians among them compete for the credit of building the park. The workers in Watanabe's department discuss who will be the next head. The group of petitioners are admitted to pay their respects. They say nothing; but they are grateful. In Japan it matters how the dead are thought of. Kurosawa shows that all the survivors, even the grief stricken, are motivated by personal considerations. He shows this to be natural and inevitable, while satirising more extreme manifestations of it. The mourners cannot give meaning to their life by praising Watanabe though; they will need to strive as hard as Watanabe had: most of them won't. There is a social dimension of our actions, as of our inactions. Kurosawa wants viewers of his film to be at that wake too, and reflect on what Watanabe's life and death meant.
  
  Watanabe dies in his playground. He sits on a swing, and sings his song of young girls who fall in love. It is snowing. Watanabe is happy, not because of the playground, not because of the song. He has found something vital. What makes Ikiru an important film is that viewers who watch it can understand just what he has found.

• 6) Perhaps Akira Kurosawa's finest film.

  by Chris Vernon on March 25 2000
    30+ helpful votes

  One warning, from the beginning, this film is slow. This is not an action film, if you want that, rent Die Hard. However, this is perhaps one of the most touching films I have ever seen. I love Akira Kurosawa, but this is his only film that brought me to tears...big sloppy sobs etc. A story about life, and how it can be wasted, this is one of the most vivid films I have ever viewed, and it really hits home to me. If you want a film that will really challenge you, and how you have been spending your life, pick this one up today.

  Technically, the film is a masterpiece. Kurosawa heightens the mood with his bleak imagery and long takes...this may be one of the finer examples of Kurosawa's camera genius. Somehow his films are always so unique, so different in their cinematography from any contemporary works, that they stick in my mind long after I have finished viewing them.

  As much as I love his samurai epics, this may well be my very favorite Kurosawa film, and I believe it has really been overlooked. Don't waste a minute, buy or rent this one today, and see if you don't end up agreeing with me.

• 7) Couldn't be anything but 5 stars

  by David J. Loftus on January 21 2000
    30+ helpful votes

  This is a stately, majestic masterpiece of world cinema. My parents first took me to it at the age of 5 or 6, and a few images stuck with me forever.

  Watanabe is a colorless, boring civil servant who has put in his time at the city offices for 35 years ... and then learns he has but a few months to live. (Ikiru means "To Live.") Over the next few weeks he tries everything he can think of to deal with this awful news -- taking out his cash and going on the town, trying to enjoy life with and through a much younger female subordinate, attempting to reconnect with his estranged son....

  Takashi Shimura offers one of the great acting performances of all time. It's hard to believe this is the same man who leads "The Seven Samurai" a few years later (never mind his hilarious cameo in the original "Godzilla" as a frightened peasant).

  Formally, the film is a fascinating study of plotting and film editing. (What can you say about a movie whose opening shot is a stomach X-ray? See Donald Richie's excellent book _The Films of Akira Kurosawa_ for more in-depth discussion of this film's techniques.)

  Be prepared to settle into this story. It's lengthy and not fast paced. If you can do this, you will be hugely rewarded.

• 8) Buy the Criterion DVD not an "import"

  by Tensegrity Dan on December 09 2004
    20+ helpful votes

  I'm not going to review "Ikiru" per se, but discuss the "import" DVD version (vs. the Criterion version).
  
  The "import" DVD version of "Ikiru" is an official DVD release of the film by the Hong Kong company Mei Ah. It is not a bootleg (though bootleg versions may also exist).
  
  THE SUBTITLES ON THE MEI AH VERSION ARE SO BAD THAT THE MOVIE IS NEARLY UNWATCHABLE. The English subtitles are a translation of the Chinese subtitles/translation of the original Japanese dialogue. This is evident because the Japanese characters bizarrely have Chinese names. As a result, the English grammar is atrociously poor even by typical Hong Kong standards (and this is coming from someone who watches a LOT of subtitled Hong Kong movies). Think about that for a second:
  
  Japanese ---> Chinese ---> Garbled English ---> scratching your head trying to figure out what characters are talking about
  
  Plus, the Mei Ah DVD is a "flipper", i.e. a double-sided disc that you need to turn over in the middle of the movie.
  
  So my recommendation is to stick with the Criterion version. It is worth the price. If you think you can save money by buying the import version, do this instead:
  
  1) with a magic marker write "IKIRU" on the front of a ten dollar bill
  2) burn it
  
  That will cost the same as the import DVD and will be a much more satisfying viewing experience.

• 9) Powerful examination of life

  by muskiedine on July 03 2005
    20+ helpful votes

  With only a year to live, Kanji Watanabe examines his life to discover that it has been a waste of time. His son, his presumed reason for working the same boring job for the last thirty years, has married and, although still living with the father, has drawn away from him, such that conversation is minimal and awkward, to the extent that Kanji is unable to tell him about his terminal cancer. For the most part, Kanji's work as the chief at city hall fills his life, but does nothing to fulfill it-- the work itself is meaninglessly mired in bureaucracy such that nothing ever really gets done, and certainly nothing of significance. In fact, the work has killed his sense of determination and initiative; it's boring.
  
  So what does Kanji do? He skips work and tries to find meaning for his life, first in alcohol and all the partying that goes with it, and then in the company of a young lady who after one and half years at city hall is resigning her position because it's "boring." She represents perhaps the attitude he should have embraced at an earlier age. But neither the alcohol nor his attraction to this youthful spirit are able to replace the void of despair and regret inside him, residing along with the cancer. He wants desperately "to live," but doesn't know how.
  
  Ikiru should rank as one of the most important films that examines the human life. Director Akira Kurosawa blends so many moments in this film that have remained with me, including the reflective scene in the bar where Kanji and a young writer (a young Kurosawa?) quietly talk to each other in close-up, the writer acknowledging the elder's plight, finding meaning in his despair: "Man finds truth in misfortune."
  
  Takashi Shimura (also in Kurosawa's Rashomon and The Seven Samurai) gives an incredible performance. It's not easy to convey regret through facial expression, but he does it so believably that you become overwhelmed by his pain. The scene toward the end with him on the swing is one of those moments from the movies that you never forget.
  
  Don't rent this film, buy it. Keep it and watch it at least once a year. Maybe it won't make a difference, maybe it won't cause you or me to adopt Kanji's it's-never-too-late, deferential and fanatical perseverance in pushing through something of significance to better humanity, but at least it will keep reminding us to.

• 10) Individual and society a la Kurosawa

  by Christopher Fung on August 21 2005
    20+ helpful votes

  I agree with all the other reviews which have discussed "Ikiru" in terms of its message for the individual: live your life with meaning and purpose, take pleasure in helping others, cherish and nurture children. However, there is one other aspect that I'd like to highlight: Kurosawa's thoughts on the individual and society.
  
  As the commentary by Stephen Prince makes clear, one of the main points behind Kurosawa's work was a head-on critique of Japanese society in the immediate post-war era.
  
  Although this period laid the foundation for Japan's economic recovery, Kurosawa is not alone in pointing out that the drive for economic prosperity was accomplished at huge human and spiritual cost. This idea is also one of the prime motivators behind the work of other Japanese artists from humanists like Hayao Miyazaki ("Spirited Away", "Princess Mononoke") to the lunatic right as exemplified by Mishima.
  
  Kurosawa uses Watanabe Kenji as a foil to expose the hypocrisy and selfishness of a society that values materialism and order above humanity and mindfulness. On the one hand, as most of the other reviewers have pointed out, Kurosawa condemns the way the bureaucratic small-mindedness of government stifles any real concern for the well-being of ordinary people. On the other, Watanabe's son and daughter-in-law embody the new age's impatience with its elders and their inability to see beyond their own concerns even when the people around them are clearly in crisis.
  
  A number of people have complained about the length of the second half of the movie, but (as Prince's commentary again makes clear), the flashbacks are important to establish a stronger sense of Watanabe's co-workers as characters both to illustrate their gradual understanding of the meaning of Watanabe's life but also to highlight their inability to really follow his example. Kurosawa's view of society is pretty cynical when you come right down to it. Even though many of his works are celebrations of individual creativity and spirit, he is also forthright about the forces arrayed against it: small-mindedness, fear of making mistakes, greed and the herd mentality. It's no wonder that he has often been accused of being "un-Japanese".
  
  One can also see this thread in Kurosawa's later movies including his period pieces such as "Seven Samurai" and "Kagemusha": in both of these films, the ordinary folks and the high and mighty are also found wanting as groups. While there may be individuals of principle, they will not prevail in the end. But, and Kurosawa makes this point in each of his movies, the efforts of such individuals are the true definition of nobility of spirit, and it is this message which provides the power behind all of his works.
  
  This is a wonderful piece of movie making. It is humanism at its most trenchant and finest. You must see this film, it is one of the best movies of all time.
  

• 11) A true masterpiece of world cinema

  by E. Burt on April 20 2005
    20+ helpful votes

  I'd say the film is more an answer to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington than to It's Wonderful Life as the plot centers on a man's final efforts, shortly before he will die of cancer, to regain his humanity and use his bureaucratic office to build a park in an poor urban area. Hardly a melodrama or weepie, this very moving, thoughtful film takes a highly unusal narrative turn about two-thirds of the way, and Kurosawa explores both critical and celebratory views of the hero, Watabanbe's successful efforts to get the park bult. The last third of the fim is informed by an unsentimental realism that goes far beyond much of the darkest cynicism of Hollywood film noir. But the final shot, which recalls an earlier beautiful shot of the film, holds out some hope that things will change even while aknowledging that there is little reason to hope that one man's efforts will change anything much. It's a long film, but my wife and I found it extremely engaging. This extremely memorable film is a treasure, and I am grateful to Criterion for releasing it on such a splendid DVD.

• 12) A story with a pulse

  by C. Christopher Blackshere on February 02 2008
    20+ helpful votes

  Ikiru (to live)
  
  This is an extremely passionate film that is small in scope but enormous in heart. It touches on a simple thought that resonates beyond any mundane everyday notions and asks a lofty question--Are you living your life to the fullest? It beautifully explores this question without being haughty or pretentious.
  I imagine this is Akiru's most emotionally entrancing and thought provoking film. It's definitely not his most visually impressive or action packed work, but perhaps it's his most personal.
  Imagine finding out you have six months to live. That stark realization comes crashing down on this main character, played with subtle precision by Takashi Shimura. As the panic sets in, he is forced to contemplate many important things. He realizes how little he has done with his time here on earth. So he sets off on an important journey to reclaim the life he's wasted.
  This story is a strong reminder that everyone should be able to relate to. It stresses the importance of the little things in life, and not to take things for granted. You'll soon realize this message is actually not small in scope at all. Such a moving tale, highly recommended.

• 13) Perfect

  by bobby on February 17 2005
    20+ helpful votes

  This is only one of two or three films that actually made me cry. Incredibly gentle, touching affirmation of life. This is the real deal, not trumped up Hollywood trash. What I mean is, this rings true and loud to real life. When the main character Watanabe, finds out he has cancer and details with pinpoint clarity the exact manner in which he has wasted his life...well, needless to say, this old boy was truly moved.

• 14) My favorite movie of all time.

  by John P. Thiel on June 21 2007
    20+ helpful votes

  When I had seen this movie a mere ten or so times already, I insisted my friends from Japan watch it with me. They protested because the film is old. One said, "My grandmother was young when that movie came out--that's how old it is." But since I insisted, they watched, and mid-movie they actually turned to me with tears streaming down their faces saying it was the greatest movie they had ever seen.
  
  I don't usually review movies, or read movie reviews, but do love watching them--much more so than television.
  
  This movie is personal to me. I've seen it over twenty times--since way back before DVD even existed--even though the movie is from way beck before I existed.
  
  It's full of common heros and common villans. You will find yourself somewhere amongst the characters, feeling and thinking as they feel, and perhaps being reformed by what happens in the movie--which I wont give you even a hint about because that's one of the chief reasons I do not read movie reviews.
  
  Besides, if I told you the basic story line, you might think it sounds boring and not watch it; whereas if you do watch it, I am sure you will be deeply touched and perhaps overhaul at least some aspect of the way you "Live" as a result--which happens to be the meaning of the title "Ikiru."
  
  Note that I recommend you go with subtitles instead of voice over if you don't understand Japanese--as I didn't when I first saw this film, but have become fluent in since. There's no substitute for the voices and sounds of the people and places in this film; this is not a kung fu movie,where everything is action and expression. Everything in the movie is very vivid to the senses, and your imagination will more than make up for whatever lapse in understanding the dialogue.
  
  BOTTOM LINE: The best movie I have ever seen. Beyond anyone's ability to describe in way that wont cause you to miss it.
  

• 15) Deeply Moving Masterpiece

  by Jeb Schubert on August 22 2005
    20+ helpful votes

  "Ikiru" is an emotionally potent, ultimately devastating picture that prove that "cinematic art" isn't an oxymoron. As with many Kurosawa films, one runs the risk of overusing superlatives when trying to describe the effect of watching this movie for the first time. The acting, cinematography, pacing, thematic elements, script, dialogue, intelligence, emotional pitch, and humor in the film are all near-perfect; one would have to search fairly hard to find anything to complain about (perhaps the "partying" scene drags on a few minutes too long?). So I'll just say "Watch it" and point out the most obvious strength - the "dual climax" of an ending. Who other than Kurosawa would follow one of the most touching scenes in film history with one of the most bitter - almost nihilistic - codas imaginable? Who would even think of using the inspirational story of one man's struggle to give his empty life meaning to point out the unfailing (and apparently permanent) passive destruction wreaked by a bureaucratic society?
  
  So perhaps the most impressive feature of the film is its ability to inspire even while ackowledging the dearth of humanity in modern society. Never has a film been more idealistic in its presentation of one man's ability to find fulfillment in giving to others, and never has a film been more cynical in its portrayal of one man's ultimate inability to inspire any lasting change in a corrupt culture. While only loosely adapting from Dostoyevsky's source novel, AK perfectly captures the Russian's spirit, that immediately identifiable blend of savage satire and melancholy idealism that ran throughout the author's work (most notably in "The Idiot", not surprisingly another novel AK had previously adapted). Along with epilepsy and alcoholism, Dostoyevsky and Kurosawa shared this sensibility, this powerful belief that the world could be a decent place if people would just make the slightest humanitarian effort, combined with a kind of quiet rage when faced with the reality that humanity as a whole simply will not ever make that effort. Never have these entwined themes been so powerfully expressed on film as they are in "Ikiru."

• 16) A timeless masterpiece on universal themes

  by John Grabowski on May 30 2006
    10+ helpful votes

  Imagine you found out you were going to die in a few months. What would you do? What would you decide mattered to you? What would you think you had accomplished? What would you consider left unaccomplished? What would you want your legacy to be?
  
  Those are the questions facing the centeral character in Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru (meaning "To live"). The brilliant actor Takashi Shimura plays the role of Kanji Watanabe, a midlevel bureaucrat who has spent his entire career doing little more than protecting his own job by looking busy while actually accomplishing little. One day this man learns he has terminal cancer and will soon die. This revelation makes him start reviewing his life, and he concludes he has done nothing worthwhile. He tries to "live it up" with newfound friends and loose women, but this does not fulfill him. He cannot bring himself to tell his own son and daughter-in-law about his fate; caught up in their own petty problems, they seem to have little time for the old man. Eventually he meet a kind of kindred spirit, another worker at the bureaucracy who is quitting her job because she too feels she is doing nothing useful. But even she cannot help this poor man who needs love, fulfillment, a sense of purpose. And so Watanabe finds his own reason to go on through his final days, a reason centered around doing genuine good, regardless of the chance of reward. After he dies the glory all goes to lesser bureaucrats who, while previously fighting him every step of the way, now bask in the spotlight and claim the glory, paying him much lip service while denying him true honor.
  
  Normally I don't give so detailed a plot description, but I've done so here for two reasons: 1) few people, particularly in America, have seen or even heard of this movie, and 2) I want to point out how universal the themes are, how this movie could easily be remade today in any other country with any other culture and any other cast. While watching Ikiru I kept thinking a good modern title might be, "The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same." Like so many Kurosawa films, this movie, though black and white and old, feels completely contemporary in its concerns and its content. While much has been made of Kurosawa's concern with the Japanese conflict between collective and individual, the issues in Ikiru resonates with any culture, not just Japan's. These bureacrats sound like the bureaucrats with which we all are familiar. This is a very deep film, filled with themes of existentialism that movies rarely tackle. It asks the biggest questions that can be asked of a life. At the same time, it never feels pretentious or preachy.
  
  The story is complex, not in terms of plot twists, but in terms of its "inner life." Yet with a running time of two hours and 23 minutes, Ikiru moves very quickly, feeling faster than a typical 90-minute Hollywood film. This is probably because there is lots of ground to cover, and also because of the effortless acting. Takashi Shimura's performance as Watanabe is one of the greatest of cinema. Though Shimura is not widely known in the west, he was one of Japan's major actors of the 1950s and 60s, and Kurosawa worked with him often. See him in Kurosawa's Seven Samuri, made just two years after this film, for a completely different performance, one of swagger and bravado.
  
  Other cast members are also outstanding, especially Miki Odagiri as a young female coworker. She too feels straitjacketed by her job as a government paper-pusher, but she is young and not tied down by responsibility and so she leaves. On a sort of date with Watanabe she confides that she has humorous names for everyone in the department based on how they behave, and that his is "The Mummy." Rather than be offended, he agrees with her and this insight helps to shape his vision of himself and what he must do to be redeemed.
  
  It's hard to believe the same director who made such beautifully-composed samurai films also could direct contemporary dramas that look as effortless as this. Yet the film, or the third act of it, also reminded me of a very different motion picture--Citizen Kane, believe it or not. While stylistically the two masterpieces have little in common, both deal with a man, recently dead, who is being pieced together by those who knew him partially. They try to make sense of his actions without ever getting the full picture, while we, as the omniscent audience, do. They misunderstand his actions, and ascribe many to selfishness when they were actually exactly the opposite. (Often with Kane the reverse is true.) The only difference is while Watanabe is fundamentally a sympathetic character, Kane is not. Also, Kurosawa manages to tell his story without flashy technique or set pieces.
  
  Ikiru also strangely foreshadows the life of a real Japanese hero of the second part of the 20th century, Yutaka Katayama (or "Mr. K," as he was called by many). Katayama was the head of Nissan Motor's West Coast division in North America in the 1960s and 70s. He was brought to the task when Nissan was a piddly carmaker of no consequence, especially in North America, which was then ruled by big, powerful Ford and GM cars. Though Katayama was not motivated by the thought of his impending death, he was hard-working and wanted to succeed in America, which he did through steady, unflagging determination. But he also went against the grain of Japanese business protocol, and encountered the wrath of his superiors in Tokyo. Ironically, the more successful he became, the more he was resented. (His far less aggressive and successful counterpart on the east coast was more highly regarded by the Japanese bosses.) After establishing Nissan as a major player in America, Katayama was unceremoniously retired as superiors moved in and took credit for his work. He died in obscurity, but today Mr. K is a revered figure at Nissan, and was even used in an advertising campaign several years ago. Executives now dislocate their jaws praising him. It all sounds too familiar.
  
  The second DVD has two features, a 90 minute documentary from Kurosawa's own production company about his working methods, wherein he discusses everything from writing scripts to editing the final product; and a 40-minute feature about making Ikiru, with cast and crew interviews. Both docs are excellent and you will watch Ikiru with more intelligence after you see them. There's also the film's trailer and a commentary track which I confess I haven't had time to listen to. It's by Stephen Prince, author of The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa.
  
  Criterion once again is the standard to which all DVD makers should be aspiring. The print, while scratched and battered a bit with age, is as good as we're likely to see. It's unfortunate that for many years Kurosawa's work was not better taken care of. Like Nissan's Mr. K, he was without honor in his own country, because he was considered "too Western" in his outlook. Like Mr. K, his name now evokes nothing but praise in his homeland. Fortunately, the work of this "Mr. K" is finally being preserved. Ikiru is a film you should investigate even if you've never seen a Japanese movie before, even if you've never heard of Akira Kurosawa, even if you "hate" foreign or black and white films, even if you think you have no interest in the subject. Because that subject is in fact very modern and universal, and you will quickly be swept away by the relevance of the story. Ikiru is the very dictionary definition of the term "timeless classic."

• 17) One of the representative and fantastic film of Akira Kurosawa

  by Toshiyuki on August 26 2005
    10+ helpful votes

  If you have never seen his films made in 1950's, you should see them ASAP. You could feel his aggressive and challenging spirit for the movie.
  The title "Ikiru" means just "Live". This film obviously lets you know what "Live" is.
  The first time when I saw this movie is 20 years age. In that days there were no video, vcd or dvd player, it was very difficult to see his films even in Japan. But now DVD have been released, How lucky we are!

• 18) "I am not angry with anyone, I have no time for that"

  by Galina on February 26 2007
    10+ helpful votes

  There are good, very good, and even great movies. But among them there are just a few that go beyond great. They belong to the league of their own. Akira Kurosawa's "Ikiru" (To Live), 1952 is one of them. The film of rare humanity, profoundly moving and often funny "Ikiru" tells the story of a dying man's last crusade that turned out to be his triumph, the best thing he had ever done in his life; something he will be remembered for. The film reveals both absurdity of life and the ability of man to find meaning in it through selfless action.
  
  Two years before he played the tough lead in "Seven Samurai", Takashi Shimara gave even finer performance in a very different role as a government bureaucrat Kanji Watanabe who seemed to lead a life of quiet desperation at his job and at home. Then, he learns that he has terminal cancer and faced with the fact of death, he first tries to take from life as much as possible and spends the half of his savings on gambling, drinking and women. It leads him nowhere and gradually he determines to achieve one good thing before he dies, and settles on converting a junkyard into a playground for children. Rather than make a feel good movie with co-workers helping Kanji Watanabe in his quest and his family around him at his last moment, Kurosawa portrays him as a lonely crusader - no one can understand why this park is so important to him. The answer is very simple - he does not have time and he wants to live to see the park open. His family and co-workers don't even know how ill he is what makes some scenes even more powerful and poignant. His words, "I am not angry with anyone, I have no time for that"; the look at his face when asked by a mafia member if he did not care for his life - the film has many quiet but compelling moments like these.
  
  For me, watching "Ikiru" was as close to earth shattering experience as it goes. I think it is one of very few films that could really change one's life. I could not help comparing it to "Cries and Whispers" - how devastated I was by the theme of inevitable death, how ugly it is, and how helpless we all are while facing it. "Ikiru" is about a dying man, too but how hopeful and life affirming it is. The film did not tell or teach me something I had not known before but it confirmed once more that it is never too late to do something even if you have only few months to live.
  
  

• 19) Wonderful film

  by TrezKu13 on December 31 2003
    10+ helpful votes

  This film is all about character. Do not expect any great action scenes or otherwise "exciting" angst. However, if you do like watching a film for character development or storyline, this is perfect for you.

  Starring the great Takashi Shimura (some might know him best as the lead samurai in "Seven Samurai") as a government officer who discovers one day he doesn't have much longer to live. He suddenly realizes how much he's wasted on his life and at first attempts to remedy this by visiting the hot spots of city life and spending time with a young girl from his office. He then realizes the best way to finish his life is to leave a legacy itself, and joins the crusade for a community project. In some ways it's almost like a Japanese "It's a Wonderful Life" except with out angels.

  The first time you watch this it might be slow, but once you watch it again you realize how every thing fits together and the characters' actions become more fleshed out. Kurosawa often worked with such character studies that showed the different emotions of mankind in their different situations; "Ikiru" is perhaps his most perfect effort into this.

• 20) If You Have Patience You Will Enjoy This

  by Keith A. Jones on October 09 2007
    10+ helpful votes

  I was lucky enough to catch Ikiru on one of my calm I wanna watch a slow movie days. Usually I'm bouncing off the walls and watching a crazy action flick. I can certainly understand that this might not be a movie for everyone because it can be a little slow and quiet. So if slow and quiet isn't your style then you may not want to pick this up. This being a Kurosawa film it will definitely draw some attention and trust me it is worthy of his direction. Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) is a middle-aged man who has been living a dull meaningless life. He has worked the same job for years and has to come home to a son who just seems to be waiting for him to die. Kanji finds out that he has stomach cancer and is told that he has less than a year to live.
  
  This strikes something in his mind, that he needs to start living instead doing the same things everyday. Because of this disease Kanji tries to live life as if he were young and full of life. He even tries to drink his sorrows away while explaining his newfound sickness. Kanji meets a young girl who he admires because of her youth and joy. Because of her she inspires him to do something big before he dies. He sets his sights on building the community and fixes up old broken down playgrounds among other things. He does what he can and lives right down to his very last minute.
  
  Ikiru has good quality coming from all elements of a good film not just one thing. Even the old black and white picture adds some emotion to the film. The story itself is timeless and is one that may appear to many people in their life. I think what really gives this film that extra something is the acting from Takashi Shimura who made this character very realistic. He had a look on his face for the entire film that showed pain and his age and fear of his future. His face looked as if death was sitting right next to him waiting for him to fold up and stop living before he even died. There was never a time where you forgot that he was this character. As I said earlier the films black and white picture added a lot to the films feeling it wanted to give you and when you watch it you'll understand. I saw no flaws in Ikiru and it is definitely a must see especially if you love the work of Takashi Shimura and Akira Kurosawa.

• 21) A Film That Embraces Life's Absurdities

  by R. DelParto on September 13 2005
    10+ helpful votes

  Ikiru (To Live) is a chilling depiction of the film's "hero", Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura), a civil servant, who works in the city office as the Chief clerk. After receiving a medical examination, he discovers that he has gastric cancer in spite of the fact that the doctor informs him that it's merely a mild ulcer. Watanabe seeks guidance on how to spend his entire life savings. He promotes a novelist (Yunesuke Ito) to take him on a bar and club excursion in order to escape from headiness on his that was weighing on his mind. Only after befriending a former employee (Miki Odagiri) who makes toy bunnies for children, he soon decides that he has to do something meaningful for the remaining part of his life - to approve plans to build a city park.
  
  This film is gripping in that it relates to the somewhat disillusionment and hope that many Japanese experienced after World War II. The main theme of the film deals with full disclosure or in simple terms, the truth. This assessment may be seen within the film as Watanabe keeps his knowledge of his illness to himself as a way to preserve his life. As he proceeds from day to day, the unbearable ness takes a toll. IRIKURU shows that despite social and cultural differences, individuals deal with unpleasant situations in the same way.
  
  Director Akiru Kurosawa was one of the most legendary directors in Japanese film history, and the accompanying screenplay by Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni is the most relevant aspect of the film. The cinematography is impeccable and reveals the emotions and actions of the actors. The film is dark and ironic at times - Watanabe's somewhat groaning chant of an old twenties ballad, "Fall in love, dear maiden..." is quiet haunting, but Kurosawa manages to allude to the viewer that a little bit of humor in the midst of death offers a sense of realism to the conscience.
  
  No doubt, the film is a great achievement and should be viewed by film buffs or anyone interested in humanistic films without being too sentimental. IKIRU stands as a testament to the human spirit.
  

• 22) what would you do if you had six months to live?

  by D. Pawl on June 28 2007
    10+ helpful votes

  Though Akira Kurosawa is perhaps best-known for his samurai films (YOJIMBO, SEVEN SAMURAI, as a couple of examples), IKIRU takes a detour from that theme and, for me, was one of the finest films he made. Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) is a public servant and has worked for the government for thirty years. His days consist of pushing papers around on his desk and adding a stamp of approval to a slew of documents. When he learns that he will soon succumb to untreatable stomach cancer, every aspect of his mundane existence is turned on its head. For so many years, this man has lived "off to the side" in his life and he doesn't have the time to do that anymore. His newly found attitude, that comes with the realization of his irreversible fate, leads to a multitude of life changes that those around him aren't sure what to make of. Ultimately, Watanabe's new approach to the world and what his part is on the earth manages to touch everyone around him (for good or worse). This film co-stars Shinichi Himori and Haruo Tanaka.
  
  IKIRU shows a beautifully poignant side of Kurosawa, as a storyteller. We see a man in Watanabe that we probably all have encountered at some point (maybe that man even exists within us!). This individual has spent so many years as a cog in the wheel of life that he has put aside his emotions and true feelings just to get by without starting trouble. The beautiful cinematography in this story particularly well-showcases Watanabe's physical deterioration in the face of his illness. His eyes speak volumes about his physical pain, and yet he finds new-found strength to cling on to life in the wake of his last breaths in this world. This feeling of urgency is contrasted by moments of newly realized joy and gratitude. There are so many haunting moments, whether we are watching Watanabe interact with his white collar colleagues or breaking loose for a night on the town with a vagabond he encounters at a bar, the night that the two men really go out for a night on the town. This is a beautifully made film and really is timeless. I have a hard time believing that this was made in 1952 because it could have been released just yesterday. It is truly a fine depiction of the human condition and the fragility of the life with which we have been given.

• 23) One of the world's perfect films.

  by Robert P. Beveridge on May 11 2007
    10+ helpful votes

  Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952)
  
  I find Ikiru a very difficult film about which to wax lyrical. I'm not sure why this is, because the film begs praise; it is a work of absolute brilliance in every respect, perhaps Kurosawa's (if not the Japanese film industry's) single finest moment. But how to explain why? All I can do, all any of us can do, is lay it out for you. It takes Akira Kurosawa to make it come alive.
  
  Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) is the chief clerk in a department on Tokyo City Hall. He has worked there for thirty years, and accomplished nothing of note. As the film opens, we are told that he has gastric cancer, and will soon be dead. Soon enough, Watanabe himself finds this out (more through the idle banter of another old man in the waiting room than his duplicitous doctor), and realizes that there has to be more to life than this. The rest of the film chronicles Watanabe's search to figure out how to live, and his quest's effect on those around him.
  
  The film would not be what it is without Takashi Shimura, who takes Kurosawa's script and turns a paper Watanabe into an amazing character, a man struggling to throw off the boundaries imposed upon him by job, culture, and family. Shimura's performance alone would be enough to make this an above-average film, but everyone here turns in fine performances. Kurosawa, of course, was a master director, and he shows it off here; the movie is paced slowly enough to let us get to know Watanabe and those around him, but it never drags. (Pretty amazing for a two and a half hour film about an existential crisis.)
  
  I do find it amusing that a number of reviews I've read recently have commented on the film's "feel-good factor." While it's there, and there's no doubt about that, I'm wondering how such an interpretation of the film fits in with the subtle, but devastating, final scene of the film. (Obviously, I can't say what happens without giving away the whole thing, but trust me on this.) This is a subject about which I'd love to wax lyrical, but I'm going to have to wait till you've all seen it. Let me know. *****

• 24) Very few films are perfect

  by RaiderOfTheLostArk on September 13 2007
    10+ helpful votes

  It is in that small amount of films that are perfect. This film has a simple plot, but tells an amazing story of a man. I'm sure anything I say has already been said in the other reviews. But this film has an image that you will never forget. It is hard not to cry every time I watch this film. It is that powerful.
  
  The Criterion DVD is the best there will ever be. For it's age it has a great image, and a good amount of extras. Remember, Criterion doesn't put useless special features on their DVD's. Expect the best.
  
  This is easily the finest character study ever put on film.

• 25) This film will stay in your mind long after viewing

  by RCapella on April 10 2007
    10+ helpful votes

  I wathed Ikiru twice in two daya. This movie has a simple premise: a dying man tries to give meaning to his life. He longs for a connection with his distant son, he works at bureaucratic job that is all paper-shuffling. He decides to live out his last few months with meaning. At first, he issimply having fun and living through the expriences of others--a novelist and a young female coworker with a zest for life. When he realizes that he can't live their lives, he tries to create his own purpose and meaning in the time e has left. A haunting song of his youth tells it all. When he reprises the song at the end, I daare anyone to have a dry eye! Takashi Shimura is a wonderful actor; his face is expressive and the viewer feels all his emotional pain. We suffer wth him and our hearts go out to him. We want a fairy-tale/Hollywood ending, but what we get is ultimately more satisfying. I cannot stop thinking of and talking about Ikiru. This is Akiro Kurosawa's best, and quickly became one of my favorite movies of all time. I recommend it most highly. Be warned that this is NOT a Samurai movie.