Genre: Drama
Duration: 143 minuten
Alternative titles: Doomed / Living / To Live / 生きる
Country:
Japan
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa
Stars: Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko and Haruo Tanaka
IMDb score:
8,3 (101.501)
Releasedate: 9 October 1952
Ikiru plot
"A big story of a little man which will grip your soul ..."
Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) is an office worker who, like all his colleagues, does nothing at work. Then one day he discovers that he has stomach cancer and has only a few months to live. He then decides to use these last months to discover the purpose of his life.
Actors and actresses
Kanji Watanabe
Sakai
Mitsuo, son of Kanji
Ohara
Toyo
Kimura
Noguchi
Subordinate Clerk Saito
Sub-Section Chief Ono
Kiichi Watanabe, Kanji's Brother
Reviews & comments
BBarbie
-
- 12893 messages
- 7675 votes
Given the numerous accolades and high scores, not quite the film I expected. The developments in the story —or rather the lack thereof, especially in the middle part — don't justify the long playing time. In addition, protagonist Takashi Shimura shows the same mimicry under almost all circumstances.
My third Kurosawa, a more than decent director, but not an absolute hit in my opinion.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Dievegge
-
- 3180 messages
- 8228 votes
Not traditional Japan is shown here, but an urbanized, modernized, westernized society. The huge pile of files in the background of the office is a symptom of the Kafkaian bureaucracy. Watanabe is alienated from his working and living environment. He has set his stamps for decades without ever achieving anything concrete; his son is only interested in the inheritance.
The cancer diagnosis is the tipping point after which he realizes that he has forgotten to live (“ikiru”). During his search for meaning, “Mefisto” leads him through the hell of the nightlife. There he sits with a funeral face among the revelers. He envies the zest for life of his young, female colleague Toyo, to the contrary in every way. The joke she tells at the beginning fits the theme of pointless civil service.
The first act is framed by an omniscient narrator, starting with an X-ray. In the second act, his next of kin go as detectives to reconstruct Watanabe's last months. The camera is often still. Mirrors, windows and doors have been used to increase the space. Sake and rice meals with chopsticks alternate with traffic chaos, baseball and a pinball machine. Rock 'n' roll and Afro-Cuban jazz contrast with the Japanese life song. It's a little man's quest for the answer to a big life question.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Fisico
-
- 10039 messages
- 5398 votes
Ikiru is an interesting film that especially resonates with its intriguing concept where an old man is forced to think about his life when he is confronted with cancer. It is a recognizable fact when you as a mortal look back on your life and you consider the things that you have or have not realized. When Kanji does the same exercise on himself, he notices that he has lived too little and has reversed the motto "we work to live".
It is also interesting to gain insight into his job as an office clerk. The bureaucracy drips from it and when it's not there, the chain limps. Talking endlessly about who should handle which question or who is responsible may be something that we have experienced ourselves when we are at a counter. For example, the playing field for the children is not created by an administrative tangle. Kanji eventually makes it his main goal.
The film is a search for the meaning of life, but fortunately this heavy theme is presented fairly lightly. The typical elements are reviewed, such as the taste of a riotous debauched life, although that soon makes way by hanging out (too closely) with a former female colleague. The biggest annoyance was the pathetic, pathetic look that was supposed to arouse pity and self-pity.
The film is timeless and also makes you think about the things in life. In that respect an extremely successful film with a clear message. Tragic and lighthearted at the same time. Floating between 3.5* and 4.0*. Beautiful!
Translated from Dutch · View original
Corporate & Media
Realtimes Network
Innovatieweg 20C
7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31(315)-764002
