‎Ikiru (1952) directed by Akira Kurosawa • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Ikiru

1952 ‘生きる’ Directed by Akira Kurosawa

One of the Great Films of Our Time!

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

Takashi Shimura Haruo Tanaka Nobuo Kaneko Bokuzen Hidari Miki Odagiri Shin'ichi Himori Minoru Chiaki Minosuke Yamada Kamatari Fujiwara Makoto Kobori Nobuo Nakamura Atsushi Watanabe Isao Kimura Masao Shimizu Yûnosuke Itô Yoshie Minami Kumeko Urabe Eiko Miyoshi Noriko Honma Yatsuko Tan'ami Kin Sugai Kyôko Seki Kusuo Abe Tomo'o Nagai Seiji Miyaguchi Daisuke Katô Hiroshi Hayashi Fuyuki Murakami Hirayoshi Aono Show All…

143 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Jaime Rebanal ★★★★★ 34

Before I begin, I would like to say that this is not going to be a proper review and I want you to keep the one person behind it in mind.

My name is Jaime Rebanal, and I am a hopeless individual who has suffered through depression and extreme anxiety. I think saying that can already get a load off my chest for the time being.

But why say this in front of an entry about Ikiru, you say? I feel like Ikiru is a film that can represent me when I go through these depressive episodes so perfectly and though I'm not near death or anything, the pain that the protagonist, Kanji Watanabe, feels also begins to leave him…
Review by YI JIAN ★★★★½ 5

An old man sat on a swing, the snow formed a blanket on his hunched back, his heart was warmer than ever. For the past 50 years he had rushed through life, and we all know bad things happen to those who hurry. They would look back and realize all the effort was for nothing. The man got disconnected with his only son, lost all his friends, and most importantly, forgot to admire the grossly incandescent sun. "Not enough time" was the excuse he used to give himself. "I have work to do! I must sweat and frown and sit at that same table every day for--"

For what?

That night on the swing, he had all the time in…
Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★★ 6

"I can't afford to hate people. I haven't got that kind of time."

While I was watching this, I kept forgetting that it was made in '52. Ikiru is an amazing movie, and probably my new favorite of its respective decade. The social commentary, especially in the third act, is spot on... possibly even more relevant today. The black and white photography is simply beautiful, and Takashi Shimura's lead performance as Watanabe is something to marvel over. Rarely have I seen such genuine sadness on an actor's face; it's something that I'll never forget. Essential viewing for all human beings on Planet Earth.
Review by Mr. DuLac ★★★★★ 10

Part of:
5 Directors x 5 Unseen Films – Round 1

Dying is very difficult.
-Kanji Watanabe

After spending a lifetime barely existing behind a desk how does one know how to suddenly start enjoying what little is left of life? If this would be a Hollywood film Kanji Watanabe, after receiving news of his terminal cancer, would go on a grand adventure discovering the joys he had been missing on, reconnecting with family and loved ones while changing the lives of everyone he comes into contact with while it all being hilarious in the process.

While Akira Kurosawa was often accused of being too Western in his film making, this would not be a great example of those accusations.…
Review by Emily Jayne ★★★★★ 4

Once again I've seen why Kurosawa is constantly quoted by film buffs, modern directors, and lecturers as among their favorites. He is indeed a master of his craft.

This beautiful tale could have been so ordinary...really it SHOULD have been so ordinary. "Life is about living" is no longer a unique thought. You'd find quotes saying as much in dozens of modern popcorn flicks and Pinterest boards alike.

What Kurosawa has done here, though, is take a film that's premise is "What would you do with six months to live?" and instead asked the question "What makes a life worthwhile?" And surprise: The answer is not climbing Mt. Everest, or parasailing, or bungee jumping, or going from event to event…
Review by Graham J ★★★★ 7

Swings in a winter playground will never look the same again.

Ikiru is long - perhaps too long but Director Akira Kurosawa shoots it beautifully. While the pans and zooms look and work great, the film is at its most moving when the camera glues a close up to our dying mans haunted face, the abyss creeping up behind him and weighing his old body down to the ground. While you don't learn much about him as a person, it's irrelevant as Kurosawa just wants the complications, the joy, sorrow and briefness of life to come through a plot which barely moves an inch.

Ikiru is ultimately realistically sad. You probably won't be in floods of tears by the end but you might want to grab hold of what you've got while you've got it.

A lovely film.

Recent reviews

Review by Henrique Moura ★★★★

esse é bom
Review by ImmigrantFilm ★★★★ 1

4.0/5.0 = Amazing

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. IKIRU. To me, this might be the holy trinity of classic life-affirming cinema. It's only fitting that in true Japanese fashion, the film titled "to live" is not about family, but rather legacy, honor, distinction, and purpose. In the case of IKIRU, a man finding purpose after illness has ruined his will to live. It goes without saying that IKIRU might be Kurosawa's most heartrending film. Brutally honest, slow-burning, like a candlelight vigil for it's protagonist. The decision to use a narrator imbues IKIRU with a sense of wonder and memory that elevates it's protagonist to the stature of a folk hero. The third-act twist by way of CITIZEN KANE…
Review by RetroHound ★★★½

To Live. What does it mean to live? What is a life well lived? These are questions that Kurosawa wants to ask.

A bureaucrat finds he has stomach cancer. First he gets depressed, skips work, then he runs around with a novelist all night, then with an exuberant young lady, which he keeps up until she gets creeped out, and then he decides to do one great thing. It's a small thing, but a great thing for a neighborhood of kids and moms. He dies. At the funeral the story of how he pushed and pushed and pushed to get this thing done is explained in flashback as people argue about his last few months.

Ikiru is a devastating work of art, but one with hope. One man can make a difference, but we may not even bother until we know we have nothing to lose.
Review by Mehdi Omidvari ★★★

That would be pretty natural to see this classical mralism in a story from 50s. This old fashion moralism on the side, Kurosawa re-examines the elements of his established mise en scene in this film by using the depth of each frame and scene. This time there is a Breschteque quality into narrative as he cuts the emotions by non-linear montage and adding narration to the most sentimental moments.
Review by Daniel E Smith ★★★★★

94 / 100
Review by Ripplin ★★★★★

I've seen a fair number of Kurosawa films, and though others have gotten close to this level, I feel confident in saying this is my favorite so far. (and Kurosawa's favorite, too, as I found out afterwards) That is partly because of the lead, Takashi Shimura. He plays a sad sack in this, as he often did, and his performance moved me to tears several times. (even looking at that poster is making me well up a bit; this film ratcheted up my softy mode)

I don't want to say too much about the story (Shimura's character, a bored/boring office worker, finds out he has stomach cancer and hasn't very long to live), other than it is incredibly well done.…
Review by Joaquin Villalobos ★★★

How lovely a metaphor for life is a pinball machine in close-up at the precise moment Kanji decides to live it up... until his drunken friend then explains said metaphor in full, nuance-crushing detail. Which seems to happen a lot in this film (and for me, with Kurosawa in general), where very little is ever left to subtlety. Especially Shimura's borderline cartoonish performance, and while I don't entirely buy the need for the second half's flashback structure, it's a relief to get away from his overtly pained face and to a single dignified photo upon his memorial. It's nice he's humanized through others' accounts, as is always the case, and that newly-vacant swing slowing to stillness at the end is just the right understated touch I needed to make his wonderful, romanticized snow-covered song all the more memorable.
Review by pynechone 5

I don't know.
Review by Jayvee Salunga ★★★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Perfection.

Take this sequence with the piano player.
It has two parts. It starts off with an upbeat piano piece. Then Kanji requests a slower song, “Life is Brief.” Clearly there are two different tones already embedded with each musical piece. What amazes me is that Kurosawa stylistically follows suit.
In the upbeat section, Kurosawa plays with reflections, uses smooth, decisive camera movements, and cuts to multiple angles.
Switching into Kanji’s song, everything seems to slow down. The people dancing. The movement of the camera. In this part of the scene, Kurosawa sticks to one close up of Kanji crying and singing.

A really well-crafted and meaningful film.