Rating: 
Summary: Comparisons
Review: I don't know if anyone's noticed, but the critically-acclaimed "About Schmidt" with Jack Nicholson, seems to bear a startling resemblence to Kurosawa's "Ikiru." Both follow the meanderings of old men as they realize the dreary meaningless of their lives and search for some semblance of meaning. Both are moving, although I would argue that "Ikiru" is slightly more successful in its expression of bitter-sweet optimism - a difficult feat when one considors the extremely nihilistic framework of the film.
Rating:
Summary: wow
Review: This movie is best viewed as a matinee. You need to be wide awake and paying attention to what's going on. I just saw this movie today at a museum in Boston, and it absolutely stunned me. You need to be patient with this movie (by Hollywood standards, it drags). But, the patience will pay off because by the end of the movie, you care about this lowly government worker so much that it hurts. I'll never forget this movie. And yet, it had virtually no action, hot women, or even much of a plot (at one point, we watch a man's attempts to push a proposal for a new tiny urban park thru city hall). But, even if you're not into foreign films, you gotta check this out. Like I said, make sure you're wide awake and in a patient mood. This one is pretty damn important.
Rating:
Summary: About 40 Years Now
Review: I first saw this movie sometime in the early 1960s when I was a teenager. It is no less captivating for me now than it was then. Nothing I have read in the preceding reviews is overstated. While it is "slow" from an action point of view, there does not seem to me to be one frame that could be cut. I can think of no other work of art that quite rises to this standard. One thing that is rarely mentioned is that the actors apply their craft with genius worthy of the film.
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Summary: The Greatest Film Ever Made
Review: While I have not seen every movie made on the planet, I stand by the title of this review. I know of no other film which depicts so well what all human beings must go through: realizing their mortality - that no one lives forever, determine what to do with their lives, and accomplish what they decide. Few people truly follow through on all three steps, or are able to do so. What the director Akira Kurosawa further demonstrates, which almost no other film attempts, is how so few observing people understand what motivates particular individuals to do the great and good things they do and how these observers in turn should respond in like manner and get busy. As is so cogently shown in the film, most people do not, cannot, follow through on their own from the example of living they observed. This raises the film above mere entertainment. It is sermonizing and evangelism without the negative connotations those words normally carry. It is a parable worthy of the teachings of the wisest people on Earth, even those of Jesus. It is the most moral film I have ever seen. (Other reviews discuss the plot of the film quite well. Please take time to read them, if you wish. Sometimes a person's viewing pleasure is enhanced by not knowing in advance what is about to be seen. Just be sure to pay attention to what goes on in the film, for Akira Kurosawa does not spell things out or underline them for the viewer as do modern films from Hollywood. Repeated viewings of "Ikiru" may be needed to catch what the director/screenwriter sends your way.) This film, now a half-century old, still communicates this needed message of how "to live" with excellence. From the acting skills of all the players to the elliptical means of the story's presentation with its portrayal of multiple viewpoints (it's done so smoothly, with such assurance) to the use of camera placement and angles to the integration of music to the action depicted to the use of editing techniques (wipes, jump cuts and fade outs, as well as when NOT to use sound), this film displays its brilliance in all its 141 minutes of running time. (NB, the film should be 143 minutes long per Donald Richie, but I have never seen at the theater, on VHS or on DVD, a version of this film longer than 141 minutes. The original negative was destroyed in a Toho studio fire.) The tempo of the film may be slow for some viewers. Just relax, recalibrate the bio-rhythms and take in all that this terrific film has to offer. Note: the English subtitles on the video come from the 1960 Brandon Films release of this 1952 Japanese film into the United States. There are certain passages of dialogue that are not translated but would provide greater depth of understanding of the film if they had been. See Donald Richie's translation of the script, if possible. Revised subtitles with a newer, more complete translation, would be welcome.
Rating:
Summary: A Joyous Masterpiece
Review: "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.
Rating:
Summary: A life worth living
Review: This movie, more than any other, will make you think about your own life. Has it been a life worth living? Could I and should I be doing more? And, if I had only a few months to live, what would I do? Watanabe, the main character in Ikiru, faces those questions. Like a drowning man, he first grasps for anything within his reach including alcohol, a meaningful relationship with a son who doesn't understand him, and friendship with an energetic young woman from his office. But he soon realizes something more important. His life has been a total waste. He has accomplished nothing. He's going to die without having really lived. But he finally makes a decision to act and do something positive for society. There are many memorable moments in this film, but none more poignant than the two scenes in which Watanabe sings "Life is short, fall in love, dear maiden." Takashi Shimura, who plays the terminally-ill Watanabe, doesn't have much of a voice. But this song will pierce your heart. What I appreciate most is the way Kurosawa chose to tell Watanabe's story. Rather than presenting events in strict chronological order, Kurosawa uses a series of flashbacks. This allows us to better see how Watanabe's actions inspired, and in some cases, confused the people who knew him. If this movie doesn't move you, then nothing will.
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Summary: To Live is to Act
Review: Many of us spend our life trying to understand the meaning of life. We continue seeking and looking -- knowing that the day we stop looking is the day we stop living. Personally, this movie came closest of all in attempting an answer to the unanswerable question. Watch this movie and continue looking ... Your question may not be answered but you might just cross the half-way mark in your journey that never ends ...
Rating:
Summary: Kurosawa's most timeless classic
Review: I think IKIRU is probably Akira Kurosawa's most overlooked masterpiece, especially since it was followed by SEVEN SAMURAI in 1954. IKIRU is a work of unparalleled maturity, where Kurosawa takes the time to tell a story in a completely unapologetic and deliberate way. This will confront you in a way no other film will, reaching the deep-seated fears we all have about our deaths. It is overwhelmingly sad, and yet it is inspiring and heartfelt. IKIRU is Akira Kurosawa's most deeply moving, most human, and most timeless film. The film opens with the realization that Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) has cancer and will die in a matter of months. Upon discovering his fate, Watanabe realizes that despite raising a son and working dutifully at his job for almost 25 years, he has never truly lived, and has not really made his mark on the world. And so Watanabe begins a personal journey that will become his legacy. Along the way, he will experience things he's never experienced, enjoy things he's never enjoyed, and do things thought to be impossible. In a sense, the story unfolds like a dark Frank Capra film. Perhaps one of life's most monumental crises is to suddenly look back and realize there are still many things we haven't done, and to know that we haven't enough time to do them all. Some of us reach a time in life when we question the direction our lives have taken, and this film boldly explores that difficult subject. IKIRU (meaning "to live") deserves its rightful place among Akira Kurosawa's numerous classics. The power of its story shows us that no matter when we reach that point of self-questioning, it needn't be too late to seek out an unreachable dream and fulfill it, if we are determined.
Rating:
Summary: far and away
Review: The time period is post war japan, the country is rebuilding, there is drabness, the rough noisy sounds of the streets, the cabarets, the energy. Cut to scenes of the civil servants office, stillness, quietness and volumes of paper. Kurosawa is a master moving gracefully between the raw and sublime. Watch for the two scenes where Shimura sings. In the first, the beaded curtain swinging back forth to the song. In the last scene, the swing, gently rocking, framed in the squares of the ... The policeman returning the hat, the mannerisms, you know the guy has to be a black belt judo and yet the sincere, humble apology. The politician with entourage, going through the hollow ritual courtesy at the house, to be confronted by the working housewifes with reverent condolence offerings. Kurosawa is a social satrist with an unrelenting gift for detail and rhythm. Every now then I have a need to watch it again. As it plays so slow, I have slow down to feel that detail and rhythm.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful
Review: I wish I could give this movie more than just 5 stars! One of the greatest features of all time. This film clearly shows that Akira Kurosawa was more than just a director of epic samurai pictures. He could also direct powerful dramas as well. Takashi Shimura, as the dying bureaucrat Watanabe, gives one of the greatest performances in motion picture history! He looked so weak and fragile in this movie, yet in the SEVEN SAMURAI (as the head samurai), he looked strong and able. You could swear that it was two different actors! A true testament to Shimura's acting ability. I doubt that any of today's overpaid actors could pull that off. Hollywood tearjerkers don't even compare to IKIRU. This movie is sad (depressing at times, after all he is dying of cancer). It can make you angry (The petty politicians in this feature don't give a damm about anything and yet take credit for all of the good that's been done), and most of all, it is very inspiring. A true classic.
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