fbpx
Wikipedia

Ikiru

January 26, 2023

For other uses, see To Live (disambiguation).

Ikiru (生きる, "To Live") is a 1952 Japanese drama film directed and co-written (with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni) by Akira Kurosawa. The film examines the struggles of a terminally ill Tokyo bureaucrat (played by Takashi Shimura) and his final quest for meaning. The screenplay was partly inspired by Leo Tolstoy's 1886 novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich.

Ikiru
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAkira Kurosawa
Screenplay by
Produced bySōjirō Motoki
Starring
CinematographyAsakazu Nakai
Edited byKōichi Iwashita
Music byFumio Hayasaka
Production
company
Toho Company
Distributed byToho
Release date
  • October 9, 1952 (1952-10-09)
Running time
143 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

The major themes of the film include learning how to live, the inefficiency of bureaucracy, and decaying family life in Japan, which have been the subject of analysis by academics and critics. Ikiru has received widespread critical acclaim, and won awards for Best Film at the Kinema Junpo and Mainichi Film Awards. It was remade as a television film in 2007.

Plot

Kanji Watanabe has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for thirty years and is near his retirement. His wife is dead and his son and daughter-in-law, who live with him, seem to care mainly about Watanabe's pension and their future inheritance. At work, he's a party to constant bureaucratic inaction. In one case, a group of parents are seemingly endlessly referred to one department after another when they want a cesspool cleared out and replaced by a playground. After learning he has stomach cancer and less than a year to live, Watanabe attempts to come to terms with his impending death. He plans to tell his son about the cancer, but decides against it when his son does not pay attention to him. He then tries to find escape in the pleasures of Tokyo's nightlife, guided by an eccentric novelist whom he has just met. In a nightclub, Watanabe requests a song from the piano player, and sings "Gondola no Uta" with great sadness. His singing greatly affects those watching him. After one night submerged in the nightlife, he realizes this is not the solution.

The following day, Watanabe encounters a young female subordinate, Toyo, who needs his signature on her resignation. He takes comfort in observing her joyous love of life and enthusiasm and tries to spend as much time as possible with her. She eventually becomes suspicious of his intentions and grows weary of him. After convincing her to join him for the last time, he opens up and asks for the secret to her love of life. She says that she does not know, but that she found happiness in her new job making toys, which makes her feel like she is playing with all the children of Japan. Inspired by her, Watanabe realizes that it is not too late for him to do something significant. Like Toyo, he wants to make something, but is unsure what he can do within the city bureaucracy until he remembers the lobbying for a playground. He surprises everyone by returning to work after a long absence, and begins pushing for a playground despite concerns he is intruding on the jurisdiction of other departments.

Watanabe dies, and at his wake, his former co-workers gather, after the opening of the playground, and try to figure out what caused such a dramatic change in his behavior. His transformation from listless bureaucrat to passionate advocate puzzles them. As the co-workers drink, they slowly realize that Watanabe must have known he was dying, even when his son denies this, as he was unaware of his father's condition. They also hear from a witness that in the last few moments in Watanabe's life, he sat on the swing at the park he built. As the snow fell, he sang "Gondola no Uta". The bureaucrats vow to live their lives with the same dedication and passion as he did. But back at work, they lack the courage of their newfound conviction.

Cast

 
 
Takashi Shimura and Haruo Tanaka have starring roles.

Themes

Living

Death is a major theme in the film, which leads to the protagonist Watanabe's quest to find the meaning of life.[1] Initially, Watanabe looks to nightclubs and women to live life to the fullest, but winds up singing the 1915 song "Gondola no Uta" as an expression of loss.[2] Professor Alexander Sesonske writes that in the nightclub scene, Watanabe realizes "pleasure is not life," and that a goal gives him new happiness, with the song "Happy Birthday to You" symbolizing his rebirth.[1] Because Toyo is young, she has the best insight as to how to live, and is presented as the "unlikely savior" in Watanabe's "redemption."[2]

Author Donald Richie wrote that the title of the film, meaning simply "to live," could signify that "existence is enough." However, Watanabe finds existence is painful, and takes this as inspiration, wanting to ensure his life has not been futile. The justification of his life, found in his park, is how Watanabe discovered how "to live."[3][4] In the end, Watanabe now sings "Gondola no Uta" with great contentment.[2]

Bureaucracy

Ikiru is also an "indictment of Japanese bureaucracy."[1] In Japan after World War II, it was expected that the sararīman (salary man) would work predictably in accordance with an organization's rules.[5] The scene where the mothers first visit the city office requesting a playground shows "unconcern" in the bureaucrats, who send the visitors on a "farcical runaround," before asking them for a written request, with paperwork in the film symbolizing "meaningless activity."[6] Despite this, Watanabe uses the bureaucracy to forge his legacy, and is apparently not disturbed when the bureaucracy quickly forgets he drove the project to build the playground.[7]

Japanese health care is also depicted as overly bureaucratic in the film, as Watanabe visits a clinic in a "poignant" scene.[8] The doctor is portrayed as paternalistic, and Watanabe does not stand up to his authority.[9]

Family life

Author Timothy Iles writes that, as with Yasujirō Ozu's 1953 film Tokyo Story, Ikiru may hold a negative view about the state of family life in modern Japan. Watanabe has lived with his son for years, but they have fallen out of any true relationship. His son, Mitsuo, sees Watanabe as a bother, and regards him as only an obstacle to his obtaining the money from Watanabe's will.[10] The children fall short of their responsibility to respect their parents.[11]

Urbanization may be a reason for negative changes in Japanese society, although a reason for Watanabe and Mitsuo's drift is also Watanabe's preoccupation with work.[11] Another reason is Watanabe not being with Mitsuo during a medical treatment when the boy was 10, which fits a pattern in Kurosawa's films of sons being overly harsh to their fathers.[12]

Production

 
 
Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich was an inspiration for the screenplay, co-written by Hideo Oguni.

The film marked the first collaboration between director Akira Kurosawa and screenwriter Hideo Oguni. According to Oguni, the genesis of the film was Kurosawa's desire to make a film about a man who knows he is going to die, and wants a reason to live for a short time.[13] Oguni was an experienced writer and was offered ¥500,000, while co-writer Shinobu Hashimoto was offered ¥150,000. Initially, Kurosawa told Hashimoto that a man who was set to die in 75 days had to be the theme, and that the character's career was less important, with the director saying criminal, homeless man or government minister would be acceptable.[14]

The screenwriters consulted Leo Tolstoy's novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and Oguni envisioned placing Watanabe's death halfway through the film.[13] Kurosawa dictated the scene where Watanabe is on the swing, and mentioned the beginning lyrics of "Gondola no Uta." Since none of the men were familiar with the song, they consulted their eldest receptionist on the rest of the lyrics and the song title.[14]

Kurosawa renamed the draft The Life of Kanji Watanabe to Ikiru, which Hashimoto found pretentious, but Oguni supported. The screenplay was completed on 5 February 1952.[14]

Release

In Japan, Toho released the film on 9 October 1952.[15] The film was also screened in the 1954 Berlin International Film Festival.[16]

In the United States, the film was shown for a short time in California in 1956, under the title Doomed.[13] It opened as Ikiru in New York City on 29 January 1960.[17] The film poster featured the stripper seen briefly in the film, rather than Watanabe.[13]

Reception

Critical reception

 
Takashi Shimura as Kanji Watanabe in the iconic scene

The film won critical approval upon its release.[18] Bosley Crowther, writing for The New York Times, called it "a strangely fascinating and affecting film, up to a point—that being the point where it consigns its aged hero to the great beyond," which he deemed "anti-climactic." Crowther praised Shimura, saying he "measures up through his performance in this picture with the top film actors anywhere," and complimented Miki Odagiri, Nobuo Kaneko and Yunosuke Ito.[17] Variety staff called the film "a tour-de-force," by "keeping a dramatic thread throughout and avoiding the mawkish."[19]

Roger Ebert added it to his list of Great Movies in 1996, saying, "Over the years I have seen Ikiru every five years or so, and each time it has moved me, and made me think. And the older I get, the less Watanabe seems like a pathetic old man, and the more he seems like every one of us."[20] In his Great Movies review of Seven Samurai, Ebert called it Kurosawa's greatest film.[21] In 2008, Wally Hammond of Time Out praised Ikiru as "one of the triumphs of humanist cinema."[22] That year, The New Yorker's Michael Sragow described it as a "masterwork," noting Kurosawa was usually associated more with his action films.[23] The scene featuring Watanabe on the swing in the playground he built has been described as "iconic." Writer Pico Iyer has commented on the film's depiction of the postwar Japanese healthcare system, and historian David Conrad has remarked on its portrayal of Japanese governance at the moment Japan regained its sovereignty after a 7-year American occupation.[24][25][26][27]

In 1972 Sight & Sound critics poll named Ikiru the 12th greatest film of all time.[28] The Village Voice ranked the film at number 212 in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list in 1999, based on a poll of critics.[29] Empire magazine ranked Ikiru 459th on its 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time,[30] and 44th on its 2010 list of "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema."[31] In 2009 the film was voted at No. 13 on the list of The Greatest Japanese Films of All Time by Japanese film magazine Kinema Junpo.[32] In 2010 Ikiru was included on Time's All-Time 100 best movies list.[33] In 2012 the film ranked 127th and 132nd on critic's and director's poll respectively in Sight & Sound Top 250 Films list.[34] Martin Scorsese included it on a list of "39 Essential Foreign Films for a Young Filmmaker."[35] The film was included in BBC's 2018 list of The 100 greatest foreign language films.[36] Conversely, in 2016 The Daily Telegraph named it one of the 10 most overrated films.[37] The film has a 98% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 44 reviews, with a weighted average of 8.76/10. The site's consensus reads: "Ikiru is a well-acted and deeply moving humanist tale about a man facing his own mortality, one of legendary director Akira Kurosawa's most intimate films".[38]

Accolades

The film competed for the Golden Bear at the 4th Berlin International Film Festival in 1954.[16]

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
BAFTA Awards 1960 Best Foreign Actor Takashi Shimura Nominated [39]
Berlin International Film Festival 18–29 June 1954 Special Prize of the Senate of Berlin Akira Kurosawa Won [15]
Kinema Junpo Awards 1953 Best Film Won [15]
Mainichi Film Awards 1953 Best Film Won [15]
Best Screenplay Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni Won
Best Sound Recording Fumio Yanoguchi Won
Ministry of Education 1953 Minister of Education Award Won [15]

Legacy

Kurosawa believed William Shakespeare's play Macbeth could serve as a cautionary tale complementing Ikiru, thus directing his 1957 film Throne of Blood.[40] Ikiru was remade as a Japanese television film that debuted on TV Asahi on 9 September 2007, the day after a remake of Kurosawa's High and Low. The Ikiru remake stars kabuki actor Matsumoto Kōshirō IX.[41]

Anand, a 1971 Indian Hindi film, was loosely inspired by Ikiru.[42] In 2003, DreamWorks attempted to make a U.S. remake, which would star Tom Hanks in the lead role, and talked to Richard Price about adapting the screenplay.[43] Jim Sheridan agreed to direct the film in 2004,[44] though it has not been produced.

A British remake titled Living, adapted by Kazuo Ishiguro, directed by Oliver Hermanus, and starring Bill Nighy, was released in 2022.[45]

References

  1. ^ a b c Sesonske, Alexander (19 November 1990). "Ikiru". The Criterion Collection. from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Thomas 2011.
  3. ^ Richie, Donald (5 January 2004). "Ikiru". The Criterion Collection. from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  4. ^ Yamada, Seiji; Maskarinec, Gregory; Greene, Gordon (2003). "Cross-Cultural Ethics and the Moral Development of Physicians: Lessons from Kurosawa's Ikiru" (PDF). Family Medicine. 35 (3): 167–169. PMID 12670108. (PDF) from the original on 2010-07-04. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  5. ^ Brannigan 2009, p. 347.
  6. ^ Brannigan 2009, p. 354-355.
  7. ^ Lucken 2016, p. 113.
  8. ^ Brannigan 2009, p. 345.
  9. ^ Brannigan 2009, p. 355.
  10. ^ Iles 2008, p. 83.
  11. ^ a b Iles 2008, p. 84.
  12. ^ Vicari 2016, p. 72.
  13. ^ a b c d McGee, Scott. "Ikiru". Turner Classic Movies. from the original on 26 September 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  14. ^ a b c Hashimoto 2015.
  15. ^ a b c d e Galbraith 2008, p. 88.
  16. ^ a b "PROGRAMME 1954". Berlin International Film Festival. from the original on 19 November 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  17. ^ a b Crowther, Bosley (30 January 1960). "Screen: Drama Imported From Japan:'Ikiru' Has Premiere at the Little Carnegie Shimura Stars as Petty Government Aide". The New York Times. from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  18. ^ Lucken 2016, p. 108.
  19. ^ Variety Staff (31 December 1951). "Review: 'Ikiru'". Variety. from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  20. ^ Ebert, Roger (September 29, 1996). . Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 9 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  21. ^ Ebert, Roger (19 August 2001). "The Seven Samurai :: rogerebert.com :: Great Movies". Chicago Sun-Times. from the original on 16 February 2006. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
  22. ^ Hammond, Wally (15 July 2008). "Ikiru". Time Out. from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  23. ^ Sragow, Michael (4 August 2008). . The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  24. ^ Conrad, David A. (2022). Akira Kurosawa and Modern Japan, pp92-98, McFarland & Co.
  25. ^ Sooke, Alistair (26 November 2005). "Film-makers on film: Scott Derrickson". The Daily Telegraph. from the original on 6 July 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  26. ^ Jardine, Dan (23 March 2010). "Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952)". Slant Magazine. from the original on 21 June 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  27. ^ Mayward, Joel (10 February 2016). "The Year in Liturgical Cinema: Ash Wednesday and Lent". Christianity Today. from the original on 7 June 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  28. ^ The Greatest Films of All Time… in 1972 [Sight & Sound]
  29. ^ . The Village Voice. 1999. Archived from the original on 26 August 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2006.
  30. ^ "The 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time". Empire. 3 October 2008. from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  31. ^ "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema – 44. Ikiru". Empire. 11 June 2010. from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 26 Oct 2020.
  32. ^ "Greatest Japanese films by magazine Kinema Junpo (2009 version)". Archived from the original on July 11, 2012. Retrieved 2011-12-26.
  33. ^ Corliss, Richard (14 January 2010). "Ikiru". Time. from the original on 2021-03-03. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  34. ^ "Ikiru". bfi.org. from the original on 2021-05-02. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  35. ^ "Martin Scorsese Creates a List of 39 Essential Foreign Films for a Young Filmmaker". Open Culture. 15 October 2014. from the original on February 7, 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  36. ^ "The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films". bbc. 29 October 2018. from the original on 25 December 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  37. ^ Robey, Tim (6 August 2016). "10 most overrated films of all time". The Daily Telegraph. from the original on 5 December 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  38. ^ "Ikiru". Rotten Tomatoes. from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  39. ^ "Film in 1960". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  40. ^ Richie 1998, p. 115.
  41. ^ "Environmental celebrity special, celebrity comeback special, Kurosawa classic adaptation". The Japan Times. 2 September 2007. from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  42. ^ Raghavendra 2014, p. 200.
  43. ^ Fleming, Michael (24 March 2003). "Price right for 'Ikiru'". Variety. from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  44. ^ Fleming, Michael; LaPorte, Nicole (9 September 2004). "Irish eyes smile on DreamWorks' 'Ikiru' remake". Variety. from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  45. ^ Yossman, K. J. (18 June 2021). "'Love Actually's' Bill Nighy Looks Dapper in First Image From Oliver Hermanus and Number 9 Films' 'Living'". Variety. Retrieved 18 June 2021.

Bibliography

  • Brannigan, Michael C. (2009). "Ikiru and Net-Casting in Intercultural Bioethics". Bioethics at the Movies. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Conrad, David A. (2022). Akira Kurosawa and Modern Japan. McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-1-4766-8674-5.
  • Galbraith, Stuart IV (2008). The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography. Lanham, Maryland, Toronto and Plymouth: The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-1461673743.
  • Hashimoto, Shinobu (2015). Compound Cinematics: Akira Kurosawa and I. Vertical, Inc. ISBN 978-1939130587.
  • Iles, Timothy (2008). The Crisis of Identity in Contemporary Japanese Film: Personal, Cultural, National. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-9004171381.
  • Lucken, Michael (2016). Imitation and Creativity in Japanese Arts: From Kishida Ryusei to Miyazaki Hayao. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231540544.
  • Raghavendra, M. K. (2014). Seduced by the Familiar: Narration and Meaning in Indian Popular Cinema. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199087983.
  • Richie, Donald (1998). The Films of Akira Kurosawa. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press. ISBN 0520220374.
  • Thomas, Dylan (2011). "Looking for Meaning in All the Wrong Places: Ikiru (To Live)". Thinking Through Film: Doing Philosophy, Watching Movies. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1444343823.
  • Vicari, Justin (2016). Japanese Film and the Floating Mind: Cinematic Contemplations of Being. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company Publishers. ISBN 978-1476624969.

External links

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Ikiru.
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ikiru.

January 26, 2023
ikiru, other, uses, live, disambiguation, 生きる, live, 1952, japanese, drama, film, directed, written, with, shinobu, hashimoto, hideo, oguni, akira, kurosawa, film, examines, struggles, terminally, tokyo, bureaucrat, played, takashi, shimura, final, quest, mean. For other uses see To Live disambiguation Ikiru 生きる To Live is a 1952 Japanese drama film directed and co written with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni by Akira Kurosawa The film examines the struggles of a terminally ill Tokyo bureaucrat played by Takashi Shimura and his final quest for meaning The screenplay was partly inspired by Leo Tolstoy s 1886 novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich IkiruTheatrical release posterDirected byAkira KurosawaScreenplay byAkira Kurosawa Shinobu Hashimoto Hideo OguniProduced bySōjirō MotokiStarringTakashi Shimura Miki OdagiriCinematographyAsakazu NakaiEdited byKōichi IwashitaMusic byFumio HayasakaProductioncompanyToho CompanyDistributed byTohoRelease dateOctober 9 1952 1952 10 09 Running time143 minutesCountryJapanLanguageJapaneseThe major themes of the film include learning how to live the inefficiency of bureaucracy and decaying family life in Japan which have been the subject of analysis by academics and critics Ikiru has received widespread critical acclaim and won awards for Best Film at the Kinema Junpo and Mainichi Film Awards It was remade as a television film in 2007 Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Themes 3 1 Living 3 2 Bureaucracy 3 3 Family life 4 Production 5 Release 6 Reception 6 1 Critical reception 6 2 Accolades 7 Legacy 8 References 8 1 Bibliography 9 External linksPlot EditKanji Watanabe has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for thirty years and is near his retirement His wife is dead and his son and daughter in law who live with him seem to care mainly about Watanabe s pension and their future inheritance At work he s a party to constant bureaucratic inaction In one case a group of parents are seemingly endlessly referred to one department after another when they want a cesspool cleared out and replaced by a playground After learning he has stomach cancer and less than a year to live Watanabe attempts to come to terms with his impending death He plans to tell his son about the cancer but decides against it when his son does not pay attention to him He then tries to find escape in the pleasures of Tokyo s nightlife guided by an eccentric novelist whom he has just met In a nightclub Watanabe requests a song from the piano player and sings Gondola no Uta with great sadness His singing greatly affects those watching him After one night submerged in the nightlife he realizes this is not the solution The following day Watanabe encounters a young female subordinate Toyo who needs his signature on her resignation He takes comfort in observing her joyous love of life and enthusiasm and tries to spend as much time as possible with her She eventually becomes suspicious of his intentions and grows weary of him After convincing her to join him for the last time he opens up and asks for the secret to her love of life She says that she does not know but that she found happiness in her new job making toys which makes her feel like she is playing with all the children of Japan Inspired by her Watanabe realizes that it is not too late for him to do something significant Like Toyo he wants to make something but is unsure what he can do within the city bureaucracy until he remembers the lobbying for a playground He surprises everyone by returning to work after a long absence and begins pushing for a playground despite concerns he is intruding on the jurisdiction of other departments Watanabe dies and at his wake his former co workers gather after the opening of the playground and try to figure out what caused such a dramatic change in his behavior His transformation from listless bureaucrat to passionate advocate puzzles them As the co workers drink they slowly realize that Watanabe must have known he was dying even when his son denies this as he was unaware of his father s condition They also hear from a witness that in the last few moments in Watanabe s life he sat on the swing at the park he built As the snow fell he sang Gondola no Uta The bureaucrats vow to live their lives with the same dedication and passion as he did But back at work they lack the courage of their newfound conviction Cast Edit Takashi Shimura and Haruo Tanaka have starring roles Takashi Shimura as Kanji Watanabe Shinichi Himori as Kimura Haruo Tanaka as Sakai Minoru Chiaki as Noguchi Bokuzen Hidari as Ohara Miki Odagiri as Toyo Odagiri employee Kamatari Fujiwara as Sub Section Chief Ōno Nobuo Nakamura as Deputy Mayor Yunosuke Itō as Novelist Minosuke Yamada as Subordinate Clerk Saito Makoto Kobori as Kiichi Watanabe Kanji s Brother Nobuo Kaneko as Mitsuo Watanabe Kanji s son Atsushi Watanabe as Patient Noriko Honma as HousewifeThemes EditLiving Edit Death is a major theme in the film which leads to the protagonist Watanabe s quest to find the meaning of life 1 Initially Watanabe looks to nightclubs and women to live life to the fullest but winds up singing the 1915 song Gondola no Uta as an expression of loss 2 Professor Alexander Sesonske writes that in the nightclub scene Watanabe realizes pleasure is not life and that a goal gives him new happiness with the song Happy Birthday to You symbolizing his rebirth 1 Because Toyo is young she has the best insight as to how to live and is presented as the unlikely savior in Watanabe s redemption 2 Author Donald Richie wrote that the title of the film meaning simply to live could signify that existence is enough However Watanabe finds existence is painful and takes this as inspiration wanting to ensure his life has not been futile The justification of his life found in his park is how Watanabe discovered how to live 3 4 In the end Watanabe now sings Gondola no Uta with great contentment 2 Bureaucracy Edit Ikiru is also an indictment of Japanese bureaucracy 1 In Japan after World War II it was expected that the sarariman salary man would work predictably in accordance with an organization s rules 5 The scene where the mothers first visit the city office requesting a playground shows unconcern in the bureaucrats who send the visitors on a farcical runaround before asking them for a written request with paperwork in the film symbolizing meaningless activity 6 Despite this Watanabe uses the bureaucracy to forge his legacy and is apparently not disturbed when the bureaucracy quickly forgets he drove the project to build the playground 7 Japanese health care is also depicted as overly bureaucratic in the film as Watanabe visits a clinic in a poignant scene 8 The doctor is portrayed as paternalistic and Watanabe does not stand up to his authority 9 Family life Edit Author Timothy Iles writes that as with Yasujirō Ozu s 1953 film Tokyo Story Ikiru may hold a negative view about the state of family life in modern Japan Watanabe has lived with his son for years but they have fallen out of any true relationship His son Mitsuo sees Watanabe as a bother and regards him as only an obstacle to his obtaining the money from Watanabe s will 10 The children fall short of their responsibility to respect their parents 11 Urbanization may be a reason for negative changes in Japanese society although a reason for Watanabe and Mitsuo s drift is also Watanabe s preoccupation with work 11 Another reason is Watanabe not being with Mitsuo during a medical treatment when the boy was 10 which fits a pattern in Kurosawa s films of sons being overly harsh to their fathers 12 Production Edit Leo Tolstoy s The Death of Ivan Ilyich was an inspiration for the screenplay co written by Hideo Oguni The film marked the first collaboration between director Akira Kurosawa and screenwriter Hideo Oguni According to Oguni the genesis of the film was Kurosawa s desire to make a film about a man who knows he is going to die and wants a reason to live for a short time 13 Oguni was an experienced writer and was offered 500 000 while co writer Shinobu Hashimoto was offered 150 000 Initially Kurosawa told Hashimoto that a man who was set to die in 75 days had to be the theme and that the character s career was less important with the director saying criminal homeless man or government minister would be acceptable 14 The screenwriters consulted Leo Tolstoy s novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Oguni envisioned placing Watanabe s death halfway through the film 13 Kurosawa dictated the scene where Watanabe is on the swing and mentioned the beginning lyrics of Gondola no Uta Since none of the men were familiar with the song they consulted their eldest receptionist on the rest of the lyrics and the song title 14 Kurosawa renamed the draft The Life of Kanji Watanabe to Ikiru which Hashimoto found pretentious but Oguni supported The screenplay was completed on 5 February 1952 14 Release EditIn Japan Toho released the film on 9 October 1952 15 The film was also screened in the 1954 Berlin International Film Festival 16 In the United States the film was shown for a short time in California in 1956 under the title Doomed 13 It opened as Ikiru in New York City on 29 January 1960 17 The film poster featured the stripper seen briefly in the film rather than Watanabe 13 Reception EditCritical reception Edit Takashi Shimura as Kanji Watanabe in the iconic scene The film won critical approval upon its release 18 Bosley Crowther writing for The New York Times called it a strangely fascinating and affecting film up to a point that being the point where it consigns its aged hero to the great beyond which he deemed anti climactic Crowther praised Shimura saying he measures up through his performance in this picture with the top film actors anywhere and complimented Miki Odagiri Nobuo Kaneko and Yunosuke Ito 17 Variety staff called the film a tour de force by keeping a dramatic thread throughout and avoiding the mawkish 19 Roger Ebert added it to his list of Great Movies in 1996 saying Over the years I have seen Ikiru every five years or so and each time it has moved me and made me think And the older I get the less Watanabe seems like a pathetic old man and the more he seems like every one of us 20 In his Great Movies review of Seven Samurai Ebert called it Kurosawa s greatest film 21 In 2008 Wally Hammond of Time Out praised Ikiru as one of the triumphs of humanist cinema 22 That year The New Yorker s Michael Sragow described it as a masterwork noting Kurosawa was usually associated more with his action films 23 The scene featuring Watanabe on the swing in the playground he built has been described as iconic Writer Pico Iyer has commented on the film s depiction of the postwar Japanese healthcare system and historian David Conrad has remarked on its portrayal of Japanese governance at the moment Japan regained its sovereignty after a 7 year American occupation 24 25 26 27 In 1972 Sight amp Sound critics poll named Ikiru the 12th greatest film of all time 28 The Village Voice ranked the film at number 212 in its Top 250 Best Films of the Century list in 1999 based on a poll of critics 29 Empire magazine ranked Ikiru 459th on its 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time 30 and 44th on its 2010 list of The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema 31 In 2009 the film was voted at No 13 on the list of The Greatest Japanese Films of All Time by Japanese film magazine Kinema Junpo 32 In 2010 Ikiru was included on Time s All Time 100 best movies list 33 In 2012 the film ranked 127th and 132nd on critic s and director s poll respectively in Sight amp Sound Top 250 Films list 34 Martin Scorsese included it on a list of 39 Essential Foreign Films for a Young Filmmaker 35 The film was included in BBC s 2018 list of The 100 greatest foreign language films 36 Conversely in 2016 The Daily Telegraph named it one of the 10 most overrated films 37 The film has a 98 positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 44 reviews with a weighted average of 8 76 10 The site s consensus reads Ikiru is a well acted and deeply moving humanist tale about a man facing his own mortality one of legendary director Akira Kurosawa s most intimate films 38 Accolades Edit The film competed for the Golden Bear at the 4th Berlin International Film Festival in 1954 16 Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient s Result Ref s BAFTA Awards 1960 Best Foreign Actor Takashi Shimura Nominated 39 Berlin International Film Festival 18 29 June 1954 Special Prize of the Senate of Berlin Akira Kurosawa Won 15 Kinema Junpo Awards 1953 Best Film Won 15 Mainichi Film Awards 1953 Best Film Won 15 Best Screenplay Akira Kurosawa Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni WonBest Sound Recording Fumio Yanoguchi WonMinistry of Education 1953 Minister of Education Award Won 15 Legacy EditKurosawa believed William Shakespeare s play Macbeth could serve as a cautionary tale complementing Ikiru thus directing his 1957 film Throne of Blood 40 Ikiru was remade as a Japanese television film that debuted on TV Asahi on 9 September 2007 the day after a remake of Kurosawa s High and Low The Ikiru remake stars kabuki actor Matsumoto Kōshirō IX 41 Anand a 1971 Indian Hindi film was loosely inspired by Ikiru 42 In 2003 DreamWorks attempted to make a U S remake which would star Tom Hanks in the lead role and talked to Richard Price about adapting the screenplay 43 Jim Sheridan agreed to direct the film in 2004 44 though it has not been produced A British remake titled Living adapted by Kazuo Ishiguro directed by Oliver Hermanus and starring Bill Nighy was released in 2022 45 References Edit a b c Sesonske Alexander 19 November 1990 Ikiru The Criterion Collection Archived from the original on 4 June 2016 Retrieved 19 December 2016 a b c Thomas 2011 Richie Donald 5 January 2004 Ikiru The Criterion Collection Archived from the original on 4 June 2016 Retrieved 19 December 2016 Yamada Seiji Maskarinec Gregory Greene Gordon 2003 Cross Cultural Ethics and the Moral Development of Physicians Lessons from Kurosawa s Ikiru PDF Family Medicine 35 3 167 169 PMID 12670108 Archived PDF from the original on 2010 07 04 Retrieved 2017 07 15 Brannigan 2009 p 347 Brannigan 2009 p 354 355 Lucken 2016 p 113 Brannigan 2009 p 345 Brannigan 2009 p 355 Iles 2008 p 83 a b Iles 2008 p 84 Vicari 2016 p 72 a b c d McGee Scott Ikiru Turner Classic Movies Archived from the original on 26 September 2016 Retrieved 18 December 2016 a b c Hashimoto 2015 a b c d e Galbraith 2008 p 88 a b PROGRAMME 1954 Berlin International Film Festival Archived from the original on 19 November 2016 Retrieved 18 December 2016 a b Crowther Bosley 30 January 1960 Screen Drama Imported From Japan Ikiru Has Premiere at the Little Carnegie Shimura Stars as Petty Government Aide The New York Times Archived from the original on 20 December 2016 Retrieved 18 December 2016 Lucken 2016 p 108 Variety Staff 31 December 1951 Review Ikiru Variety Archived from the original on 20 December 2016 Retrieved 18 December 2016 Ebert Roger September 29 1996 Ikiru rogerebert com Great Movies Chicago Sun Times Archived from the original on 9 December 2013 Retrieved 18 December 2016 Ebert Roger 19 August 2001 The Seven Samurai rogerebert com Great Movies Chicago Sun Times Archived from the original on 16 February 2006 Retrieved 16 January 2010 Hammond Wally 15 July 2008 Ikiru Time Out Archived from the original on 2 December 2017 Retrieved 19 December 2016 Sragow Michael 4 August 2008 Movies The New Yorker Archived from the original on 8 August 2020 Retrieved 19 December 2016 Conrad David A 2022 Akira Kurosawa and Modern Japan pp92 98 McFarland amp Co Sooke Alistair 26 November 2005 Film makers on film Scott Derrickson The Daily Telegraph Archived from the original on 6 July 2016 Retrieved 19 December 2016 Jardine Dan 23 March 2010 Ikiru Akira Kurosawa 1952 Slant Magazine Archived from the original on 21 June 2017 Retrieved 19 December 2016 Mayward Joel 10 February 2016 The Year in Liturgical Cinema Ash Wednesday and Lent Christianity Today Archived from the original on 7 June 2017 Retrieved 19 December 2016 The Greatest Films of All Time in 1972 Sight amp Sound Take One The First Annual Village Voice Film Critics Poll The Village Voice 1999 Archived from the original on 26 August 2007 Retrieved 27 July 2006 The 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time Empire 3 October 2008 Archived from the original on 22 August 2016 Retrieved 18 December 2016 The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema 44 Ikiru Empire 11 June 2010 Archived from the original on 23 November 2015 Retrieved 26 Oct 2020 Greatest Japanese films by magazine Kinema Junpo 2009 version Archived from the original on July 11 2012 Retrieved 2011 12 26 Corliss Richard 14 January 2010 Ikiru Time Archived from the original on 2021 03 03 Retrieved 2021 03 24 Ikiru bfi org Archived from the original on 2021 05 02 Retrieved 2021 05 02 Martin Scorsese Creates a List of 39 Essential Foreign Films for a Young Filmmaker Open Culture 15 October 2014 Archived from the original on February 7 2015 Retrieved 1 February 2015 The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films bbc 29 October 2018 Archived from the original on 25 December 2020 Retrieved 10 January 2021 Robey Tim 6 August 2016 10 most overrated films of all time The Daily Telegraph Archived from the original on 5 December 2016 Retrieved 19 December 2016 Ikiru Rotten Tomatoes Archived from the original on 13 April 2019 Retrieved 30 June 2019 Film in 1960 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Archived from the original on 5 March 2016 Retrieved 18 December 2016 Richie 1998 p 115 Environmental celebrity special celebrity comeback special Kurosawa classic adaptation The Japan Times 2 September 2007 Archived from the original on 23 December 2016 Retrieved 18 December 2016 Raghavendra 2014 p 200 Fleming Michael 24 March 2003 Price right for Ikiru Variety Archived from the original on 20 December 2016 Retrieved 18 December 2016 Fleming Michael LaPorte Nicole 9 September 2004 Irish eyes smile on DreamWorks Ikiru remake Variety Archived from the original on 20 December 2016 Retrieved 18 December 2016 Yossman K J 18 June 2021 Love Actually s Bill Nighy Looks Dapper in First Image From Oliver Hermanus and Number 9 Films Living Variety Retrieved 18 June 2021 Bibliography Edit Brannigan Michael C 2009 Ikiru and Net Casting in Intercultural Bioethics Bioethics at the Movies Baltimore The Johns Hopkins University Press Conrad David A 2022 Akira Kurosawa and Modern Japan McFarland amp Co ISBN 978 1 4766 8674 5 Galbraith Stuart IV 2008 The Toho Studios Story A History and Complete Filmography Lanham Maryland Toronto and Plymouth The Scarecrow Press ISBN 978 1461673743 Hashimoto Shinobu 2015 Compound Cinematics Akira Kurosawa and I Vertical Inc ISBN 978 1939130587 Iles Timothy 2008 The Crisis of Identity in Contemporary Japanese Film Personal Cultural National Leiden Brill ISBN 978 9004171381 Lucken Michael 2016 Imitation and Creativity in Japanese Arts From Kishida Ryusei to Miyazaki Hayao Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0231540544 Raghavendra M K 2014 Seduced by the Familiar Narration and Meaning in Indian Popular Cinema Oxford University Press ISBN 9780199087983 Richie Donald 1998 The Films of Akira Kurosawa Berkeley Los Angeles and London University of California Press ISBN 0520220374 Thomas Dylan 2011 Looking for Meaning in All the Wrong Places Ikiru To Live Thinking Through Film Doing Philosophy Watching Movies Wiley Blackwell ISBN 978 1444343823 Vicari Justin 2016 Japanese Film and the Floating Mind Cinematic Contemplations of Being Jefferson North Carolina McFarland amp Company Publishers ISBN 978 1476624969 External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to Ikiru Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ikiru Ikiru at IMDb Ikiru at Rotten Tomatoes Ikiru at AllMovie Ikiru in Japanese at the Japanese Movie Database Ikiru Many Autumns Later an essay by Pico Iyer at the Criterion Collection To the Tune of Mortality The Gondola Song in Ikiru an essay by Geoffrey O Brien Portals Japan Film Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ikiru amp oldid 1134443590, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.