Ikiru (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

This is a story worth being told and appreciated. Though a foreign film where I live, the story is timeless and special.

Marking the first collaborative effort between Akira Kurosawa and Hideo Oguni whilst being partly inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s ‘𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒗𝒂𝒏 𝑰𝒍𝒚𝒊𝒄𝒉’, Ikiru (生きる, "To Live") is a 1952 Japanese drama film directed and co-written by Akira Kurosawa and starring Takashi Shimura. The film examines the struggles of a terminally ill Tokyo bureaucrat named Kanji Watanabe and his final quest for meaning.Initiated with an x-ray of Watanabe’s stomach and an exclamation of his looming misfortune: there is no interest here in hoarding surprises, nor does ‘Ikiru’ award itself with any room for optimistic plot twists. A tad unorthodox with its depths of honesty - and by some measures, rushed - a certainty of death informally exonerates Kanji from his immediate responsibilities and lingering tethers.This x-ray may be clear enough, but this primary character stays largely mysterious during Ikiru’s primary act. Viewers are reminded persistently about his complacency in terms of his mortality - "𝑯𝒆'𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅" - and the impression delivered is that there's little about his existence that is remarkable or escapes tediousness outside of a significant loss and his role as a paternal figure. Through flashbacks and vignettes of interactions that inch on being dramatically ironic it is made clear that much of his worth is tied closely to his financial status while it is simultaneously implied that he is very easily replaced (hold that thought). It doesn't surprise me that the view audience members have of Watanabe is originally obscured beyond repair: what else can we expect from a man isolated and so far removed from the understanding he has of himself?At surface level ‘Ikiru’ seems to have a completely anti-bureaucratic message, but I'm actually not fully convinced that this is Kurosawa’s intention. If I could vacate this review for a moment (and be humored), I have an analogy to interject.As I watch the interactions taking place in Watanabe’s place of occupancy (More specifically, one in which a group of women voice their frustrations over being given “the run-around”) I find myself looking back on a majority of the interactions I have ever had previously with any institution involving Public Welfare. These offices? They're chaotic. But they have an order. The work? Endless. Moments of relief? They never last. Employees? There's plenty. But there's never enough…. and they often come in three flavors: newly-hired, almost retired, and nearly expired. There's a hierarchy. But there's not. There's goals. There's hidden agendas. For every five failures or hiccups…. there's at least one opportunity for success.And even when there isn't an opportunity for success: there is a way to make a living.My point here being this: It’s likely that Kurosawa doesn’t mean to villainize any one character in this film or aimlessly demonize the system in which they are involved. These bureaucrats - including our main character - are akin to cogs inside of a poorly maintained machine; the 𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 they have to operate efficiently or beneficially is often constrained and compromised by a combination of forces (greed and procedural shortcomings being at least two) as opposed to one being solely responsible.Even during the climax - a conversation in which Watanabe’s co-workers obsessively pull apart his motives - this tendency seems to drive much of the dialogue. There is a desire to point fingers. There is a desire to take credit. All the while - our main character's quest for meaning is made possible through an ultimately and intimately 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 effort even if it does start as an assumedly solitary one. Moreover - these bureaucrats get closer to making sense of their deceased co-workers “bizarre behavior” the further they sink into an alcoholic stupor and thus temporarily suspending the rigid nature of their mundane and ritualistically performative realities.Coincidence?I think not.On paper ‘Ikiru’ Is a bit of a sob story. An entourage of self-pity avoids being insufferable by an infusion of elements reminiscent of redemption. In the final minutes spent with Watanabe he lulls himself to rest with a ballad inspired by the fleeting nature of youth.In this moment I imagine a caterpillar entering the next stage of its life.Here is a man peacefully folding under the weight of reformation.Here is a man anticipating a moment defined by the ability to take flight.

one of the best movies ever

I have nothing against Akira Kurosawa or his movies, but until very recently I had avoided his work like the plague. Why? Well, it comes down to the fact that the only people who ever bring him up are, without exception, crashing bores. They’re the smug film studies types who dismiss your enjoyment of The Magnificent Seven with some variation on the self satisfied “um actually, I preferred it in the original Japanese” put down. But lockdown can make a person do strange things. Psychologists are saying there’s a rise in eccentric behaviour such as singing loudly, wearing odd clothing, and watching black and white subtitled movies.We often don’t expect much from old films, the acting is theatrical and unnatural by today’s standards, the pacing and editing are a lot slower than we’re used to, and the stories often hinge on some outdated notions about race, sexuality, or gender which (for me at least) hinder whatever entertainment might be had. Imagine my surprise then at being utterly floored by this seventy year old subtitled film, I guess my dude Kurosawa had some skills after all.Smarter people than me have written yards of intelligent things about Ikiru, and I’m sure that some of what they say is even legitimate, but the truth is I don’t really care about any of that. I only care that I’m not bored or annoyed by a movie, that it actively tries to engage me, and that it strives to tell its story well. Whatever else one might say about Ikiru, it more than succeeds on all those fronts, pulling you in to Watanabe’s journey right from the first frame. It’s beautiful, heartbreaking, poetic, devoid of easy sentiment or answers, features some truly astonishing acting- quite simply Ikiru is a marvel. Maybe it’s the paucity of new movies talking, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I watched it.On a side note, I rarely cry at films- and when I do it’s almost always when I watch a touchstone movie from my childhood, like E.T. or The Iron Giant, and even then I’m not crying because of the movie, I’m really crying for my lost inner snowflake or whatever. Well I was a snotty mess at the end of this film, bawling my eyes out like a toddler crying for it’s bottle. See this movie. You will not regret it!

Una película que nos hace reflexionar sobre el sentido de la vida.

Among Akira Kurosawa’s filmography, his motion picture Ikiru is considered one of his masterpieces. It stars Takashi Shimura, one of his frequent cast participants, performing the role of a business man who lives his last months the best way anyone could live them. By helping his community.In the story, Ikiru shows how bureaucrat Kanji Watanabe reassesses his life routines in drastic ways as he realizes by himself that he has stomach cancer, which his doctors conceal to him by pretending to him that he has ulcers. Of that medical aspect which may baffle some international viewers, it is a detail that mangaka Osamu Tezuka denounced in his medical series Black Jack, where he condemned this practice in the Japanese medecine business; where some doctors hide from their patients the truth about their disease for fear that they would commit suicide. Which is an offensive way of treating the will of living of their patients and of their desire to cure their ailments.First partying in bars, dance clubs, and other night locations, while reassessing the way his relatives have treated him, Kanji then decides to help others through his work at the city hall. Through a project of transforming the mud swamp in his neighbourhood into a local park. A great way to brighten up the community and to get rid of what is an unhealthy hazard for everybody.Of Takashi Shimura, he has given many roles in his career. For over 200 productions. And with Akira Kurosawa, he is considered his most frequent colleague. As important as Toshiro Mifune. But for this production, Takashi Shimura delivers his most haunting and amazing performance. A character who can barely speak through whispers, yet emits a will to love that stuns everyone. From the other protagonists to the audience themselves who know of his pains and trials, but are powerless to help him.Indeed, that decision makes us notice how much a story is influenced by the perspective we take. It changes our view of the protagonist and how he perceives others; but also changes our view of their perspectives and makes us see him through their angles. And with their angle, we are reentering Rashomon territories. We now see the story and the protagonist from people who barely knew Kanji, who saw him from afar and had prejudices on him. Preconceptions that are shattered by what happened to him and what he did. Almost giving us a cinema-verite take to this work.As a film, Ikiru confronts how much we take life and others around us for granted, but it also confronts the insufferable bureaucratic rules within city halls that guide people in needs through endless and discouraging mazes. It presents a very humanistic movie from Akira Kurosawa and shows another angle from his filmography. One with melodrama and lots of tears.On another note, while looking at the built park/mud swamp set, I noticed how much it is identical to the one in Drunken Angel. Same bridge structure, same walls, same building display, and also a muddy swamp. Indeed, those identical traits startled me and it makes me wonder if they didn’t reused the same set for this movie. Also, it made me wonder if several of Akira Kurosawa’s stories aren’t set in the same world. In the same city and neighborhood. If it is the case, then it would bring a whole new different depth to some of his work.Regardless of that aspect, as a movie, Ikiru is one of the landmarks in Akira Kurosawa and Takashi Shimura’s filmographies. A magnificent melodrama and slice of life that moves our souls.A masterpiece that stays in our hearts forever.

En underbar film om betydelsen av att ta tillvara på den tid man har d.v.s. göra bästa möjliga av tiden. Fenomenalt skådespeleri inte minst av huvudrollsinnehavaren Takashi Shimura som arbetade en hel del med regissören Akira Kurosawa under sin karriär.

※クライテリオン４Ｋリマスター版Blu-rayのレビューです。黒澤明監督作品の中でも好きな三作のうち、「七人の侍」が人の強さを殺陣で、「羅生門」が人の醜さを喜劇で、そしてこの「生きる」が人の尊さを悲劇で魅せる傑作だ。1952年公開、戦後間もない混乱の中で、市役所勤続30年の堅物の市民課長が突然の余命宣告を突きつけられ、そこから“生きる意味”を探す旅をさすらい、遂には住民悲願の公共公園の建設を成し遂げて他界するまでを追ったストーリーだ。戦後勃興期の街の喧騒や人々の活気が描かれ、書類の山に埋もれながら決裁書に黙々と印を押す役人の姿や政界に意欲を燃やす市の助役、住民達の陳情を平気でタライ回しにする日本人らしい各課の怠慢も厳しい風刺として描かれる。これらの社会風刺や職業倫理を縦糸とすれば、主人公と息子夫婦との世知辛いスレ違いは横糸だ。早くに妻を失った男が誠心誠意に育ててきた息子との絆の崩壊は観ていて心が荒む。その絶望感に共感してくれた小説家の助けや、若い女性の生命力すらも、ぽっかり空いた心の隙間を埋めてくれそうにない前半の悲しい展開は観ていて辛すぎる。この打ちひしがれた渡邊課長を演じた志村喬は、まさに神がかっており、2年後の「七人の侍」の冷静沈着なリーダー島田勘兵衛とは似ても似つかない。その虚ろな眼光や壊れそうな佇まい、魂から絞られたような声に至るまで迫真にして完璧だ。恐らく邦画としては最高の演技だろう。60人を超えてクレジットされた脇を固める役者の演技も圧倒的だ。台詞の間の取り方や強弱はまさに黒澤劇場で、モノクロにも係わらず艶やかな色彩にすら見える鮮明な舞台をところ狭しと縦横に動き回る群像達の生命力がとにかく凄いのだ。雪降る公園のブランコで口ずさむ「コンドラの唄」や似つかわしくない派手な帽子、オモチャのウサギ人形等の印象的なアイコンも工夫されていて、その緻密な組み立てには心から感心する。黒澤明ならではの陰影深い画面と人生の悲劇と闘う男の熱きヒューマンドラマに、誰もが眼を釘付けにされることだろう。東宝版と見比べてはいないが、クライテリオン版の画質と音声は文句なし。黒澤明を海外に紹介する映像特典も充実していて満足だ。「人生は幾つになっても闘える」日本人の職業倫理と家族観に多大な影響を与えた本作は、観る者の人生の糧になる最良の邦画として指折りの☆７級推薦作です。未観の方は是非一度ご覧いただきたい。

白いウサギのおもちゃを握りしめて、レストランの階段を駆け下りてくる主人公。その背後でハッピーバースデイの歌が・・・。この演出はシナリオのト書きにはなかったものだ。セットが組まれてからの現場でのリハーサルでうまれたもの。黒澤監督の、とことん突き詰める演出プランに感動がピークに達したワンシーンだ！