Ikiru
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Ikiru (生きる) is a 1952 Japanese motion picture written and directed by the acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa and inspired by Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich. The title Ikiru translates to "To Live" in English. Ikiru looks at the problem of a bureaucracy in post-war Japan and explores existentialism. Can and does one meaningful act define a person's existence and overcome the absurdity of life?
The movie stars Takashi Shimura, who played in many of Kurosawa's films (most notably as the leader of the Seven Samurai), as Kanji Watanabe. Kanji is an old man who has worked in the same bureaucratic position for decades. His job entails sitting at a desk stamping papers and generally doing nothing until it is time to go home. In addition to his lifeless job, Kanji's son has become estranged from him and shows little affection to his father. Kanji's son and daughter-in-law seem to mainly care about Kanji's pension and their future inheritance.
Then to Kanji's surprise, he is diagnosed with stomach cancer, giving him less than a year to live. Since nothing can be done to save him, the doctors lie to him about his condition, but Kanji had been warned already about their false reassurances and understood their true meaning. This prompts him to make some drastic changes to his ever shortening life. He stops going to work. He first attempts to live a life of hedonism, getting drunk and dancing with women in noisy clubs, but soon finds "pleasure" hollow.
A vivacious young woman from work seeks him out to get some paperwork stamped, and Kanji latches on to her, buying her gifts. They spend several days, but not nights, together as Kanji buys her food and gifts. At first she likes the gifts and attention and finds his slower, older mannerisms interesting -- but she quickly tires of him and his lack of energy. Kanji opens up to her, revealing his stomach cancer and saying he just wants to live one day in such a carefree, youthful way like she does. She reveals that the secret to her new happiness comes from her new job, making toys, which makes her feel like she's "friends with all the children of Japan".
He goes home and attempts to tell his son about his cancer, but his son rebukes him for spending his future inheritance on the young woman. Kanji is crushed by this and keeps his diagnosis secret from this point on.
Inspired by the woman's example of benevolence, Kanji then dedicates the rest of his life to shepherding a children's park project through the apathetic bureaucracy where he works. He is trying to accomplish this one good thing before he dies. His persistent will is able to overcome the inertia of bureaucracy and turn a mosquito-infested cesspool into a children's playground.
The last 1/3rd of the film is told 5 months later in flashback form at Kanji's wake where Kanji's former coworkers try to figure out what caused such a dramatic change in Kanji's behavior. His transformation from listless bureaucrat to passionate, if sickly, advocate had puzzled them. As the co-workers drink they slowly realize Kanji must have known he was dying. They drunkenly vow to live their lives with the same dedication and passion as Kanji -- but the next day finds them back at work, buried under the same meaningless busy-work they had vowed to fight.
An iconic scene from the movie is from the last few moments in Kanji's life, as the old, bent Kanji sits on the swingset at the park he built. As the snow gently falls we see Kanji gazing lovingly over the playground, at peace with himself and the world. He sings a song that he heard earlier in the movie, a song about falling in love while still young, for life is short. In this end, it is this song that captures what he has spent the movie trying to do (not strictly speaking) and what he has finally achieved through his efforts.
Despite the fact that it is not as well known as some other Kurosawa films, Ikiru is considered by many film critics to be one of his best. It is arguably Shimura's best role, as the quiet and meek Watanabe.
Quotes
- "I can't afford to hate anyone. I don't have that kind of time."
- "You're not supposed to do anything there. Doing anything but nothing is radical."
External links
- [Bohème Magazine] Ikiru: The Art of Living
- [Ikiru (To Live)] at the [Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films] list
- [Donald Richie essay at criterionco.com]
{| style="margin:0 auto;" align=center width=75% class="toccolours" |align=center| Films by Akira Kurosawa |- |align=center| Sanshiro Sugata (1943) | The One Most Beautiful (1944) | Sanshiro Sugata Part II (1945) | They Who Step on the Tiger's Tail (1945) | Those Who Make Tomorrow (1946) | No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) | One Wonderful Sunday (1947) | Drunken Angel (1948) | The Quiet Duel (1949) | Stray Dog (1949) | Scandal (1950) | Rashomon (1950) | The Idiot (1951) | Ikiru (1952) | The Seven Samurai (1954) | I Live in Fear (1955) | Throne of Blood (1957) | The Lower Depths (1957) | The Hidden Fortress (1958) | The Bad Sleep Well (1960) | Yojimbo (1961) | Sanjuro (1962) | High and Low (1963) | Red Beard (1965) | Dodesukaden (1970) | Dersu Uzala (1975) | Kagemusha (1980) | Ran (1985) | Dreams (1990) | Rhapsody in August (1991) | Madadayo (1993)
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