Ikiru
Sign in to saveis a 1952 Japanese drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay co-written with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni. 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.
Film · TMDB
8.3Kanji 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.
Released: 1952-10-09143 minDir: Akira KurosawaDrama
Cast
- Takashi Shimura as Kanji Watanabe
- Haruo Tanaka as Sakai
- Nobuo Kaneko as Mitsuo, son of Kanji
- Bokuzen Hidari as Ohara
- Miki Odagiri as Toyo
- Shinichi Himori as Kimura
This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
Ratings · OMDb
IMDb
8.3/10
100,520 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
98%
Metacritic
92/100
- Rated
- Not Rated
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award6 wins & 2 nominations total
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Film.name
- Ikiru
- Film.image
- Ikiru poster.jpg
- Film.caption
- Theatrical release poster
- Film.director
- Akira Kurosawa
- Film.producer
- Sōjirō Motoki
- Film.music
- Fumio Hayasaka
- Film.cinematography
- Asakazu Nakai
- Film.studio
- Toho
- Film.distributor
- Toho
- Film.runtime
- 143 minutes
- Film.country
- Japan
- Film.language
- Japanese
via Wikipedia infobox
Key dates
- Published
- 25 March 1956
via Wikidata · CC0
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Genre
- drama film
- Country of origin
- Japan
- Original language
- Japanese
- Based on
- The Death of Ivan Ilyich
- Main subject
- stomach cancer
- Director
- Akira Kurosawa
- Screenwriter
- Hideo Oguni
- Cast member
- Seiji Miyaguchi
- Composer
- Fumio Hayasaka
Article
14 sectionsContents
- Plot
- Cast
- Themes
- Meaning of Life
- Bureaucracy
- Family life
- Production
- Release
- Critical reception
- Accolades
- Legacy
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
is a 1952 Japanese drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay co-written with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni. 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.
The film's major themes 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. It won awards for Best Film at the Kinema Junpo and Mainichi Film Awards and is widely considered one of the greatest films of all time. Ikiru is regarded by some as Kurosawa's masterpiece alongside Seven Samurai.
Gallery (6)
Connections
Categories
1952 drama films1952 films1952 Japanese films1952 Japanese-language filmsBest Film Kinema Junpo Award winnersExistentialist filmsFilms about bureaucracyFilms about cancerFilms about deathFilms about old ageFilms about social realismFilms based on Russian short storiesFilms based on The Death of Ivan Ilyich