Ikiru

On learning he has cancer, an elderly civil servant decides to make the most of what life he has left in Kurosawa's profoundly affecting masterpiece.

Made after Rashomon and just before Seven Samurai, Ikiru is one of Kurosawa's greatest achievements.

On learning that he has cancer, elderly civil servant Mr Watanabe (Takashi Shimura in a perfectly calibrated performance) realises he's wasted too much of his own time - and that of others. Seeking to give his life meaning, he decides to make the most of what's left to him... Repeatedly taking the story in unexpected directions, Kurosawa eschews the clichés of 'uplifting' melodrama; he even mines a rich vein of wry comedy as Watanabe indulges in the delights of post-war Tokyo with a writer and a young woman. At the same time, however, the film embraces both the essential solitude and the potential generosity of human individuals; the celebrated final shot is at once profoundly affecting and poetically eloquent. An enduring landmark of humanist cinema.

Directed by:

Akira Kurosawa

Cast:

Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Kyoko Seki

Country:

Japan

Year:

1952

Running time:

143min

Certificate:

PG