Movies - Ikiru

	Movies - Ikiru

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, 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. But 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 first attempts to live a life of hedonism, seeking women in noisy clubs, but soon finds "pleasure" hollow. He attempts but fails to talk to his family, and spending the night in town with a novelist leaves him unfullfilled. He then dedicates the rest of his life to a project neglected by bureaucracy and remiss bureaucrats. His persistent will may be able to overcome the inertia of bureaucracy and turn a mosquito-infested cesspool into a children's playground.

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.

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Movies - Ikiru

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