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Ikiru
Directed by
Akira Kurosawa
Not Rated
1956
2h 23m
Drama
8.3
98%
96%
8.3
Add to Watchlist
A bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
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Where to Watch Ikiru
Criterion Channel
Subscription
HBO Max
Subscription
HBO Max Amazon Channel
Subscription
+6 more
Cast of Ikiru
Takashi Shimura
Kanji Watanabe
Haruo Tanaka
Sakai
Nobuo Kaneko
Mitsuo, son of Kanji
Bokuzen Hidari
Ohara
Miki Odagiri
Toyo
Shinichi Himori
Kimura
Minoru Chiaki
Noguchi
Minosuke Yamada
Subordinate Clerk Saito
Kamatari Fujiwara
Sub-Section Chief Ono
Makoto Kobori
Kiichi Watanabe, Kanji's Brother
Nobuo Nakamura
Deputy Mayor
Atsushi Watanabe
Patient
Isao Kimura
Intern
Masao Shimizu
Doctor
Yūnosuke Itō
Novelist
Yoshie Minami
The Maid
Kumeko Urabe
Tatsu Watanabe
Eiko Miyoshi
Housewife
Noriko Honma
Housewife
Yatsuko Tan'ami
Bar Hostess
Ikiru Ratings & Reviews
(All (Parentheses)) (Substack)
Keith Uhlich
Kurosawa's masterpiece endures, still finding new ways to scare me and speak to me after all this time. -Guest post by Kenji Fujishima
Deep Focus Review
Brian Eggert
A heartbreaking masterpiece that will inspire self-reflection, even a severe alteration of lifestyle in every viewer, the beautiful Ikiru is among the greatest, most life-affirming motion pictures ever made.
New York Daily News
Dorothy Masters
[Kurosawa] is implemented with satirical brilliance and fine human interest... Lassitude in bureaucracy and skullduggery in politics are here to stay, he concedes, and only does the soul of man transcend his frailties.
Harrison's Reports
P.S. Harrison
Celebrated director Akira Kurosawa fashioned not only a penetrating study of a man's last days, but a brilliant commentary on middle class life and beauracracy that is universally understood.
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
A thoughtful, existential meditation about the meaning of life and what constitutes a life well-lived, Ikiru is almost guaranteed to prod the viewer to examine his or her own mortality and ponder how, in the end, the scales will tip.
IONCINEMA.com
Nicholas Bell
Moving without being sentimental, Kurosawa reaches the sort of emotional depths akin to early Frank Capra films, where cynicism was pushed aside by the integrity of the human spirit.
Los Angeles Times
Mark Chalon Smith
It illuminates a reeling society while telling a story of deep human emotion.
Shin Nichibei/New Japanese American News
Hoshi Soffen
As in others of Kurosawa's films, photographic accomplishment is unforgettable.
Esquire Magazine
Dwight MacDonald
It gives one more of a sense of modern Japanese life than anything I've seen, and it might have been really good had half an hour of repetitions and underlining been cut.
Boulder Weekly
Michael J. Casey
One of the great existential masterpieces of the 20th century.
The New Yorker
Richard Brody
Kurosawa achieves the piercing emotion and poetry of the Italian neorealists, but by opposite means: he doesn't make the camera disappear; instead... he deploys his camera so sharply and unerringly that it seems to take X-rays of the spirit.
Chicago Reader
Don Druker
Akira Kurosawa's greatest film.
TIME Magazine
A masterwork of burning social conscience and hard-eyed psychological realism.
Variety
Variety Staff
Kurosawa performs a tour-de-force in keeping a dramatic thread throughout and avoiding the mawkish.
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
If you have never seen it, you should. If you have seen it before, your admiration will only increase.
New York Times
Bosley Crowther
It is a strangely fascinating and affecting film, up to a point.
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Take a look at this film. At the very least, it'll prompt you to assess your balance of work and life, and you may find yourself putting in for a little vacation time.
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
There has never been a smarter, more compassionate film about imminent death.
Village Voice
Michael Atkinson
Often heavy-handed but never less than heartfelt, Ikiru (To Live) is universal in its thrust and startlingly astute in its narrative engineering.
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
I think this is one of the few movies that might actually be able to inspire someone to lead their life a little differently.
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