IMDb > Ikiru (1952)
Ikiru
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Overview

User Rating:
8.1/10   14,388 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
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Director:
Writers:
Contact:
View company contact information for Ikiru on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
25 March 1956 (USA) more
Genre:
Plot:
Kanji Watanabe is a longtime bureaucrat in a city office who, along with the rest of the office, spends his entire working life doing nothing... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 5 wins more
NewsDesk:
(7 articles)
Group Fun
 (From FilmExperience. 20 October 2009, 3:50 PM, PDT)

Daniel Craig Moves Into His Dream House
 (From FilmShaft.com. 29 August 2009, 1:02 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
A cinematic tour de force more (108 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Takashi Shimura ... Kanji Watanabe
Shinichi Himori ... Kimura
Haruo Tanaka ... Sakai
Minoru Chiaki ... Noguchi
Miki Odagiri ... Toyo Odagiri, employee
Bokuzen Hidari ... Ohara
Minosuke Yamada ... Subordinate Clerk Saito
Kamatari Fujiwara ... Sub-Section Chief Ono
Makoto Kobori ... Kiichi Watanabe, Kanji's Brother
Nobuo Kaneko ... Mitsuo Watanabe, Kanji's son
Nobuo Nakamura ... Deputy Mayor
Atsushi Watanabe ... Patient
Isao Kimura ... Intern
Masao Shimizu ... Doctor
Yûnosuke Itô ... Novelist
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Doomed
Living (International: English title) (informal English title)
To Live (International: English title) (informal English title)
more
Runtime:
143 min | Sweden:123 min (cut version)
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
USA:Not Rated | Sweden:11 | Finland:S | UK:PG (video rating) (1994) | UK:A (original rating) | Singapore:PG
Filming Locations:
Company:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The only Akira Kurosawa film between Yoidore tenshi (Drunken Angel) and Akahige (Red Beard) not to feature 'Toshiro Mifune'. more
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: A beer sign is backwards in a bar scene, revealing the use of a mirror image. more
Quotes:
Toyo: [telling joke] "You've never had a day off, have you?" "No." "Why? Are you indispensable?" "No. I don't want them to find out they can do without me." more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Little Children (2006) more
Soundtrack:
Happy Birthday more

FAQ

What Are The English Lyrics To The Song Kanji Watanabe Sings? (+More Info.)
more
28 out of 33 people found the following comment useful.
A cinematic tour de force, 16 October 2003
Author: Butch-Higgins

"Ikiru" is supposedly one of Steven Spielberg's favourite films, and one can see the influence it's had on him not only in the sentimentality and the ultimate "feelgood factor" (which may be a little too extreme for some viewers, although the script never condescends), but visually, especially in the virtuoso sequence in which a reprobate leads our hero, a respectable and dull civil servant, on a whirlwind tour of Tokyo's frenzied nightlife - a masterpiece of camera placement and editing. With images throughout that will stay with you for a long time, and a terrific supporting performance by Miki Odagiri as a vivacious young "office lady", "Ikiru" is still an absolute knockout more than 50 years on.

Was the above comment useful to you?
more (108 total)

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Ikiru (1952)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
My theory as to why the Yakuza boss walks away nhpbob
This movie....not in the top 250. NoRegretsForOurYouth
Where can I get one of those bunnies? gwargh
Most overrated director of all time saarijas
Ikiru vs. Wild Strawberries tb1223
I think it's one of Kurosawa's worst gk_891
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