I Live in Fear (1955) User Reviews

"Living things like us are here – what will become of us?"

[Steffi_P · 8/10 · 23 April 2007]

I Live in Fear, more accurately translated from the Japanese as Record of a Living Being, marks a move towards gloomier, more pessimistic works from Kurosawa. It is, as far as I know, the earliest film to deal head-on with the issue of nuclear weapons. While Japan's own Godzilla (1954) and US films like Kiss Me Deadly (1955) made metaphors for the destructive capabilities of the bomb, I Live in Fear looks directly at the unspoken social terror by which those other allegorical films were inspired.

But this is not a one-issue film. Kurosawa also rails against the problems in a typical patriarchal Japanese family – both with the family elder's demanding control over his children and also the younger generation's disrespect for the old man. However, an overarching theme seems to be an attack on individualism. Niide, the patriarch seeks only to save himself and his family. Throughout the picture we are reminded that there is a wider society out there, beginning with the opening shots of crowded streets scenes (which remind me of the beginning of The Public Enemy). So Kurosawa puts several of his political eggs in I Live in Fear's basket, but the points are skilfully woven together around the theme of the nuclear threat.

While we aren't confronted with an actual demonstration of the effects of nuclear war, the imagery of total destruction is there in subtle ways. The iron foundry which Niide owns resembles a ruined, burnt out city. At one point, Niide is startled by the beginning of a thunderstorm – the perfect metaphor for a nuclear strike; a flash, a boom and rainfall (in other words, the radioactive fallout after the explosion). It's a slightly obvious device, but the timing is perfect. One of the most haunting images comes towards the end, in a scene where a dusty wind is blowing through Niide's house, flapping through the pages of a book he has left open on the floor.

Kurosawa's regular leading man Toshiro Mifune is daringly cast as the elderly Niide. With makeup ageing his features, the thirty-five year old is in a role unlike any he had played before. He's perhaps a little too lively to convince as an old man, but what counts is that he brings as much power to the performance as he did to his role as Kikuchiyo in Seven Samurai the previous year. His standout scene is the one in which he confronts Dr Harada after getting off the bus, and confesses that he is now terrified. Kurosawa cleverly amplifies his speech by having it take place under a road bridge. Kurosawa's favourite supporting actor, Takashi Shimura, plays Dr Harada, and turns in a strong performance as a kind of consistent voice of reason throughout the picture.

One criticism I sometimes have of Kurosawa is that in his effort to make a point, he occasionally forgets to make a film enjoyable for the audience, and this is somewhat the case here. I Live in Fear is not the most entertaining of Kurosawa's pictures. On the other hand, it's not all that long, and there's a slightly hysterical tone to it that occasionally makes it spellbinding. Kurosawa said this was the picture that he was most proud of, and you can see why. It was a flop at the Japanese box office, and has never been all that popular, but as a record of the atmosphere of the times, it really deserves more recognition.

Good film

[kanarazu · 7/10 · 1 April 2005]

I felt I had to post because this film, not one of my favorites by Kurosawa but still a one of quality and intelligence, keeps getting bashed by reviewers. The low score (compared to other Kurosawa films) shouldn't discourage potential viewers. Granted, this film takes more patience than some of his other films. However, the subject matter of the atomic bomb and how Japanese society and individuals deal I thought was very seminal. The whole concept of fear is deeply imbued into the film and it questions the sanity of the viewer and the world who live under the constant threat of universal destruction with ignorant self-assurance. The ideas are intelligent and presented with clarity. This film is complete and good in itself and doesn't need to rely on the name of Kurosawa to justify itself. Not a good Kurosawa film to start off with if one is trying to nurse an interest in his fecund movies but a good movie to watch nonetheless particularly if one is at all curious about how Japanese people feel about the horror of the atomic bomb.

Somewhat underrated

[counterrevolutionary · 8/10 · 5 November 2005]

Based on reviews I had read, I was expecting either a facile ban-the-bomb message film, or a story about greedy relatives trying to have an old man committed so they can get his money.

I should have known better. Part of Kurosawa's genius in his great middle period (1950-1965) is that he refuses to insist on anything. He fairly presents a series of events and invites us to decide what, if anything, they mean.

Everyone in this film has a point. No one here is really a villain. Even those who are jerks (notably the second son, Jiro) are really trying to do the right thing. And the film reminds me a little of THE CAINE MUTINY in that it very artfully moves our sympathies in one direction for most of the film before presenting us with events that make us wonder if we were wrong.

Toshiro Mifune gives a fine performance as Nakajima, but to tell the truth, I wish Kurosawa had given the role to Takashi Shimura, not only because I think Shimura would have played the role even better, but because it would have given him one more tour-de-force leading role in a Kurosawa film, coming directly after IKIRU and SEVEN SAMURAI. Granted, though, that such a move probably would have caused problems with both Toho and Mifune.

Gripping drama based on fear in post-Hiroshima Japan

[fam · 10 April 1999]

Toshiro Mifune's brilliant performance as an embittered factory owner at war with his family owes much to traditional Japanese theatre. The family want him committed to a lunatic asylum in what at first appears a dispute over succession and family wealth. But it emerges that the old man's crankiness and ill-temper is not simply based on a dislike of his mostly lazy and grasping offspring. He is driven by a fear of nuclear bombs (remember this was made less than 10 years after Hiroshima) and his plan to dispose of the business (a foundry, symbol of post-war reconstruction) and move to a farm in Brazil seems more like the action of someone who wants to spare the family, including his illegitimate children, and escape the horror. He is prepared to go to any length, even sacrificing himself and the business in the process. It is a film about a family blown apart by insecurity and fear, made into a gripping tale by a top director and an accomplished cast, as well as giving another twist to one of Kurosawa's constant themes - how the impact of outside forces on traditional values pushes Japan closer to chaos and madness.

Emotional fallout

[ackstasis · 7/10 · 9 December 2010]

In 1950s Japan, a local magistrate (Takashi Shimura) resides over the case of Kiichi Nakajima (Toshirô Mifune), an old man who's so spooked by the prospect of nuclear fallout that he intends to sell his assets and emigrate his large family to Brazil. The family, of course, has other ideas, and seek to have their father declared insane. Though the magistrate reluctantly votes to freeze the old man's assets, he himself becomes troubled by the possibility of nuclear apocalypse. Given what had happened in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, I wouldn't be surprised if such sentiment was widespread in Japan.

Mifune, then aged just 35, is completely convincing (under copious amounts of make-up) as the aging, increasingly-paranoid patriarch. Indeed, I didn't realise it was him until I looked up the film's IMDb page. The performance itself is pure ham, not unlike something Klaus Kinski or Jack Nicholson might have conjured up, but there's such intensity in his inner anguish that he is almost painful to watch. The old man's fear of nuclear holocaust ultimately leads him to a mental institution, but Kurosawa blurs his insanity: is he crazy, or is everybody else crazy for not being scared?

One scene I found particularly touching. After the old man suffers a serious heart attack, his family gathers around to discuss money arrangements should he die. Meanwhile, the youngest daughter, perhaps the only family member who sympathises with her father's plans, leafs through a photo album. On every page, we find smiling faces, a happy family. It suddenly struck me that, until then, I'd scarcely scene a smiling face for the entire film. Perhaps more than anything, 'I Live in Fear (1955)' is about the breakup of a family, the rupture of a social unit traditionally considered invulnerable.

SEE IT AND BE SCARED: GREAT FILM!!!

[quinolas · 9/10 · 6 February 2002]

*** CONTAINS SPOILERS ***

Record of a Living Being (or I Live in Fear) is an amazing film, sometimes even disturbing. The first scenes, set at the judge's office, have almost a comical tone. They tell of the confrontation between Nakajima Kiichi (Mifune Toshiro) and his family. This confrontation is beautifully highlighted in the oppressive environment created by cramming members of the family, the judge and counsellors into the frame. The tension created is so strong that it would not be too long before the scene burst out into violence. When that happens characters are propelled out of the frame but with Kurosawa's use of several cameras filming simultaneously these actions are caught brilliantly given the sequence an essence of cinema verite. The comical mood of the starting sequences changes when the setting moves to Kiichi third mistress' house Asako (Negishi Akemi). Here in a fast motion and silent (apart from the sound of thunder) shot Kiichi jumps at the sight of lightning and sound of thunder and rushes to cover with his body Asako's baby. The scene lasts only for a few seconds but it is enough to leave a strong impression of Kiichi's fears. It also shifts the mood of the film into a more serious dimension. Some Western film critics have mentioned the film uncertainties on its moral and political stance and criticise its supposedly weak ending. Some other have talked about its flawed script and the uncomfortable acting of Mifune playing a character twice his age. Here I am particularly referring to Rod McShane's review in Time Out. First I just wonder how anyone can talk of uncertainties in a script by just relying on subtitles and second, speak to any Japanese, who have seen the film, about Mifune acting and they would say that apart from the heavy makeup he is pretty convincing as an old man. Kiichi's character is far from being a model patriarch and far from providing a convincing and argumentative political message against nuclear power. He's got three mistresses, one of them dead, and 3 illegitimate children. His is an animal behaviour, therefore his irrational actions, who is fighting for survival. This is in sharp contrast with his family position. They are more down to earth, are they?. They think calmly about the consequences of his father's action. They know the law, at one point the mother scolds Jiro, the second son, for sounding just like a lawyer. They all have dreams for the future, they are all greedy that is why they can risk their lives. They would rather die than risk to lose all they have. Greed is one the major themes in Kurosawa's films and one of the causes that pushes Japan into chaos. Yojimbo, High and Low, Throne of Blood and Ran are good examples of this. Greed is epitomised by most of the members of the family, with the exception of Kiichi's wife, Asako and his youngest daughter Sue, but most subtlety by Kiichi's first son wife Kimie (Sengoku Noriko). She remains silent for most of the film, always keeping herself in the background. At one point when all the family is discussing what to do with the patriarch she looks out the window at the factory looming out of darkness before she draws the curtains. Later after Kiichi had set fire to the factory we see a crowd surrounding him and Kimie again in the background. She starts moving away from the crowd followed by the camera, approaches the rubble, falls on her knees and bursts into tears. In another sequence Kiichi's mistresses and their families feeling that he might die want to be included in his will and are seen negotiating with Kiichi's blood family. Kurosawa very cleverly pans the camera following Kimie who silently moves from side of the room to the other eavesdropping all the conversations. Kurosawa became a master in editing. In Record of a Living a Being several cameras were used simultaneously. This technique was meant to be used to enhance action sequences and Kurosawa had done that in his previous Seven Samurai for the battle scene in the rain. So it came as a surprise to use that technique for such a static film as this one. Nevertheless one of the most powerful sequences in the film is actually a static one. It happens when Kiichi is begging to his family for the last time to accompany him to Brazil. In a frontal medium shot of the family sitting in a semicircle, Kiichi is seen at its bottom right corner. After his request a silence follows, the camera unmoved, which is only broken by the crying of his wife and Sue. The tension increases and eventually the youngest son says something that enrages Kiichi who starts beating him up.

The final shot of the film is a vindication of Kiichi crusade. From his cell at the mental house Kiichi looks out of the window to the blazing sun, which he believes it is the Earth on fire hit by a nuclear bomb. Harada (Shimura Takeshi), who has always supported his cause, is with him. Kiichi tells him how happy he is that Harada had left the Earth and saved his life. As Harada leaves the hospital he comes across Asako carrying her baby. In Kiichi's eyes they have also escaped destruction unlike Kiichi's family who was seen leaving the hospital as Harada was coming in just before the Earth started to burn. Kiichi's final wish, after bowing to his family refusal of leaving Japan, was to save the baby. He is the future of Japan, born of a mother who was the only one who offered him money. The greedy family went down to Earth to meet its own destruction.

Pretty good, but I guess I just expected more from a Kurosawa film...

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 10 August 2010]

This is an odd little curio from the Cold War era. I think it played a lot better back in the 1950s, as today many younger viewers won't be able to relate to the theme...it will all seem too weird and too tough to understand.

Toshiro Mifune plays a man much older than he actually was--so he's had his hair whitened for the film and he walks about hunched over like an old man. He suffers from a severe obsession--that Japan is going to be destroyed by a nuclear war. Now back then, such worries were pretty common--and pretty normal. But, the degree to which this bothers him is extraordinary. He simply cannot function as he is so obsessively worried--and insists as the family patriarch that his entire family move to the only safe place on Earth--the Brazilian rain forest! He also wants to sell off the family's profitable business--a factory that employs hundreds of workers.

Much of the film concerns the family's reaction to the mania--a tough balancing act between traditional Japanese reverence for the elderly as well as the family standing against this tradition to oppose him. It also concerns the reaction of one particular person outside the family (Takashi Shimura)--a man who sits on a committee of three to decide whether or not Mifune is competent to control the family assets.

Eventually whether or not the family moves and sells the business is decided by Mifune and the end of the film is rather heart-breaking. In fact, it's a bit of a missed opportunity in a way. You see, in many ways, Mifune is the NORMAL person through much of the film because others are NOT so concerned about nuclear annihilation! But, this is completely lost in the end when you see that, yes, Mifune's character is 100% crazy! Not a bad film, but one that just seemed to miss the mark a few times--especially at the end. After all, what was it really trying to say?! I'm not exactly sure.

excellent, moving film

[sleepdeprived · 10/10 · 22 November 2004]

"I Live in Fear" is a thought-provoking, moving film about love, greed and fear, framed as only Kurosawa could. If you're a fan it's a must see, as it explores new and old themes in a stark, interesting manner. Excellent acting through-out, and please look carefully--Mifune wears no make-up, just huge glasses and a perpetual scowl; his talent and intensity were all he needed. This film also gives us an interesting look at Japan after the bomb, and the different ways people chose to deal with the fear they all in fact felt. The film does not judge, sympathizing with the children even as it highlights their selfishness. A good movie to make you think about where we've been, and where we might be headed.

I Live in Fear

[CinemaSerf · 7/10 · 14 November 2022]

This is a far cry from the usual Kurosawa/Mifune effort; indeed in this, Toshirô Mifune is almost unrecognisable. No brave, honourable Samurai this time, but an elderly foundry-owner who is paranoid about the potential impact of nuclear war on his family. To this end, he is determined to sell up and relocate his family to Brazil. The family don't fancy this idea much and try to have him certified. What ensues is a battle of wills, priorities and personalities set against a traditional set of Japanese family structures and values. Viewed, largely, from the perspective of independent arbiter "Dr. Harada" (Takashi Shimura) who has been drafted in to help settle the matter amicably; we visit the perfectly valid (though frequently selfish) approaches taken by both Mifune and his family - who have plenty of scores to settle amongst themselves - as the film tries to establish the best course of action to satisfy both parties. There is quite an interesting scene mid-way through when at the height of their dispute, the old man returns to the court armed with bottles of pop which he has bought for his family to help combat the unrelenting heat, indicating that he clearly still cares greatly for his family, even though they are at loggerheads... and for me, that rather sums the whole thing up - there isn't necessarily a right or wrong solution; it's about individuality and choice but ultimately the happiness of others; and Mifune is great. I found the last fifteen minutes quite sad, perhaps building on the old adage about families and money. Japan, for a good while, struggled to reconcile itself to the realities of a post-Hiroshima threat, so from an observer some 6,000 miles away it can be hard to understand just how viscerally the danger of repetition was taken by many - this film is a thought provoking, emotional - and, at times humorous, glimpse into that fear.

Nuclear fallout!

[brogmiller · 9/10 · 18 October 2020]

In 1955 millions of Japanese signed petitions against American atomic testing in the Pacific. Needless to say their concerns were totally ignored and there were reports of people moving to Brazil, although the numbers are not known.

Here we have seventy-year old foundry owner Nakajima played by thirty-five year old Toshiro Mifune, who is so obsessed with the threat of a nuclear holocaust that he plans to sell up and move his extended family, including two mistresses and their offspring, to South America. His family's attempts to have him declared mentally incompetent have the most dire and tragic consequences for them all.

Apart from his ill-conceived and interminable version of Gorky's 'Lower Depths', the consistent quality of Kurosawa's work throughout the fifties and sixties is both staggering and unparalleled.

Unsurprisingly this gloomy opus was a commercial failure and had to wait six years before being shown at the Berlin Film Festival. A further six years were to elapse before its theatrical release in America. It still remains mystifyingly underrated.

All of the acting kudos has been reserved of course for Mifune who is mesmerising in the role. It is such a pity that he and Kurosawa parted company in the late sixties as theirs was a partnership made in heaven.

Every character in this is beautifully drawn and one cannot fail to mention Kurosawa regular Takashi Shimura as domestic mediator Harada who is consumed with guilt and remorse over Nakajima's fate. This comes three years after his own stunning performance in 'Ikiru' for the same director. Ironically he appeared a year earlier in another film dealing with fear of a nuclear holocaust, 'Godzilla', which naturally cleaned up at the box office.

The touches of a master film maker are here in terms of sound effects, editing and grouping of actors. The constant mopping of brows and waving of fans captures perfectly the unbearable heat and of course a Kurosawa film would not be complete without a torrential downpour or two.

This is an immensely powerful work which raises so many issues not least of which is the thin dividing line between rational/irrational behaviour. Does Nakajima 'go too far'? Many would say 'yes'.

It is Nobuo Nakamura as the psychologist who has the most telling speech when asking: "Is he crazy or are those who are unperturbed in an insane world the crazy ones?"

The final shot of the disconsolate Harada trudging down the stairs of the asylum whilst one of Nakajima's daughters, with child on back, walks up to visit her deranged father, is one of cinema's most devastating endings.

In a world presently paralysed by fear and paranoia this timeless film is ripe for rediscovery.

A meaningful but rather depressing experience... à la "Requiem for a Dream"...

[ElMaruecan82 · 7/10 · 29 June 2019]

Nervously fanning his face, bending his back and frowning his eyes, Kiichi Nakajima doesn't live in fear as much as he let fear live inside his body until it took a toll on his mind and on his family. The chronicles an inevitable tragedy, of a man who was too scared to live in peace, too proud to let his mind in peace, too stubborn to avoid an internal war with his family.

The old man, played by a 35-year old Toshiro Mifune, is the kind of aging patriarch who should inspire respect and obedience in a Japanese society resurrecting from the ashes of war and only starting to embrace modernity. But Nakajima is incapable to envision any future in this Japan, and neither the present nor the past can be of any help. Nakajima is scared of the Atomic age and is convinced that a Nuclear War is going to annihilate Japan, his fear resonates like an eschatological obsession, he doesn't fear the scenario, he's convinced of his imminence. I guess it's as if the graphic meltdown sequence of "Barefoot Gen" was playing in his mind like a broken record.

Fear is said to be a feeling anchored in the future and directly or indirectly connected with the fear of death, and it is true, the catch is that Nakajima is an old foundry owner, which means he's resourceful enough to look for a solution. Indeed, within his not-so irrational obsession, he found a 'rational' idea, which is to move all the family to Brazil, a country that would escape the Nuclear Holocaust. It's all a matter of convincing his family and the scope of his plan is too big and the stakes are so high that he doesn't care about exposing his mistresses and illegitimate children to the rest of the family. That's how desperate he is to save those he loves.

His sanity is inevitably questioned and the film opens with the convocation of a voluntary Domestic Court Counselor to arbitrate the case, Dr. Harada, a dentist, is played by Takashi Shimura, and watching him playing a younger person that Mifune gives the film an touch of cinematic weirdness despite the gravity of its theme. Anyway, Harada is a sane man who seems to take up the cudgels of Nakajima, he is aware that his obsessional fear might cloud his judgment but he believes the old man has a point, who would have thought two cities could be vaporized in one minute before August 1945? Who can tell such things couldn't happen again?

The family drama is so heavy-loaded that I found myself digressing from my reading of the film, as I was watching it, I was wondering whether it was an existential or political statement from Kurosawa. I was thinking, how would Nakajima or his family react to the Cuba Crisis of 62? Kennedy and Khrushchev handled it like civilized men, but what if it was Trump and Putin instead? To what degree should we trust democracy and remain confident that the leaders will do exactly as reason commands. I'm glad Trump didn't start any war yet after three years but I'm not sure I like the way he's constantly eyeing on Iran, not that I trust Iran's regime either.

Kurosawa was probably recovering from the WW2 demons and the relevance of Nakajima's fear is relayed by Harada. But the man is still an outsider, and the film mostly deals with the way Nakajima's shenanigans interferes with his family's interest and blurs all the cards of social conventions. The man who should be respected and trusted has forced his son (Minoru Chiaki) to sue him and force his mother, a traditional woman, to testify against her own husband, one of the collateral damages is to see that woman breaking marital duties for her children's sake. Brothers and sisters argue over their father's decisions, forcing the latter to resort to threats and even beatings. The scenes are depressing and doesn't leave much for optimism.

Indeed, what is going is a dialogue of the deaf, one that can only push the old man to take extreme measures to get money and buy the property in Brazil. He asks his mistresses for money, asks another one to mortgage her bar, the story reminded me of "Requiem for a Dream" where we follow the descent into madness of a woman driven by obsession and the climax of Nakajima' desperate maneuvers is simply devastating, because it doesn't make one person or one family unhappy, it destroys lives far beyond the intentions of Nakajima, confronting him to his own contradictions: how about his workers? How about the man from Brazil who'll live in Japan? How about the world?

"I Live in Fear" is a powerful anti-Nuclear movie in the way it depicted it through its most mundane form a fear rooted in everyone's mind, a mind so obsessed that any lightning would make him crawl on the floor and cover a little baby... maybe this says a lot about the way the world was going crazy after the war, the problem is that the family only wished to live in peace and ignore the risks because they couldn't do nothing, the gap was so blatant from the start the project was doomed to fail and the ending was inevitable. As an intelligent movie, it's a nice work, but it's rather depressing movie.

Maybe 'fear' is too ugly a condition to make for great entertainment, I could relate to Nakajima as someone who's afraid of flying to the point it created awkward situations with my family and made me miss great opportunities to travel in exotic places. That's one of the craziest things about fear, it's linked to the fear of death and yet it prevents you from living your life, more than any other thing, you move and act out of fear but at the end, your life was empty, static or wasted.

A Very Informative and Enlightening Post-War Film

[jzappa · 9/10 · 29 July 2008]

From the very very beginning during the opening credits sequence, we are given the ominous feeling of paranoia, the feeling with which it's vital to sympathize with Toshiro Mifune's character, an old foundry owner convinced that Japan is on the brink of nuclear obliteration, trying to force his reluctant and resentful family to safety in Brazil.

Mifune's performance is so very masculine and real, as are nearly all of them. In this film, he displays a self-assurance that allows him to descend into pathetic helplessness. Of all the post-war Kurosawa films that I've seen so far, I Live In Fear is the most direct and informative. America may feed off of the dread showcased by the Japanese culture in this film and some may feel terribly sad for the individualistic portrayal of the debilitating fear stricken into the immovable hearts of stubborn old men like Mifune's character.

Even as early as WWII, I learned, America's most powerful weapon has been fear. However, in those times, it was a much purer, less vain utility. But what about the people it destroys for the sake of its own feeling of security?

2.23.2024

[EasonVonn · 7/10 · 23 February 2024]

Eikoh Hosoe collaborated with Tatsumi on a 1960 film called The Center of the Original Explosion, and it's clear that the '60s and '50s were a time when Japan heartily began to rethink the effects of the root causes of its post-war trauma.

Kurosawa's Record of the Living, located in 1955 in the middle of Kurosawa's creative period, rather than following his already mature style, seems instead to retreat into a style of imagery of insight into localized social realities from the time of Ziz Sanjuro, which of course Kurosawa had been doing all along, except that the style of the rest of his work is closer to one of portraying society in a small way, through the subtle portrayal of characters, than to the earlier and this one. It's just that compared to his earlier works and this one Instead, we see a more fleshed out family (Kurosawa's family portrayals have been very bad in his previous works, but this one actually has some vividness, but it's still a "bad" family), and less fleshed out characters. All the characters in this family except the father are very soulless and have no authenticity, while the father is more like a typical King Lear-type in "Chaos" or a fire-setting and finally crazy character in Tarkovsky's "The Sacrifice".

This type of image often plays the role of Kurosawa's mouthpiece in Kurosawa's movies, and in this one, it is obviously the line "I'm not afraid of death, I'm only afraid of being killed by others". The heroism that unfolds in this way is also a style that Kurosawa has played badly. But it's interesting to see how clearly we can understand the anti-war sentiments of "I Have No Regrets About My Youth" without the subtle connotations of Kurosawa's previous works.

The visuals and audio are certainly excellent, but not as good as "Lust for Life," a film purely geared toward the atomic bomb in which the characters are downplayed.

A dark and sombre effort

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 8 March 2021]

The second of Toho's double-bill looking at the legacy of the nuclear bomb attacks on Japan, the other being GODZILLA; these two films couldn't be more chalk and cheese if they tried. While one's a rousing, hugely influential monster flick, Akira Kurosawa's I LIVE IN FEAR is a much quieter and more reflective work that looks at the mental disintegration of an individual as a direct consequence of America's bombing campaign. It's dark, sombre and altogether depressing come the end, yet watchable too thanks to the technical values and a typically convincing turn from Toshiro Mifune, who really loses himself in the role. If IKIRU was Kurosawa's film about physical illness, then I LIVE IN FEAR is his companion piece exploration of mental illness.

Masterpiece!

[alienbx · 1 August 2002]

This movie should be seen by everyone. It is a very dark comedy (my personal favorite kind). You can see a summary of the story elsewhere. Suffice it to say, in black and white, in Japanese, it is still gripping, haunting, etc. You will watch and think: who is right? The old man or his children? You will smile as you begin to realize that this is a story of an entirely honest and loving man who is far saner than the rest of them, all of whom consider him insane. A beautiful film.

Some great dialogue exchanges

[jordondave-28085 · 7/10 · 14 September 2023]

(1955) I Live In Fear (In Japanese with English subtitles) DRAMA/

Co-written and directed by Akira Kurosaw, with the story that involves elder man's already grown up children attempting to take complete control over the fathers factory and assets by accusing him to be mentally incompetent to the courts of Japan, along comes a mediator! The reason for the fathers radical demeanor is the fear of another H-Bomb after the Hiroshima, motivating him to selling the factory started by him, taking his whole family to move with him to Brazil, except that they don't really want to leave! Seeing the elder man in the center of this is like watching an older version of Toshiro Mifune where the character gets over excited over disagreements with the family! Instead of just letting his family go, he becomes obsessed in forcing his already grown up children to come with him! Although never boring, it sometimes feels rather pointless.

Story of patriarch, thought mad by family, who wants to re-locate to South America for fear of nuclear attack.

[tbeadow · 9/10 · 27 July 2004]

I Live in Fear is yet another masterpiece by Akira Kurosawa. It tells the story of an aging patriarch who is terrified nuclear attack will destroy his family and the business he has worked to build up his entire life. His children do not wish to leave the comfortable life in Japan which his labours have provided. They believe he is mad and take him to family court for mediation. It becomes the difficult duty of a mediator to decide whether his fears are rational or not. The shadow of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are palpable in the feverish eyes of legendary actor Toshiro Mifune as the father. A thought-provoking time capsule of post-war Japan, the combination of Kurosawa and Mifune should never be missed.

Far from great, but definitely not bad

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 6/10 · 13 November 2022]

This is one of Akira Kurosawa's lesser known films. I find I get more enjoyment out of rewatching his classics than I do with delving into his deep cuts, but even when I'm not crazy about one of his films, I never feel like time was wasted watching them. I think every Kurosawa film has something to offer, and I Live of Fear is no exception.

Given the premise about one man's life being ruined because of his fear of atomic weapons, I was expecting this to be more of a psychological drama. Really, it's more of a family drama, with some scenes delving into the man's state of mind, but most of the movie seeming like it was about how it impacted his family. It's a worthwhile approach, but not one that I found as interesting (it's also a bit of a courtroom drama, especially early on).

All the acting is great at least. I don't think I would've realised Toshiro Mifune was the main character if his name hadn't been in the opening credits. He completely disappears into the role of a man twice his age, with his physicality and the mostly good makeup making his performance believable. While the supporting performances are good, I think there's too many side characters, and it gave the otherwise simple narrative a slightly messy feel.

It's also an interesting look at the way Cold War/atomic warfare paranoia hurts people on an individual level, but I just wasn't quite as into the film as I'd hoped. It's decent overall, and certainly has some strong elements, but not one I can say I loved, unfortunately.

compelling take on King Lear themes

[pyamada · 8/10 · 4 November 2002]

This is a surprisingly complex film that continues to build and grow right before your eyes. Some of the action and plot mechanism may need to be "accepted" to work, but once you realize that this is not merely an exercise on moral judgements, but a very sly re-working of familiar King Lear themes, the film's power and nuances become evident. For all those who see Kagemusha as a high point, and Ran as a huge failure, they may seek solace in this film, which pushes the trope of the rash old man, who has become so accustomed to getting and doing what he wants, that he cannot and will not accept his extended family's naysaying and interference. A really great film.

Fear of nuclear annihilation

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 22 November 2020]

"Is he crazy? Or are we, who can remain unperturbed in an insane world, the crazy ones?"

Sometimes fear can motivate intelligent behavior, e.g. changing course to mitigate risk. Sometimes it can lead to irrational behavior, e.g. getting anxious or obsessive, and then overreacting. In the case of the father of a family worried about nuclear war and further radiation in Japan even if it was between other countries, he believes he's doing the right thing by seeking to move them all to Brazil, and his adult children disagree, going to court to stop him. While we never learn the man's backstory or see it directly related to personal trauma, his PTSD-like reaction to a thunderstorm speaks volumes about his state of mind. Toshiro Mifune, as always, is compelling.

The film provides an interesting though sad window into Japan a decade after WWII, and in a larger sense, into global fears of nuclear annihilation. I love how Kurosawa shows us real angst; the man is torn apart by what he sees in the world, and his family is openly fighting with one another over stress and what to do about it. I suppose in a minor key it asks when can a family turn against the elder who has provided everything for them. Overall it's a little one-dimensional, though almost certainly more relevant today in a world that faces even greater existential risks. Worth seeing.

Burning earth

[GyatsoLa · 9/10 · 27 June 2009]

A minor film by Kurosawa's standard, but still surprisingly gripping. I put off watching this for some time - I felt the theme would be very dated and many reviews of it have been lukewarm. But it is actually a tight, gripping and superbly acted drama. What makes it truly stands out is that Kurosawa never falls into the trap of siding too much with one or other character. The central character, a businessman called Nakajima, is obsessed with the H-bomb and convinced that Japan is doomed tries to persuade his family (including his mistresses and their children) to move to Brazil, where he feels they will be safer. His family, unsurprisingly, think he has gone mad and try to have him declared incompetent so they can seize control of his business. But there are no bad guys or good guys here - everyone is struggling to do the best they can. All this is observed by a sad eyed dentist (Harada), played brilliantly as usual by Takashi Shimura who is left wondering who is mad - a man who seeks to flee nuclear destruction, or those who simply shrug and accept it as inevitable.

As usual with Kurosawa, the editing, photography, and camera movements are outstanding. Not many directors can create visually memorable images from an essentially domestic drama, but Kurosawa is one of them. I found one of the final scenes particularly striking - the two main characters looking at the sun, shaded through blinds - the now completely insane Nakajima convinced its the burning earth. It was impossible not to think that the obsession of the latter half of the 20th Century of nuclear Armageddon has turned into another fear, of a heating planet. So even when dealing with the immediate concerns of his day, Kurosawa still manages to be contemporary for our time.

In The Heat Of Tradition

[SilkTork · 9/10 · 6 December 2005]

There is something Shakespearian about Kurosawa. He deals with huge themes, and is willing and able to deal with multiple themes and work on many levels. A strong and evocative story-line with fascinating central characters is his starting point, and he directs with compassion, imagination and the eye of an artist. Many of the frames are filled with beautifully balanced shots that are rarely seen outside of the work of a handful of great directors. He is not afraid to shoot actors from behind or from awkward but revealing angles. This is one of the most gripping and satisfying Kurosawa films I have seen. The image of the sacrifice of the foundry and the theme of destruction by atomic war brings to mind Tarkovski's The Sacrifice. Indeed, with so much drenching rain in some scenes, and with Tarkovski's known admiration for Kurosawa, it is quite possible that this film did have some influence.

The story is about an extended family who are charging their father with insanity as he is determined to sell up the family business and move to Brasil because of his fear of atomic radiation engulfing Japan. Atomic radiation was a major cause for concern in post-war Japan, and there were many books and newspaper articles at the time explaining that the Earth's wind currents would bring radiation from atom bomb tests and from atomic war to Japan. This fear was the impetus for such monster films as Godzilla. However, Kurosawa is also using the radiation as a symbol for modern development - the changes that are taking place to the traditional Japanese ways, mainly from the mysterious modern world beyond Japan's shores.

The film opens not with the family, but with a dentist who is to be one of the judges who will decide on the old man's sanity. It is notable that the dentist works in bright, clean, modern surroundings with modern equipment, while the old father owns an old, dirty, dark, dangerous foundry where the workers have to be warned to take care of the fires or the place will be engulfed. We first encounter the family as they squabble outside the informal family court room where the case will be heard. The heat, anger and irritation are made very clear - there are sweat stains and angry swishing of fans throughout this and many of the other early scenes. It was at this point that I knew that I was going to enjoy this film a lot. There are many films that within the first ten minutes you know if the director is confident and in charge, and is ready to take risks. There is no doubt at this point that the placing of the actors, the camera angles and even the actors' gestures has been controlled by the director and that everything is working smoothly and effortlessly in the right direction. Even though the story is about the father and his family, we are kept in contact with the dentist throughout the film, even when the court case is over. And it is he we see in the final scene walking down the slope of the hospital as the father's youngest daughter walks up.

This is a film about a family. This is a film about moral values in a changing world. This is a film about the fear of modern society. This is a film about a Japanese society coming to terms with itself and its relationship with the outside world in the aftermath of the Second World War. This is a film about living in fear. This is an awesome film. I understand that this is the film that Kurosawa himself was most proud of. And I can certainly see why.

This film made me sick. What injustice.

[d-t-rocco · 5/10 · 12 February 2013]

I love Akira Kurosawa. However this movie made me so angry I couldn't get through more than half of it. Who the hell does that family think they are. The man was IN NO WAY mentally incompetent and having him declared so was a shocking injustice. He only went crazy after he was denied the rights to his own property in a kangaroo court.

What a joke, if you could have somebody declared incompetent because the mooching children didn't want to move to a new location our asylums would be overflowing 100x more than they already are.

What a shocking injustice...

I can't believe more people aren't blown away by the lack of a business owners right to do as he wishes with his own property. I wish he would have snapped and murdered his entire ungrateful POS family by finding some way to leak radiation into their rooms.

"Everybody has to die, but I won't be murdered!"

[morrison-dylan-fan · 8/10 · 20 June 2022]

After witnessing the vast epic Seven Samurai (1954-also reviewed) from the four disc Criterion box set,I planned to get the next title Akiria Kurosawa had made from out of the Criterion set AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa, only to find that I had actually gotten the disc out,and had misplaced it somewhere!

Recently picking up The Films of Akira Kurosawa by Donald Richie for £2 from a local book shop, I decided to do a long search, and finally found the disc, which led to me discovering what it is like to live in fear.

View on the film:

Revealed in the third edition on The Films of Akira Kurosawa by Donald Richie that the script was originally planned to be a satire, with co-writer (with regular collaborators Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, and Fumio Hayasaka - who was a close friend and composer of earlier scores for the film maker,and had in-depth discussions on the title before his passing in 1955) / directing auteur Akira Kurosawa later saying "We decided together, and then talking to other people, that a satire would be the best way of saying what we wanted to do." But, as the writing continued, Kurosawa found "As we (the writers) worked on the script it became less and less satire and more and more something else."

Although far more serious then originally planned, the screenplay retains the biting urgency of satire, coming across most prominently in those around Kiichi attempting to counter his fear of another nuke being dropped on Japan,with the most paper-thin reasoning to try and normalize the situation.

Landing as a companion work to Ikiru (1952-also reviewed), the writers brilliantly explore the 70 year old Kiichi, (played by 35 year old Toshiro Mifune, who captures the anxiety Kiichi is unable to escape from) trying to protect his family, from what he fears could be the end of their lives. The writers have the dread seeping into his dreams, (dreams being a major theme in Kurosawa's works) and leave Kiichi waking up to find, that the family have increased their labeling of his nuclear fears as mad, and pushed him deeper into a box, in order to keep their image of normalization intact.

Reuniting with his regular cinematographer of this period Asakazu Nakai, directing auteur Akira Kurosawa expands on their earlier boiling hot Film Noir Stray Dog (1949-also reviewed), via stylish panning shots gliding over everyone being sweaty, dripping wet and sitting next to fans to cool off, which ignites a superb atmosphere of everything reaching a boiling point.

Blowing out the candle with a poetic final shot which builds on the differing stages of life for the generations highlighted in the birthday sequence of Ikiru, and panning shots on grinding machinery, with the increased importance of machines in the modern/business world, being a theme Kurosawa would go deeper in exploring, Kurosawa and Nakai give the audience no breathing space at all, thanks to tight, claustrophobic shots keeping Kiichi boxed in, to a eerie sound design of white blasts of thunder and a baby crying,as Kiichi lives in fear.

"The earth is burning!"

[MissSimonetta · 9/10 · 18 March 2021]

I LIVE IN FEAR is a wonderful tragedy. Toshiro Mifune plays an old and powerful man brought low by his overwhelming fear of nuclear apocalypse. Though he has wealth, influence, a large family, and several mistresses, he is driven mad by the knowledge that all of this means nothing in the face of the H-bomb. The film calls to mind later king figures brought low in Kurosawa's filmography, such as the protagonists of HIGH AND LOW and RAN, but the story here has a quite immediate impact-- after all, we still live in the shadow of the atomic bomb. It is still a threat.