Ikiru
1952 · Movie · NR · 143 min · ★ 8.3 · 95% critics
A longtime government clerk, worn down by routine and paperwork, is forced to confront his mortality after a serious diagnosis. With time suddenly feeling precious, he searches for purpose beyond the office, testing distractions and relationships before trying to leave behind something that matters to others.
Based on The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Also known as Doomed · To Live
Where to watch
Watch free on Kanopy — also streaming on HBO Max and The Criterion Channel.
2 hours to watch.
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Details
- Original title
- 生きる
- Years
- 1952
- Release date
- 1952-10-09
- Language
- Japanese
- Rated
- NR
- Runtime
- 143 min
- Critic score
- 95/100
- TMDB rating
- 8.3/10 (1,347 votes)
About
You’ll likely enjoy this if you want a reflective, emotional drama about purpose, work, and mortality that lingers after it ends; Not for you if you dislike slow, talky stories or bleak themes like High and Low.
Pros: deeply moving life questions; powerful central performance; thoughtful look at bureaucracy | Cons: slow pace for some; long club sequences; uneven structure late
Themes
- dying and death
- japan
- bureaucracy
- age difference
- praise
- office
- night life
- sense of life
- playground
- obsequies
- swing
- loneliness
- +15 more
Cast & crew
Takashi Shimura
as Kanji Watanabe
Haruo Tanaka
as Sakai
Nobuo Kaneko
as Mitsuo, son of Kanji
Bokuzen Hidari
as Ohara
Miki Odagiri
as Toyo
Shinichi Himori
as Kimura
Minoru Chiaki
as Noguchi
Minosuke Yamada
as Subordinate Clerk Saito
Kamatari Fujiwara
as Sub-Section Chief Ono
Makoto Kobori
as Kiichi Watanabe, Kanji's Brother
Directed by Akira Kurosawa