Ikiru (1956)
98%RT Audience Score: 97%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award
5 wins & 2 nominations total
Ikiru is a well-acted and deeply moving humanist tale about a man facing his own mortality, one of legendary director Akira Kurosawa’s most intimate films.
If you’re in the mood for a flick that’ll make you feel all the feels, then Ikiru is the movie for you. It’s a real tear-jerker about a dude who’s coming to terms with his own mortality. And let me tell you, the acting is top-notch. You’ll be blown away by how deeply moving this film is. It’s one of those movies that’ll stick with you long after the credits roll. And get this, it’s directed by the legendary Akira Kurosawa himself! This guy knows how to make a movie, and Ikiru is one of his most intimate films. So grab some tissues and get ready to feel all the feels.
Production Company(ies)
Toho Company,
Distributor
Brandon Films Inc., Cowboy Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Japan
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
1956
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:1.37 : 1
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Runtime:2h 23m
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Language(s):Japanese
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Mar 25, 1956 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 6, 2004
Genre(s)
Drama/LGBTQ+
Keyword(s)
drama, lgbtq+, Akira Kurosawa, Takashi Shimura, Miki Odagiri, Kyôko Seki, Sojiro Motoki, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, box office, budget, reviewed by Kenji Fujishima, Keith Uhlich, Dorothy Masters, James Berardinelli, Mark Chalon Smith, Richard Brody, David Parkinson, Michael Roemer, Grant Watson, Brian Eggert, P.S Harrison, Nicholas Bell, Jack Parr, directed by Akira Kurosawa, written by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, produced by Sojiro Motoki, MPAA rating, Japanese, humanist tale, mortality, cancer, communication, heartbreak, playground, slum neighborhood, peaceful acceptance, sound mix, mono, aspect ratio, Academy (1.33:1)
Worldwide gross: $96,302
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,194,735
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,554
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 130,287
US/Canada gross: $60,239
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $747,333
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,247
US/Canada opening weekend: $2,149
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $26,661
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,412
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Miki Odagiri – Toyo Odagiri
Kyôko Seki – Kazue Watanabe, Mitsuo’s wife
Akira Kurosawa – Director
Sojiro Motoki – Producer
Akira Kurosawa – Screenwriter
Director(s)
Akira Kurosawa
Writer(s)
Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni
Producer(s)
Sojiro Motoki
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award
5 wins & 2 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (51) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (50) | Rotten (1)
Kurosawa’s masterpiece endures, still finding new ways to scare me and speak to me after all this time. —Guest post by Kenji Fujishima
June 10, 2022
Keith Uhlich
(All (Parentheses))
TOP CRITIC
[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.
September 22, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
Dorothy Masters
New York Daily News
TOP CRITIC
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.
June 7, 2021 | Rating: 4/4
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
TOP CRITIC
It illuminates a reeling society while telling a story of deep human emotion.
June 12, 2020
Mark Chalon Smith
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
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.
April 8, 2016
Richard Brody
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
Meticulously constructed, beautifully played and poignant.
April 27, 2009 | Rating: 5/5
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
A moving and extraordinary document of our time and its urban civilization.
July 6, 2022
Michael Roemer
The Reporter
Personally and in the end all film reviews are personal ones Ikiru simply failed to fully impress me. Kurosawa had done better, and would go on to do much better, in the future.
April 26, 2022 | Rating: 6/10
Grant Watson
Fiction Machine
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.
March 21, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
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.
June 7, 2021
P.S. Harrison
Harrison’s Reports
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.
October 20, 2020 | Rating: 4.5/5
Nicholas Bell
IONCINEMA.com
Kurosawa makes his worst mistake In treating what Is essentially lightweight, hock stuff in a ponderous and reverent manner.
September 1, 2020
Jack Parr
Winnipeg Free Press…
Plot
Kanji Watanabe is a civil servant. He has worked in the same department for 30 years. His life is pretty boring and monotonous, though he once used to have passion and drive. Then one day he discovers that he has stomach cancer and has less than a year to live. After the initial depression he sets about living for the first time in over 20 years. Then he realises that his limited time left is not just for living life to the full but to leave something meaningful behind…
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Fresh Kernels does not provide any goofy, funny, or odd comments about the film or its cast.
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