Review of Ikiru (1952) by Luis T — 22 Feb 2011

Films don't come much better than this. Ikiru, which means "To Live" in Japanese, is the story of a city employee who after 30 years on the job, never having missed a day of work, finds out he has cancer and has less than a year to live. As he starts to evaluate his life, he realizes that he didn't have one. Not only had he never had any fun in his life -- he's even accused of being miserly several times -- he doesn't even know HOW to have fun. His entire time on earth was just a prologue to his death. After much soul-searching, he discovers he can make a contribution and end his life with some kind of accomplishment uder his belt.

Takeshi Shimura, who was a staple of director Akira Kurosawa's earlier films, gives a heartbreaking performance as Mr. Watanabe. A memorable scene is when Watanabe is in a bar and begins to sing a song that begins "Life is brief". The camera pans in for a close-up and tears well up in his eyes and roll down his face as he sings. You realize that he never gave that phrase a second thought until that very moment. After just one viewing of this film, I can place Shimura's performance in my top favorites of all-time.

If it's possible for a film to change people's lives, this one could do it. High schools should make Ikiru required viewing for graduation. Even if it saved one person from wasting his or her life, it would be worth it.