Review of Ikiru (1952) by Matt C — 10 Aug 2010

Ikiru (To Live) is a truly beautiful masterpiece made by Akira Kurosawa. The movie lightly touches on several subjects, including, the human condition, the ugliness of politics and politicians, facing mortality, the invisible web of relationships we form, the sacrifices we make for family, and, as a critic notes in the dvd pamphlet, how, when we pass, the only certainty is that we live on in the memory of those we knew and touched.

It is a deeply poignant film that urges its admirers to reform their lives. The keys to life are living and doing, and we must live each day as if it is our last, as if we really are facing our own mortality.

Because in a sense we all are, the clock is ticking for all of us and we could drop dead any second. As the writer who the protagonist Watanabe meets says, we must be greedy about life. We must embrace it and live to it to the fullest degree possible.

Those are some of the messages I took away from the film. It's really a piece of art that should be viewed by everyone, molded masterfully by Kurosawa. But the film wouldn't have nearly the same affect without the perfect performance of the main character Watanabe.

This is a movie I had wanted to see for a very long time and anticipated to be sweepingly moving, and it exceeded my expectations. If you must specially order it like I had to, then by all means do so.

But this is one film that must be seen by everyone.