Review of Ikiru (1952) by Oliver C — 10 May 2010

Japanese filmaking at its best. A carpe deum masterpiece.

This review of Ikiru (1952) was written by Oliver C on 10 May 2010.

Ikiru has generally received very positive reviews.

Was this review helpful?

Yes

More reviews of this movie:

More Reviews of Ikiru

Review of Ikiru (1952)

By Grant S (1,780) on 20 Jan 2018

Truly a masterpiece. Kanji Watanabe is a civil servant. He has worked in the same department for 30 years…

Read Review

Review of Ikiru (1952)

By Richard Brody (868) for New Yorker (1,403) on 07 Apr 2016

Kurosawa achieves the piercing emotion and poetry of the Italian neorealists, but by opposite means: he doesn't make the camera disappear;…

Read Review

Review of Ikiru (1952)

By Matthew B (2,571) on 06 Oct 2016

How tragic that man can never realize how beautiful life is until he is face to face with death…

Read Review

Review of Ikiru (1952)

By Kerby H (812) on 20 Mar 2014

For some reason I just don't find any appeal in a lot of Kurosawa's work, no matter how human it is…

Read Review

Review of Ikiru (1952)

By Alan W (854) on 05 Jun 2018

Very powerfull movie. Yet another masterpiece by kurosawa-…

Read Review

Review of Ikiru (1952)

By Paul D (6,077) on 15 Dec 2015

Slow, moody and poignant, all of which emphasis the deep soul searching that occurs in the first part of the movie, and make up the sum of…

Read Review

Review of Ikiru (1952)

By David L (3,419) on 29 Dec 2013

Powerfully acted, emotional and with strong message, Ikiru is a very poignant film, a Japanese classic and one film that everyone should see…

Read Review

Review of Ikiru (1952)

By Alonso A (135) on 08 Mar 2014

Overall it's intimate and has a great message, but stylistically it is pretty dated…

Read Review

Review of Ikiru (1952)

By Dorianator F (445) on 03 Jan 2014

Fantastic film. Very beautiful and emotional. It's a good film about a man's reflection of life when he gets to the end of his life…

Read Review

Review of Ikiru (1952)

By Mark L (1,544) on 04 May 2014

Slow at first, but crescendos into a master work of art.....worth every effort you can make to see it....To pick a favorite Kurosawa film is…

Read Review

More reviews of this movie

Reviews of Similar Movies

Review of All About My Mother (1999)

By Smijatov (124) on 28 Jan 2011

Maybe I have had very high expectations of this film, since Almodovar is my favourite director, but I felt somewhat confused…

Read Review

Review of The Good German (2006)

By Wilfo. (1) on 02 Aug 2009

After reading the novel the film was nothing but a complete disappointment…

Read Review

Review of Freaks (1932)

By Timothy M (796) on 15 Aug 2010

I was forced to watch this film in media…

Read Review

Review of Three Colors: Blue (1993)

By Vincent Canby (762) for The New York Times (9,847) on 11 Mar 2003

Blue doesn't seduce the viewer into its very complex, musically formal arrangements. The narrative is too precious and absurd…

Read Review

Review of Before Sunrise (1995)

By Gargaroj (1) on 27 Jun 2009

Worst movie EVER! Don't care about these insanely boring characters or their stupid conversations. Put me out of my misery…

Read Review

Review of The Godfather Part II (1974)

By Jca (11) on 07 Oct 2007

Holy crap this movie sucked…

Read Review

Review of Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002)

By Lee M (4,001) on 25 Jun 2008

One giant shrug. Most of the characters just end up being horrible people and you're sort of waiting for them to die…

Read Review

Review of Léon: The Professional (1994)

By Slevin (1) on 15 Nov 2005

A farfetched, hollow tear-jerker A story so full of holes you could use it to catch fish…

Read Review

Review of Wings of Desire (1987)

By Mattdinovo (1) on 22 Oct 2018

Matthew DiNovo The movie, Wings of Desire, is a 1987 classic fantasy romance German film from Wim Wenders…

Read Review

Review of Three Colors: Red (1994)

By Sarcasms (1) on 07 Jul 2021

This movie is one of the most boring films I've ever tried to sit through…

Read Review

More Reviews

Popular Movies Right Now

A Quiet Place

2018

76%1,685 Reviews

No Hard Feelings

2023

65%90 Reviews

Avengers: Endgame

2019

86%432 Reviews

A Simple Favor

2018

69%617 Reviews

The Gentlemen

2020

70%170 Reviews

Nope

2022

68%181 Reviews

The Equalizer

2014

69%994 Reviews

Parasite

2019

87%251 Reviews

Interstellar

2014

83%1,261 Reviews

Hereditary

2018

72%1,650 Reviews