[Film] Ikiru (1954) - Akira Kurosawa
"Life is brief, fall in love, maidens...
Before the crimson bloom fades from your lips...
Before the tides of passion cools within you...
For those of you who know no tomorrow...
Life is brief, fall in love, maidens...
Before our raven tresses begin to fade...
Before the flames in your hearts flicker and die...
For those to whom today will never return..."
I've been willing to watch this film for quite a long time now.. I regret I didn't watched it earlier..
This is one of the best movies I've seen. old but really good ! Surely I’ll watch again.
Akira Kurosawa is a genius film-maker ! I previously watched "Seven Samourai (1954)" and "Rashomon (1950)" and "Ran (1985)", FANTASTIC films !!
Ikiru (1952) (meaning “to live” in English) is a very saddening but beautiful film. In brief words it’s about life, about the struggle of finding meaning to it, about bureaucracies and the fact of doing nothing so nothing will ever get done.
A spiritual film, an awakening film with vital questions. It's also about hope, about courage, about dignity.. It’s about our lives.
Are we living or just wasting lives?
I absolutely don’t see a pathetic man, a person trying to get something out of his meaningless life. It’s more than that. I invite you all to watch it, you’ll then understand the philosophy behind this masterpiece! It will never get old, the issues treated still are contemporary.
There is a Watanabe (the protagonist) in every one of us.
In his production notes for Ikiru, Akira Kurosawa said :
“The thought of my eventual death pops up in mind occasionally. I feel that I’m not ready to die just yet, and I become very restless. There are many things I must accomplish before I die. I’ve only lived a short time. Such thoughts haunt me and make me anxious. The movie Ikiru is based on these feelings of mine. Facing death, the main character in the film finally realizes he has led a meaningless life – rather, he realizes he hasn’t lived at all – and he is driven to live his remaining days to the fullest. I want to make a keenly felt portrayal of the tragedy born of his shortcomings.”
Quotes :
"I can't afford to hate anyone. I don't have that kind of time."
"Afterall, he’s simply passing time without living his life. In other words, he’s not really even alive. […] Busy, always so very busy. But in fact, this man does absolutely nothing at all. Other than protecting his own spot. The best way to protect your place in this world is to do nothing at all. Is this really what life is all about?"
"I have less than a year to live. When I found that out... somehow I was drawn to you. Once when I was a child, I almost drowned. It's just like that feeling. Darkness everywhere, and nothing for me to hold onto, no matter how hard I try. There's just you."
"In order to clean up a garbage can somewhere, you need a garbage can full of paperwork."
"I just can't die — I don't know what I've been living for all these years. This expensive saki is a protest against my life up to now."
"- Toyo: What help am I?
- Kanji Watanabe : You — just to look at you makes me feel better. It warms this — this mummy's heart of mine. And you're so kind to me. No; that's not it. You're so young, so healthy. No; that's not it either... You're so full of life. And me... I'm jealous of that. If I could be like you for just one day before I died. I won't be able to die unless I can do that. I want to do something. Only you can show me. I don't know what to do. I don't know how. Maybe you don't know either, but, please... if you can... show me how to be like you!"
"How tragic that man can never realize how beautiful life is until he is face to face with death"