Search - Ikiru [Criterion Collection] on DVD

Movie Release: 1952 DVD Release: 01/06/2004 Format: DVD - Black and White Audio Tracks: Japanese Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 2 Number of Discs: 2 Run Time: 2 hrs 23 mins Studio: Criterion Members Wishing: 35 Genres: Drama, Psychological Drama, Medical Drama See Also: Essential Art House: Ikiru [Criterion Collection]

Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru details the existential struggle of one ordinary man in his desperate search for purpose. Upon learning he has terminal stomach cancer, a low-level government bureaucrat (Takashi Shimura) leaves his job of thirty years without a word to find meaning in the year he has left to live. He is completely alone in the world -- his wife is dead, his son is practically estranged, and his co-workers (the people with whom he has more contact than any others) are little more than strangers. Rather than face a death alone in pathos, Shimura opts to make up for lost time by going to the bar (for the first time in his life), spending every last yen in his wallet and drinking himself to death. There he meets a black-clad artist (a Mephistopheles to his Faust) who leads him on a hellish (and darkly humorous) tour of the city after dark as the two crawl through every booze-soaked juke-joint in town (Kurosawa's classical training as a painter surfaces in this sequence; many critics have noted the striking similarity of the crowded dance hall scenes to the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch, (particularly Walpurgis Night). Realizing he has missed nothing, Shimura then sets his sight on a pretty young girl from the office to divert his attention from his looming mortality. Although the girl fails to serve as a lifebuoy, she does give him the inspiration to do something meaningful -- to leave a legacy, however small, that makes the world a better place. A synopsis of Ikiru cannot serve the film justice; it simply must be seen. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

Takashi Shimura - Kanji Watanabe
Nobuo Kaneko - Mitsuo Watanabe
Kyoko Seki - Kazue Watanabe
Miki Odagiri - Toyo Odagiri
Makoto Kobori - Kiighi Watanabe

Akira Kurosawa's masterful drama of a man who learns to appreciate life as he hovers at the brink of death is given a quality presentation on DVD in this release from The Criterion Collection. Ikiru has been transferred to disc in its original full-frame aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and the audio has been mastered in Dolby Digital Mono. The dialogue is in Japanese, with optional English-language subtitles. The feature is accompanied by an alternate audio commentary from author and Kurosawa biographer Stephen Prince. Other bonus materials include a feature-length documentary on Akira Kurosawa, a look at the making of Ikiru, and the film's original trailer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide