This Fall, Ikiru celebrates its 70^th Anniversary of its theatrical release, considered one of the many masterpieces from director Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa who got into the industry in 1936, made his first film in 1943, however many of his earlier films were released decade or more later due to the restrictions put on during and post the second world war. 

From 1950 to 1961 was the heart of his more noteworthy accomplishments. Ikiru (To Live) falls in this period; and amongst critics and his own peers (like Fellini or Kubrick) have been regarded as one of Akira Kurosawa’s finest works in the history of cinema. 

Akira Kurosawa began as an artistic painter, transitioned and really got his start as an assistant director and excelled in storytelling and became known as a scenarist, some of his best scenarios he came up with, that didn’t make it to film, was published in journals and was noticed for their freshness of representation and as such were awarded prizes.

Ikiru is no exception, the most recent remake was in 2007; Ikiru (‘To Live’) is a rich compelling movie, Hollywood could not resist but take inspired adaptations like DOA (1949, or 1988 remake), Netflix’s Kate (2021), or in Marvel Comics 1986 miniseries Strikeforce Morituri, but Ikiru was more complex than these  one note films.  It’s a film abound more for its Moral messages.  The concept in short and straight forward. a petty government official learns he has only half a year to live until he will die of cancer.  Hollywood focuses on more the ticking time clock and made it a noir and solving the mystery of him dying.  Whereas Kurosawa made it more societal introspective and spiritual.

The Official is named Kanji Watanabe, he turns to his family for solace when learning he is terminal, but is betrayed, he then seeks enjoyment but becomes disillusioned, and in the end is redeemed when uses his position to work for the poor.  It’s a very realistic depiction in the manner of a collapse of a family system, and the hypocritical aspects of officials in postwar Japanese society, as Japan desperately recovers from defeat in the second world war.

Ikiru (To Live) was an outstanding document of the life and the spiritual situation of Japanese people, who were then beginning to recover from the desperation caused by defeat in war