Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Ikiru Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 16, 2015

Akira Kurosawa's "Ikiru" (1952) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; the documentaries "A Message from Akira Kurosawa: For Beautiful Movies" and "Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create"; and an audio commentary by writer and film historian Stephen Prince. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring Donald Richie's essay "To Live" and Pico Iyer's essay "Ikiru Many Autumns Later". In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The lonely man

He has lived to work. For twenty-five years, Mr. Watanabe (Takashi Shimura, Throne of Blood, Rashômon) hasn’t missed a single day of work and has tried to save as much as he can. He has treated the simple pleasures of life as annoying distractions and done his best to ignore them.

But now Mr. Watanabe has discovered that he has stomach cancer and only a few months left to live. The shocking news has suddenly pulled him out of the bubble he has been living in and made him realize that he has wasted his life. He has tried to remain calm, but his mind has refused to listen to him. It has overwhelmed him with cruel questions and pushed him on the verge of a serious nervous breakdown.

In a lousy bar, Mr. Watanabe meets a cynical stranger (Yonosuke Ito, Sanjuro) and begins drinking with him. He knows that it is a bad idea because the strong sake can kill him, but he wants to get drunk and temporarily forget about his condition. When later on he confesses to the stranger that he is dying, he decides to take him on a trip around the city and show him how he should have enjoyed himself during the years.

When Mr. Watanabe misses a few days of work, his colleagues begin discussing his inevitable replacement. Then the much younger and energetic clerk Toyo (Miki Odagiri) approaches him after she sees him aimlessly wandering around the city and the two begin spending time together. When the news reaches Mr. Watanabe’s clueless son (Nobuo Kaneko, The Human Condition), he decides to confront his father and question his compromising affair with the girl.

Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiru (To Live) is formally divided into two uneven sections. In the first, the ill bureaucrat struggles to come to terms with the fact that everything that has mattered in his life has suddenly become pointless -- his work, his savings, even his interactions with other human beings. After the initial shock wears off, however, he makes an important discovery that restores his desire to be active and contribute to the society he belongs. In the second section, the society tests the sincerity of his actions. Initially they are dismissed by the majority of his colleagues, but after a police officer describes his final hours to them they are reevaluated and greeted as inspirational.

The film can be remarkably cynical at times, but it is undoubtedly the reason why it still feels relevant today. Through a series of contrasting situations one is forced to ponder what truly matters in life and whether the various accomplishments that give one a sense of fulfillment and ultimately a sense of security should define one’s existence. Indeed, when Mr. Watanabe is forced out of his comfort zone, he is also expelled from the system that has created his reality -- and without it he suddenly rediscovers his passion for life.

Kurosawa directed Ikiru in 1952, but his deconstruction of life in post-war Japan is anything but dated. In fact, the cynicism that apparently solidified it is now an integral part of the value system which the Western world promotes. Needless to say, much like Mr. Watanabe many westerners also spend the overwhelming majority of their lives in The Great Race for More, not realizing that what they are losing in the process is far more valuable than the occasional rewards that they earn before the finish line.

Ikiru Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on a Scanity film scanner from a 35mm fine-grain master positive, the best remaining film element for Ikiru, whose original negative no longer exists. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for small dirt, grain, noise management, flicker, and jitter.

Scanning supervisor and colorist: Lee Kline.
Scanning: Imagica, Tokyo."

There are some minor brightness and density fluctuations, but depth and clarity are consistently very pleasing. Some transitions are also a bit uneven, and very light wear marks and blemishes can be seen around the edges of the frames. Nevertheless, image stability is good. Generally speaking, contrast levels remain stable, though there are a few sequences where some unevenness is present. There are no traces of problematic degraining corrections. Predictably, grain is visible throughout the entire film, though grain exposure could be a bit uneven in areas where time has left its mark and density isn't as good as it should be. There are no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments. Ultimately, despite the various inherited limitations, the current technical presentation of Ikiru is very good. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Ikiru Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Japanese LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Depth and clarity remain pleasing throughout the entire film. There are some extremely small fluctuations in the high-frequencies, but they never become even remotely distracting. In fact, considering the age of the film and the fact that the existing elements were not in optimal condition, the end result is surprisingly good. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in our review.

Ikiru Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Ikiru. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (4 min, 1080i).

• A Message from Akira Kurosawa: For Beautiful Movies - this long and truly illuminating documentary offers an in-depth look at the life and legacy of the great Japanese director, his working methods, the success of his films and some of the key themes in them, and the impact his body of work had on the Japanese film industry. Included in it are clips from numerous archival interviews and films, as well as plenty of production stills and personal photographs. The documentary was produced by Kurosawa Production, Inc. in 2000. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (82 min, 1080i).
  
  1. Cinematic material
  2. Scripts
  3. Storyboards
  4. Shooting a movie
  5. Lighting
  6. Art direction
  7. Costumes
  8. Editing
  9. Music
  10. Directing

• Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create - this archival documentary focuses on the production history of Ikiru. Included in it are clips from archival interviews with screenwriter Shinobu Hashimoto, former script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, actor Takashi Shimura, art director Yoshiro Muraki, and actress Miki Odagiri, amongst others. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (42 min, 1080i).
  
  1. A tragedy of shortcomings
  2. Hideo Oguni's influence
  3. The actors
  4. Production details
  5. Music and sound issues
  6. Takashi Shimura
  7. An enduring classic

• Commentary - in this audio commentary, author of The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa, discusses the narrative structure of Ikiru (the use of a narrator and the various jumps in time), the main dilemmas Mr. Watanabe faces throughout the film, the socio-political climate in Japan after the war, the lensing of specific scenes (the presence of frames within frames), etc. The commentary was recorded exclusively for Criterion in 2003.

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring Donald Richie's essay "To Live" (originally published in his 1965 book The Films of Akira Kurosawa) and Pico Iyer's essay "Ikiru Many Autumns Later".

Ikiru Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru can be remarkably cynical at times, but it is the reason why it remains relevant today. The film essentially tells two very different stories -- the first is about an aging man, played brilliantly by Takashi Shimura, who discovers that he has only a few months left to live and then slowly begins to reevaluate his life, and the second is about a country that has survived a terrible war but has lost its identity. Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release of Ikiru is sourced from a new 4K restoration. There are some obvious source limitations, but this is the best presentation of the film that I have seen to date. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.