Ikiru (1952)

Ikiru (1952)
a.k.a To Live
Director: Akira Kurosawa
==Plot Synopsis==
A bureaucrat (Takashi Shimura) tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
==Male Deaths==
*Takashi Shimura [Kanji Watanabe]
==Female Deaths==
*None
==Trivia==
# When Takashi Shimura rehearsed his singing of "Song of the Gondola," director Akira Kurosawa instructed him to "sing the song as if you are a stranger in a world where nobody believes you exist."
# Akira Kurosawa considered this film his greatest work.
# The only Akira Kurosawa film between Drunken Angel (1948) and Red Beard (1965) not to feature Toshirô Mifune.
# Partly, the script of Ikiru was inspired by Leo Tolstoy's work "The Death of Ivan Ilyich".
# The song sung by Kanji Watanabe, in the bar, is called Gondola no Uta, "The Gondola Song". Written in 1915, it is a song about women and how they should find love before their time has run out.
# The literal translation of Ikiru is "To Live".
# Hideo Oguni, one of the three main writers, originally envisioned Takashi Shimura's character as being a yakuza (gangster) as opposed to a government bureaucrat.
# At the Berlin International Film Festival in 1954, Ikiru was awarded the Silver Bear.
# This is said to be Steven Spielberg's favorite film.
# Included among Roger Ebert's Great Movies list.
#
==Gallery==
Ikiru-1.jpg|Takashi Shimura before his death
Category:1952 Films
Category:Films directed by Akira Kurosawa
Category:Japanese Films
Category:Drama
Category:Films
Category:BAFTA Award Nominees
Category:Golden Bear Nominees
Category:Art Films