Ikiru

Ikiru (生きる, "To Live") is a 1952 Japanese film directed and co-written by Akira Kurosawa. The film examines the struggles of a minor Tokyo bureaucrat and his final quest for meaning. The script was partly inspired by Leo Tolstoy's 1886 novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich, although the plots are not similar beyond the common theme of a bureaucrat struggling with a terminal illness. It stars Takashi Shimura as Kanji Watanabe.

Plot summary

Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for thirty years. His wife is dead and his son and daughter-in-law, who live with him, seem to care mainly about Watanabe's pension and their future inheritance.

After learning he has stomach cancer and less than a year to live, Watanabe attempts to come to terms with his impending death. He plans to tell his son about the cancer, but decides against it when his son does not pay attention to him. He then tries to find escape in the pleasures of Tokyo's nightlife, guided by an eccentric novelist whom he just met. In a nightclub, Watanabe requests a song from the piano player, and sings "Gondola no Uta" with great sadness. His singing greatly affects those watching him. After one night submerged in the nightlife, he realizes this is not the solution.

Ikiru (director)

Ikiru aka Ikiru Genzai or IKR1 (born in Moscow, USSR in 1980 as Daniel Nemagiev, Даниил Немагиев) is a Russian-American film director.

Biography

Ikiru grew up in both Moscow and New York City's Lower East Side. Having obtained a Communication Arts degree in 1999, he assumed the alias Ikiru (Japanese: "to live") Genzai (Japanese: "now") in homage to Akira Kurosawa film Ikiru and a character in it. Under this alias he became a member of several conceptual, politically-conscious graphic design collectives such as the Pencilninja Company and GTS (Group for Tactical Subversion).

From 2003 to 2009 Ikiru attended the Deutsche Film und Fernsehakademie Berlin (The German Film and Television Academy) in Berlin, Germany.

Adhering to a 60's-70s auteur tradition, Ikiru's work creatively explores and interprets social ailments from an underdog perspective.

Filmography

References

3. Interview on Ralf aka Sex in the Desert for ExBerliner magazine. http://www.exberliner.com/culture/film/ralf-aka-sex-in-der-wuste/