Ikiru

Director: Akira Kurosawa

1952 / 143min / 35mm

One of Kurosawa’s very greatest achievements, Ikiru shows the director at his most compassionate, affirming life through an explora­tion of death. Takashi Shimura brings a sublime pathos to his portrayal of an aging Tokyo bureaucrat who, after being diagnosed with stomach cancer, is compelled to find meaning in his final remaining days. Presented in a radically conceived two-part structure and shot with a perceptive, humanistic clarity of vision, Ikiru is a rich, multifaceted look at what it means to truly have lived.

Distributor: Janus Films

Part of The Holidays at Metrograph: 2025