880-02 Shimura Takashi, Odagiri Miki, Kaneko Nobuo, Seki Kyōko. Originally released as a Japanese motion picture in 1952. Partly inspired by Leo Tolstoy's novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Full screen (1.37:1). Special features: Audio commentary from 2003 by Stephen Prince, author of The Warrior's Camera: the cinema of Akira Kurosawa; A Message from Akira Kurosawa: For Beautiful Movies (2000), a ninety-minute documentary produced by Kurosawa Productions and featuring interviews with the director; Documentary on Ikiru from 2003, created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create and featuring interviews with Kurosawa, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, writer Hideo Oguni, actor Takashi Shimura, and others; Trailer; New English subtitle translation. An essay "Ikiru Many Autumns Later" by film critic Pico Iyer and a reprint "To Live" from critic Donald Richie's 1965 book The Films of Akira Kurosawa.
Summary:
A young Japanese businessman dying of cancer wants to give something back to society before his death, so he decides to build a playground for children.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.