Ikiru
Ikiru - was released on: 25 March 1956.
The movie had an excellent cast consisting of:
- Takashi Shimura… - played the character of: Kanji Watanabe
- Shinichi Himori… - played the character of: Kimura
- Haruo Tanaka… Sakai
- Minoru Chiaki… Noguchi
- Miki Odagiri… Toyo Odagiri, employee
- Bokuzen Hidari… Ohara
- Minosuke Yamada… Subordinate Clerk Saito
- Kamatari Fujiwara… Sub-Section Chief Ono
- Makoto Kobori… Kiichi Watanabe, Kanji’s Brother
- Nobuo Kaneko… Mitsuo Watanabe, Kanji’s son
- Nobuo Nakamura… Deputy Mayor
- Atsushi Watanabe… Patient
- Isao Kimura… Intern
- Masao Shimizu… Doctor
- Yûnosuke Itô… Novelist
Here is a summary of the film’s plot:
Kanji Watanabe is a longtime bureaucrat in a city office who, along with the rest of the office, spends his entire working life doing nothing. He learns he is dying of cancer and wants to find some meaning in his life. He finds himself unable to talk with his family, and spends a night on the town with a novelist, but that leaves him unfulfilled. He next spends time with a young woman from his office, but finally decides he can make a difference through his job… After Watanabe’s death, co-workers at his funeral discuss his behavior over the last several months and debate why he suddenly became assertive in his job to promote a city park, and resolve to be more like Watanabe. Written by Mike Rosenlof {mrosenlof@qualcomm.com}