Ikiru (生きる)

Toho Co., ltd.

A Toho 20th anniversary film

A 1952 arts festival selection

Iki Ru

Produced by Sojiro Motoki

Screenplay by Akira Kurosawa Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni

Cinematography by Asakazu Nakai

Art Director Takashi Matsuyama

Music by Fumio Hayasaka

Directed by Akira Kurosawa

This stomach belongs to the protagonist of our story.

Signs of cancer are already present,

but he doesn't know that yet.

Public affairs section chief

The water gives my child rashes.

Where citizens and city hall meet

please don't hesitate to submit and it breeds mosquitoes.

Your complaints and requests here

can't you do something?

It would make a great playground if you filled it in.

Just a moment, please.

Sir, they've come to complain about open sewage.

Send them to public works.

Here's our protagonist.

But what a bore it would be to describe his life now.

Why?

Because he's only killing time.

He's never actually lived you can't call this living.

Miss Odagiri... How dare you, during business hours?

It's just so funny!

What is?

The “liar's club.” someone sent it around.

Read it to us.

“So you've never taken a vacation?”

“That's right.”

“Because city hall can't run without you?”

“No, because everyone would realize

city hall doesn't need me at all.”

This isn't even worth watching.

He might as well be a corpse.

In fact, he's been dead for some 20 years now

before that, he had some life in him.

He even tried to do a little real work.

Proposal for increasing departmental efficiency

submitted 11/7/1930 by kanji Watanabe

but there's nothing left of that will or passion.

They've been completely worn down

by the minutia of the bureaucratic machine

and the meaningless business it breeds.

Busy... so terribly busy.

But in reality, he does nothing at all

besides protecting his own position.

The best way to protect your place in this world

is to do nothing at all.

But is this enough?

Is this really enough 7

for him to Stan' thinking seriously about this,

his stomach will have to get a lot worse,

and he'll have to rack up a lot more wasted time.

But any proposal for creating a park

must go to the parks department.

This seems to be more a matter of sanitation.

Talk to your district health center.

See the sanitation department.

See environmental sanitation.

Preventive sanitation.

Disease control.

Lots of mosquitoes?

That's a job for pest control.

The problem is seeping waste, which means...

It's a problem for the sewage department at city hall.

That was originally a culvert.

That is, it had a road over it.

You'll need the okay of the roads department.

City planning doesn't have a policy for such cases.

Go to zoning.

The fire department objected to filling that cesspool.

They need it because water pressure is bad there.

Are you kidding?

What we need is water,

not sewage that breeds mosquitoes and causes rashes.

Imagine cleaning that sewage out of our hoses!

If there were a kiddie pool there, that'd be great for us too.

What about your local school district?

They should have a child welfare section.

But this problem doesn't only affect children.

Rebuilding all the schools has exhausted our resources.

A problem this big should be handled

by your city councilman.

Sure, I'll write an introduction to the deputy mayor.

Take my business card. He'll see you right away.

Please have a seat.

Thank you for all your efforts.

There's really nothing we welcome more

than folks like you who bring grievances like this

directly to our attention.

It's precisely for people like you

that we established our new public affairs section.

Don't hesitate to tell them all about it!

Show these nice folks to the public affairs desk.

You'll need to talk to public works. Desk 8.

How dare you! Stop giving us the runaround!

Why did you even put up that sign?

So we'd waste our time?

We're not idlers like all of you!

We just want something done about that stinking cesspool!

We don't care if it's public works, sanitation,

public health, or whoever!

That's for public affairs to sort out!

Fine! We're done with you jerks!

All you do is laugh at us!

You call this democracy?

Let's go.

Please wait a moment.

I'm afraid our section chief is out today.

It would be best if you could put it in writing.

Public affairs section chief

what do you think?

The section chief never takes time off.

Yeah. And he's been listless recently.

But what'll we do if he's out for a long time?

Exactly.

He wouldn't take a day off just for a cold.

And nothing moves here without his seal.

That's right.

I must say, it's a terrible shame.

One more month and he'd have set a record

of 30 years without a single absence.

Some people are glad he isn't here.

Bureaucrats always wonder who'll take the boss's place

if he steps out.

He's been taking a lot of medicine. What for?

His stomach.

He used to slurp his noodles to the bottom,

but lately he barely touches them.

Plain udon noodles in soup. Yet another record.

I've never seen him eat anything else.

Assuming the worst, who'll replace him?

What's your rush?

A lot of guys have to die before it's your turn!

X-ray room

Ll/lr. Hiraoka/ - yes.

Your stomach?

My stomach's bad too.

They say it's chronic.

These days I hardly feel alive unless my stomach hurts.

Mr. Ko Suzuki.

That man who just went in...

His doctor told him he has an ulcer,

but I'm sure it's stomach cancer.

Has to be.

And stomach cancer is practically a death sentence.

The doc usually says it's just a mild ulcer

and that there's no need to operate.

That you can eat whatever you want

as long as it's easy to digest.

If that's what he tells you, you've got a year at most.

But with some symptoms, you won't even last a year:

First...

A dull, heavy pain.

Frequent unpleasant burping.

A dry tongue.

You can't seem to get enough water and tea.

And then there's the diarrhea.

And if it isn't diarrhea, it's constipation.

Your bowel movements turn black.

And then...

The meat you used to love seems totally inedible.

Whatever you eat you throw up half an hour later.

And then you start throwing up food

you ate a week before.

At that point, you've got three months at most...

Mr. Kan/I Watanabe.

Mr. Kan/I Watanabe.

Yes.

Have a seat.

Now, then... it looks like you have a mild ulcer.

Please...

Tell me...

The honest truth.

- Tell me it's stomach cancer. - No.

As I just said, it's a mild ulcer.

What about surgery?

Can't you operate?

No need for surgery. It can be treated medically.

What about my diet?

Well, let's see.

Use common sense.

If it's easy to digest, you can eat whatever you like.

Has he got a year?

No, no more than six months.

- Six months? - Yeah.

What would you do

if you only had six months left to live?

Miss Aihara, what about you?

See the veronal in the cabinet?

Is there a blackout?

The street lights are on, and the neighbors' lights.

Strange. I wonder if father is out.

- Where's the key? - In your handbag.