Overview
Never one to shy away from grand themes, Akira Kurosawa here tackles the biggest and simplest of existential issues: the fact of mortality and the impact that the inevitability of death has on an individual life. A diagnosis of terminal stomach cancer forces a bureaucrat to take stock of his life and to seek some way of giving it meaning. Built around a superb central performance from Takashi Shimura, this is a classic of humanist cinema.
Kurosawa wrote the script with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni, creating not only a powerful indictment of bureaucracy but also a hard-boiled metaphysical affirmation of the moral message found in the title – Ikiru means to live. Ranked joint 157th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll
Related

Memories of Murder Memories of Murder
Detective drama 2003 131 mins Director: Bong Joon-ho
A pair of detectives clash trying to solve the brutal murder of two women, in Bong Joon-ho’s masterful blend of true crime and dark social satire.

The Noose The Noose
Drama 1958 98 mins Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has
Wojciech Has’ dazzling feature debut, a bleak, mordantly funny, all too human portrait of an alcoholic.

The Doll The Doll
Drama 1968 153 mins Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has
Widescreen adaptation of Bolesław Prus’s 1870s-set novel about a man who cannot escape his class straitjacket.

How to Be Loved How to Be Loved
Drama 1962 98 mins Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has
An actress struggles to reconcile the choices of her past in this distinct depiction of the German Occupation from a female perspective.

Silent Roar Silent Roar
Drama 2023 90 mins Director: Johnny Barrington
On the Isle of Lewis, a passionate surfer and his childhood sweetheart have dreams of escaping the past and the present, in Jonny Barrington's charming, windswept comedy with echoes of Bill Forsyth.

Jeune & jolie Jeune & jolie
Drama 2013 93 mins Director: François Ozon
Francois Ozon’s sly and seductive account of teenage girl’s dalliance with high-class prostitution.

Nosferatu Nosferatu
Horror 1922 89 mins Silent Director: F.W. Murnau
This influential Dracula adaptation contains some of the most famous images of expressionist film, and remains shocking and stylish after 100 years.

Pressure Pressure
Drama 1978 121 mins Director: Horace Ové
Hailed as Britain's first black feature film, Pressure is a hard-hitting, honest document of the plight of disenchanted black youths in 1970s London; now available in its new restoration.

Paris, Texas Paris, Texas
Drama 1984 145 mins Director: Wim Wenders
The late, great Harry Dean Stanton's finest role came as the near-mute Travis, on a journey across America to reunite his family, in Wim Wenders' moving tale of loss and redemption.

Crash Crash
Drama 1996 100 mins Director: David Cronenberg
Technology and sexuality meet in head-on collision in David Cronenberg’s controversial adaptation of writer J.G. Ballard’s hugely transgressive 1973 novel, starring James Spader and Holly Hunter.

Citizen Kane Citizen Kane
Drama 1941 119 mins Director: Orson Welles
Given extraordinary freedom by Hollywood studio RKO for his debut film, boy wonder Orson Welles created this notoriously brilliant portrait of a media giant.

Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Drama 1975 202 mins Director: Chantal Akerman
Chantal Akerman's magnificent epic of experimental cinema offering a feminist perspective on recurrent events of everyday life.

Rashomon Rashomon
Crime 1950 88 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Credited with bringing Japanese cinema to worldwide audiences, Akira Kurosawa’s breakthrough tells the story of a murder in the woods from four differing perspectives.

Drunken Angel Drunken Angel
Film noir 1948 98 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Part gangster film, part melodrama and part social critique, Akira Kurosawa's first critical success follows the troubled friendship between a disillusioned doctor and a young yakuza.

Sanshiro Sugata Sanshiro Sugata
Crime 1943 79 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa’s assured debut film about a young man’s spiritual journey through the study and practice of judo.

The Hidden Fortress The Hidden Fortress
Martial arts 1958 139 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s thrilling mix of fairy story and samurai movie - a story of rival clans, hidden gold and a princess in distress - was famously a key inspiration for George Lucas’ Star Wars.

The Bad Sleep Well The Bad Sleep Well
Crime 1960 151 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
The first film made by Akira Kurosawa's own production company is a dark tale of greed, corporate corruption and revenge.

Seven Samurai Seven Samurai
Drama 1954 207 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Farmers hire a band of samurai to defend them against marauding bandits in Kurosawa’s influential epic, a touchstone for action movies ever since.

The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
Martial arts 1952 59 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Adapted from Noh and Kabuki theatre, Kurosawa’s classic tale of deception sees a lord and his bodyguard disguise themselves as monks to bypass an enemy roadblock.

Rashomon Rashomon
Crime 1950 88 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Credited with bringing Japanese cinema to worldwide audiences, Akira Kurosawa’s breakthrough tells the story of a murder in the woods from four differing perspectives.

Sanjuro Sanjuro
Crime 1962 96 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
In Akira Kurosawa's comedy of manners, a ronin runs rings around nine young, clean-cut samurai while cleaning up a spot of corruption in local government.

Drunken Angel Drunken Angel
Film noir 1948 98 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Part gangster film, part melodrama and part social critique, Akira Kurosawa's first critical success follows the troubled friendship between a disillusioned doctor and a young yakuza.

Sanshiro Sugata Sanshiro Sugata
Crime 1943 79 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa’s assured debut film about a young man’s spiritual journey through the study and practice of judo.

I Live in Fear I Live in Fear
Drama 1955 103 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Toshiro Mifune delivers an outstanding performance as a paranoid man striving to move his family to Brazil to escape the nuclear holocaust which he fears is imminent.

Barking Dogs Never Bite Barking Dogs Never Bite
Comedy 2000 111 mins Director: Bong Joon-ho
A professor takes drastic action to silence a barking dog in this superb debut feature from Bong Joon-ho, the Oscar-winning director of Parasite.

Memories of Murder Memories of Murder
Detective drama 2003 131 mins Director: Bong Joon-ho
A pair of detectives clash trying to solve the brutal murder of two women, in Bong Joon-ho’s masterful blend of true crime and dark social satire.

The Saragossa Manuscript The Saragossa Manuscript
Fantasy 1965 183 mins Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has
During the Napoleonic wars, a soldier discovers a strange manuscript that reveals endless stories-within-stories. Wojciech Has' opus is a major cult film of the 60s, revered by Luis Buñuel, David Lynch and Jerry Garcia.

The Noose The Noose
Drama 1958 98 mins Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has
Wojciech Has’ dazzling feature debut, a bleak, mordantly funny, all too human portrait of an alcoholic.

The Hourglass Sanatorium The Hourglass Sanatorium
Fantasy 1973 119 mins Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has
The first screen adaptation of Bruno Schulz’s novella is an opulently strange trip through a Polish-Jewish looking-glass.

The Doll The Doll
Drama 1968 153 mins Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has
Widescreen adaptation of Bolesław Prus’s 1870s-set novel about a man who cannot escape his class straitjacket.