intro to the film

Many of us should have a purpose in life, but there are also a lot of people, who live just for responsibility and finally lost themselves under the routine of society. The film Ikiru took the protagonist Kanji Watanabe through a journey between an author, a woman, and himself. Talking about a man who only got 6 months to live due to stomach cancer and had lived like a mummy for 30 years, the story reminded the audience about not just the purpose of life, but also reflect the fact of the city hall, and the sad situation between a father and son relationship.

the symbolic items

The hat

In the film, the hat was used as a tool to symbolize the renewal of Watanabe.

The old hat that was once on Watanabe symbolized his old self, and a new hat seems to tell that he had started to shift to another character that seeks for a new life.

 

the rabbit

Rabbit symbolized happiness, hope, and the longevity of life in Asia.

The rabbit toy that Watanabe got from the girl tells that he had grabbed a new hope for life from his position in the city hall, and sparked the idea of the original intention of living.

 

 

 

 

 

 

the way if using dialogue to shape the character

Throughout the whole film, the character barely speaks about himself as a person instead of the people around him.

For example, during the first few scenes, while Watanabe was at the office, the people around him only speaks about how he was weirdly accepting the life of 30 years as a day, and also at the last part of his death, his actions about building the park were presented in a form of discussions between the government officers. The director uses this kind of way to spark the hint and questioned whether a person’s identity was shaped by people’s word or their word.

the use of the song and the silent shots

The songs and silence shot both represented the moment of pausing emotion, was Watanabe fall into his world of happiness, sadness, and emptiness.

the big points

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umLtGRl_WE4

 

 

• the hint of his own family> and the family for

the effects of the previous family to now

the conversation between him and the author tells that he is not good at visions with a good family due to his own parent’s situation as well

• the government regulations

The city hall presented in the film was unresponsible to the right and meaningful service for people, where it shows that the power and control from business and higher status officers was greater than human value.

• the lost soul of purpose in work

From the situation effect by the city hall, the whole working environment was having a similar death feeling like the characters losing identity. It captures the working life of a normal office worker, which took a majority of the population in the world during the 1950-60s even until now that still exists in some way.

 

the video essay by others