Ikiru

[MichaelB]

Akira Kurosawa's intensely lyrical and moving masterpiece Ikiru (1952) comes to Blu-ray for the first time in the UK. Centred on an incredible performance from Takashi Shimura as a civil service bureaucrat who reappraises his life after a cancer diagnosis, Ikiru was remade in 2022 as the Oscar-nominated Living starring Bill Nighy.

• Restored in 4K and presented in High Definition (2-disc limited edition)
• Introduction by Alex Cox (2003, 15 mins)
• Newly commissioned audio commentary by film critic Adrian Martin
• Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create – Ikiru (2003, 42 mins): created as part of the Toho Masterworks series and featuring interviews with Kurosawa, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, writer Hideo Oguni, actor Takashi Shimura, and others
• It's Ours Whatever They Say (1972, 39 mins): a community action film telling of the battle fought by young mothers against Islington council to establish a playground for children on a derelict site
• The People People (1970, 22 mins): intended for school leavers, this COI film shows the vast range and variety of jobs available within the Civil Service, highlighting the ways in which civil servants help individuals, the community in general and Parliament
• **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Includes slipcase and illustrated booklet with a new essay on the film by Tony Rayns
• Other extras TBC

[MichaelB]

Full specs announced:

IKIRU
A film by Akira Kurosawa

Released on BFI 2-disc Blu-ray on 19 August 2024

With a beautifully nuanced performance by Takashi Shimura (who starred in 21 of Kurosawa’s films) as the dying bureaucrat, IKIRU is an intensely lyrical and moving film that explores the nature of existence and how we find meaning in our lives. This classic of world cinema and of Kurosawa’s non-Samurai films, was re-made in 2022 as the Oscar-nominated LIVING, starring Bill Nighy. It comes to Blu-ray for the first time in the UK, restored in 4K and presented in High Definition. Extras include an audio commentary.

Opening with a simple shot of an X-ray, IKIRU proceeds to tell the tale of Watanabe (Takashi Shimura), a dedicated, downtrodden civil servant now diagnosed with terminal cancer. After a bout of self-pity, he determines to change his unfulfilling existence and discover a zest for life, plunging into hedonistic pleasure-seeking on the frenetic streets of post-war Tokyo. But Watanabe is soon driven to give lasting meaning to his life, and lights upon a plan to construct an urban children’s playground.

Special features
• Restored in 4K and presented in High Definition
• Audio commentary by film critic Adrian Martin
• Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create – Ikiru (2002, 42 mins): made as part of the Toho Masterworks series and featuring interviews with Kurosawa, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, writer Hideo Oguni, actor Takashi Shimura and others
• Introduction by Alex Cox (2003, 15 mins)
• It’s Ours Whatever They Say (1972, 39 mins): a community action film by Jenny Barraclough telling of the battle fought by a group of mothers against a London council to establish a playground for children on a derelict site
• The People People (1970, 22 mins): intended for school leavers, this COI film shows the vast range and variety of jobs available within the civil service, highlighting the ways in which civil servants help individuals, the community in general and Parliament
• Original theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
• ***First pressing only*** Illustrated booklet with essays by Tony Rayns and James-Masaki Ryan, a review originally published in Monthly Film Bulletin in 1959, notes on the special features and film credits

Product details
RRP: £24.99 / Cat. no. BFIB1521 / PG
Japan / 1952 / black and white / 143 minutes / Japanese language with optional English subtitles / original aspect ratio 1.37:1 // Disc One: BD50, 1080p, 23.98fps, LPCM 1.0 mono audio (48kHz/24-bit) Disc Two: BD25, 1080i, 29.97fps, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio (192kbps)

[nicolas]

Ikiru caps. I compared these with the ones I made of the Toho UHD and the BFI is the superior presentation. Encoding is by FiM and they fixed Toho's elevated gamma levels.
The grain management Toho did is still present, which is all but revealing that they baked it into the master.
I don't have the UHD any more to do a direct comparison but here are the 4K caps. Unfortunately I cropped the black bars because I was still learning how to do proper ones at the time: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... stcount=57

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[ryannichols7]

waiting for Orbit to get this back in stock - very glad it surpasses the Toho. I am obviously very happy to own the Criterion for their unique extras and very good commentary, but excited to own the BFI for its superior presentation, new commentary, and short films (I happen to like these actually)

[nicolas]

waiting for Orbit to get this back in stock - very glad it surpasses the Toho. I am obviously very happy to own the Criterion for their unique extras and very good commentary, but excited to own the BFI for its superior presentation, new commentary, and short films (I happen to like these actually)

Rarewaves is an alternative if the indie stores can’t get more. https://www.rarewaves.com/products/5035 ... ru-blu-ray. They currently have a free shipping code FREESHIP active.

[manicsounds]

Rewind DVDCompare

Cineoutsider

"It's Ours Whatever They Say" is a fantastic addition as an extra for the set, though note the version on the disc lacks the introduction and panel discussion from the original broadcast, and is also in black and white rather than the original color. The full version is on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKGxDBfpBdc

[hearthesilence]

Truth be told, I'm probably fine with Criterion's presentation, but if I was buying this for the first time, I'd probably get the BFI edition.

[Stefan Andersson]

Translation error in the "Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create – Ikiru" 2003 documentary:

"There is one subtitle error, in which Kurosawa says that when Shimura shouted "Merry Christmas, everybody!" during the production of "Scandal", the English subtitles mistakenly state it was during the production of "The Idiot". Note that the translation error is also found on the Criterion DVD and Blu-ray releases."

Source: https://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=8086