ADDITION: BFI Region 'B' Blu-ray September 2024': BFI have also released Akira Kurosawa's "Ikiru" to Blu-ray . It is cited as being "Restored in 4K". As well as showing more information in the frame, the slightly brighter BFI 1080P has more detail. It is also a 50% boost in the bitrate from the 2015 Criterion. Grain is not abundant but what is visible is fairly fine. There may be some high frequency edge enhancement but it is fairly imperceptible in viewing. There are a few speckles but it is generally quite clean. Depth exists but also a flatness of characters. Overall the more balanced contrast, improvement in detail and superior bitrate make the BFI the best home video presentation to date. 

NOTE: We have added 58 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

BFI also go linear PCM mono (24-bit) Japanese language track with the music by Fumio Hayasaka (Rashomon, Sansho the Bailiff, Ugetsu etc.) with notable diegetic music scenes; Watanabe singing "Gondola no Uta", Too Young by Toni Arden on the phonograph, and the group 'Happy Birthday' sequence etc. sounding clean and very clear via the uncompressed transfer. There are optional English subtitles on BFI's region 'B'-locked Blu-ray disc.''

BFI include a newly commissioned audio commentary by one of our favorites, film scholar Adrian Martin (Mise en Scène and Film Style: From Classical Hollywood to New Media Art). He discusses how Kurosawa's appeal stretches across many genres and variety of film critics. He doesn't give much background about the production but looks closely - providing a new, unique perspective on the film itself. He talks about the early narration, Lubitsch or Ozu-like scenes, 'repetition and variation', reforms in Japanese society at the time, he quotes from Stephen Prince's book The Warrior’s Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa, talks about the pace and choreography within the frame, blocking etc. Adrian does his usual exceptional job and I could listen to it a second time right away. Included is a 1/4 hour 2003 introduction by filmmaker Alex Cox. He introduces Ikiru and provides some background information on Akira Kurosawa. Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create – Ikiru runs shy of 3/4 of an hour. This 2002 documentary was created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create, and features interviews with Kurosawa, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, writer Shinobu Hashimoto, actor Takashi Shimura, and others. It's Ours Whatever They Say is from 1972 and runs almost 40-minutes. It is 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 was made in 1970 and runs 22-minutes. It was 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. Lastly is a re-issue trailer and for the first printing the package contains an 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.

Akira Kurosawa's "Ikiru" was inspired by Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886) with the director / co-writer's desire to make a film about a man who knows he is going to die (here given roughly 75 days - Cancer) and who desperately seeks a reason for his life. There is a modern universality about this as many individuals are given 'dates' for their terminal illnesses as the medical industry effectiveness has improved. We will all die and mortality (its acceptance or rejection) is part of the end of life. Our protagonist, Kanji Watanabe (played with pained effectiveness by Takashi Shimura) accepts his life will come to an end shortly and seeks a meaning to his existence. Ikiru is a tragedy and considered Kurosawa's best film - certainly in the category outside the 'Samurai' variety (Sanjûrô, Yojimbo, The Hidden Fortress, Throne of Blood, Seven Samurai etc.) These 'non-action-based' favorites include Red Beard, High and Low, possibly even Rashômon. There are strong themes in Ikiru including the hollowness of a life dedicated to bureaucracy, mortality, the impersonal-ness of the health care system, urbanization, and how the modern family integrity is diminished... Watanabe attending the 'girly club' finds that simply seeking "pleasure is not life" nor, its extension; 'hedonism'. He's on a journey - moving immeasurably faster than his life has progressed up to this time. Ikiru is such an infinitely rewatchable film and absolutely brilliantly melancholic... and unrequited quest for salvation. I loved the Martin commentary and the improved video plus the other extras. This BFI edition has our highest recommendation!

"Gondola no Uta"

life is brief
fall in love, maidens
before the boat drifts away
on the waves
before the hand resting on your shoulder
becomes frail
for there is no reach here
for the sight of others

P.S. 2022's Living is an excellent film based on Ikiru.

***

ADDITION: Criterion Region 'A' Blu-ray  November 15': Cited as a 'New, restored 4K digital transfer' Criterion's 1080P looks rich, textured and beautiful. There is still light damage/scratches but the higher resolution really brings out the more film-like presentation. It's so impressive in-motion compared to the old SD transfers. Like night and day. A shade darker and superior contrast layering.

Criterion use their usual linear PCM mono track - authentic - audible dialogue via the uncompressed. There are optional English subtitles on Criterion's region 'A'-locked Blu-ray disc.

Criterion duplicate their supplements from the 2004 DVD with the informative audio commentary by Stephen Prince, author of The Warrior’s Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa. A Message from Akira Kurosawa: For Beautiful Movies is a one-hour 21-minute documentary from 2000 produced by Kurosawa Productions and featuring interviews with the director. There is also the 2003, 41-minute documentary on Ikiru created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create, and featuring interviews with Kurosawa, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, writer Hideo Oguni, actor Takashi Shimura, and others. Lastly is a trailer and the package has a liner notes booklet with an essay by critic and travel writer Pico Iyer and a reprint from critic Donald Richie’s 1965 book The Films of Akira Kurosawa.

A no-brainer Blu-ray purchase - debatably Kurosawa's most moving film - and the HD presentation looks better than I could have hoped for in my home theatre. Should get some votes in our year-end poll. I really don't know what more to say - the film drains me. Buy with extreme confidence.

***