I Live in Fear

1955 1h 43m JA

👍

7.3

SOLID

★7.3TMDB · 131

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An aging foundry patriarch, gripped by terror of nuclear annihilation, tries to uproot his family to Brazil. When they petition to have him declared incompetent, a family-court counselor witnesses his obsession slide into ruin—and asks whether ignoring the atomic threat is any saner.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

Criterion ChannelSubscription

Cast

Toshirō Mifune
Kiichi Nakajima
Takashi Shimura
Domestic Court Counselor Dr. Harada
Minoru Chiaki
Jiro Nakajima
Masao Shimizu
Yamazaki, Yoshi's husband
Eiko Miyoshi
Toyo Nakajima
Kyoko Aoyama
Sue Nakajima
Haruko Tōgō
Yoshi Nakajima
Noriko Sengoku
Kimie Nakajima

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Writers: Shinobu Hashimoto, Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni
Languages: Japanese
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 5

ERA

Did you know

71 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 5

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Akira Kurosawa, shot by Asakazu Nakai. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 5

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Masaru Satō. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 5

CAST

Did you know

Toshirō Mifune and Takashi Shimura and Minoru Chiaki carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 5

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0048198 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Akira Kurosawa directs. Asakazu Nakai behind the camera. Masaru Satō scores. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

171 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Akira Kurosawa, shot by Asakazu Nakai. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Masaru Satō. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Toshirō Mifune and Takashi Shimura and Minoru Chiaki carry the top of the cast.
5IMDB entry: tt0048198 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
6Classified under 8 themes, including "obsession", "paranoia", "psychiatric hospital", "psychiatrist".

The technical file

Cinematography: Asakazu Nakai
Original score: Masaru Satō
Production design: Yoshirō Muraki
Costume design: Miyuki Suzuki
Runtime: 103 min · 1h 43m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: JA
Certification (US): U
IMDB: I Live in Fear (1955)

Also by

Akira Kurosawa

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-11-14
★ 7/10
This is a far cry from the usual Kurosawa/Mifune effort; indeed in this, Toshirô Mifune is almost unrecognisable. No brave, honourable Samurai this time, but an elderly foundry-owner who is paranoid about the potential impact of nuclear war on his family. To this end, he is determined to sell up and relocate his family to Brazil. The family don't fancy this idea much and try to have him certified. What ensues is a battle of wills, priorities and personalities set against a traditional set of Japanese family structures and values. Viewed, largely, from the perspective of independent arbiter "Dr. Harada" (Takashi Shimura) who has been drafted in to help settle the matter amicably; we visit the perfectly valid (though frequently selfish) approaches taken by both Mifune and his family - who have plenty of scores to settle amongst themselves - as the film tries to establish the best course of action to satisfy both parties. There is quite an interesting scene mid-way through when at the height of their dispute, the old man returns to the court armed with bottles of pop which he has bought for his family to help combat the unrelenting heat, indicating that he clearly still cares greatly for his family, even though they are at loggerheads... and for me, that rather sums the whole thing up - there isn't necessarily a right or wrong solution; it's about individuality and choice but ultimately the happiness of others; and Mifune is great. I found the last fifteen minutes quite sad, perhaps building on the old adage about families and money. Japan, for a good while, struggled to reconcile itself to the realities of a post-Hiroshima threat, so from an observer some 6,000 miles away it can be hard to understand just how viscerally the danger of repetition was taken by many - this film is a thought provoking, emotional - and, at times humorous, glimpse into that fear.

Production companies