YMMV / Ikiru

• Funny Moments:
  • The group of housewives being given the runaround, in which a series of wipes show different bureaucrats telling them why building a park isn't their responsibility.
  • Watanabe getting surprised by a chorus of trombones.
  • Watanabe dozing off in the cinema, only briefly being awoken by Toyo's loud laughter.
  • The scene where Watanabe, the novelist and two women are being driven home. All are completely plastered, and the women are so bored that they start singing loudly while the novelist is collapsing onto the shoulder of one of them.
  • Watanabe's brother-in-law tells him that he should have fun by finding himself a younger woman. Later at the funeral service, the guy thinks that's what Watanabe did in the time before his death, believing that would explain his determination in his last days. Every time that guy is saying all that, it's right in front of his wife, who gets upset hearing what her husband's saying.
• Moment of Awesome: On the way to the deputy mayor's office, Watanabe gets slammed hard in the stomach by some Yakuza hired to scare him off. The thugs start walking away and turn around to see Watanabe regain himself and walk into the office like nothing happened. They never bother him again.
  • This one scene is a real Acceptable Breaks from Reality moment as a person suffering from terminal stomach cancer would be convulsing in terrible pain on the floor, though there is the suggestion that Watanabe's force of will is strong enough to overcome any pain in the way of accomplishing his goal.
• One-Scene Wonder: Atsushi Watanabe has a memorable scene as a patient who explains in detail to Watanabe the uncomfortable truth of stomach cancer.
• Signature Scene: Watanabe on the swing at the park, playing and singing happily as the snow falls, became the film's most well-remembered moment almost immediately after released. Part of this is due to it being the basis of the film's theatrical poster, while another part is due to it representing Watanabe's understated but nonetheless grand triumph in finally achieving true happiness and a sense of purpose in the last days of his life. The scene became a popular subject for homages in Japanese pop culture in subsequent decades, a screenshot of it is used for The Criterion Collection's Blu-ray release of the film, and the 2022 remake Living pays homage to the scene's fame by recreating it as faithfully as possible within the constraints of the Setting Update to Great Britain.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Watanabe hears a song from his childhood while out on the town, trying to drink away his sorrows with a newfound friend. Tears fall from his eyes as he sings along with the familiar tune and remembers.
  • He specifically requested it, and from the time frame, it was likely he sang it while courting his now-dead wife. And, of course, everything else in the movie is tear-jerking.
  • Midway through the 2nd act, the police officer who was the last to see Watanabe came to pay his respects, feeling guilty over not having intervened and brought him out of the cold (thinking that's what killed him). However, he couldn't bring himself to do it because Watanabe looked so happy. The clincher, though, was this.
    Officer: He poured his whole heart into that song of his. His haunting voice... pierced... the very depths of my own soul.
  • Watanabe and Mitsuo don't have a very good relationship, but it's hard not to pity Mitsuo when he breaks down sobbing after his father's death, wondering why he didn't tell him about his cancer.
  • Arguably the entire film, though many instances of sadness are mixed with great joy.
    • Just the premise is enough, really — a widower Salaryman with a When You Coming Home, Dad? relationship with his son is diagnosed with stomach cancer, spurring him into Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life.
• The Woobie: Watanabe.
  • Also, Iron Woobie.

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