Metacritic Film

Madadayo

Starring Tatsuo Matsumura, Kyôko Kagawa, Hisashi Igawa, and Jôji Tokoro

MPAA RATING: Not rated

WinStar Cinema
Drama
134 minutes | Color
Japan
Released In Theaters September 1, 2000

In 1943 a beloved professor begins writing full-time. A series of events ensues including old students visiting and a fire that forces him to move.

WRITTEN BY
Akira Kurosawa
Ishirô Honda

DIRECTED BY
Akira Kurosawa

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

76 / 100

Critic Reviews

100 Philadelphia Inquirer
A profound and deeply moving exploration of facing death with dignity.
90 The New York Times
It's not one of Kurosawa's great films.... But it is, within its own proportions, nearly perfect.
83 Portland Oregonian
Little spectacle but much bittersweet sensitivity.
80 Chicago Reader
Has the expressionistic simplicity of Kurosawa's other late films.
80 Village Voice
Unabashedly personal and uncool...but between you and me, dear reader, I love it to death.
78 Mr. Showbiz
It's a satisfying swan song.
75 San Francisco Examiner
It is an important work, and a very good one.
75 San Francisco Chronicle
This warm, celebratory and very public film is punctuated by sudden and luminous private visualizations.
75 New York Post V. A. Musetto
The late Akira Kurosawa's shamelessly sentimental last film is a fond and fitting farewell.
60 TV Guide
Kurosawa's farewell film is full of sentiment, tears, toasts and songs.
50 Christian Science Monitor
Wordy, wearying drama.

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