The episodic nature made it feel a bit too long and the sum felt less than the sum of its parts. Thankfully those parts are so wonderful that it's still a really good film. Both Mifune and Kayama are excellent and every scene is filled with meaning and enough of interest to keep your attention. The lighting also stood out, with excellent use of shadows.

The growth in this film is obvious, and somewhat sappy, but no less effective for it. Spectacle definitely came before nuance and character in a few of the films segments, and sometimes the broad cast of characters feels like an excuse to over emphasize certain emotions, but these tricks are more effective than they seem, and the end result is still a powerful movie about values, growth, and humanity.

What a wonderful, wonderful movie, whose images are emblazoned in my memory--the wind chimes, the girl offering a sweet to the boy amongst the hanging mats. As far as anamorphic compositions go this is probably just about as good as it gets. Very original experiments with both the wide screen and the long lens. This is truly the culmination of Kurosawa's work throughout the sixties and is a resounding end to that phase of his career.

Un-epic epicness. That's Kurosawa here. The tale of two doctors or just one, a stoic Mifune. Ready to unleash the energy of a hurricane, like in the scene where all the bones of the gangsters or yakuza are broken. Time to hold on to life!

Red Beard is touching, overwhelming, and inspiring. It is perhaps Kurosawa's most humanistic film right alongside Ikiru. It is so beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, and passionately thought out that it is hard to dislike this work of art. Perfection is a word I would use to describe this film if it were not for its flaws, most notably the out of place fight scene. The end of one of the great collaborations in film, and what an end it is.

714

The re-creation of 19th-century Japan is evocative, and the story is powerfully acted.

Started off in a direction where I didn't know what to expect, but progressed into a warm tale about humanity above all other things. And hitting people with giant radishes.

This leisurely film, full of warmth and humanity, is composed of many disparate narrative strands, but by '65 Kurosawa was a master storyteller who knew how to weave such strands into a satisfying whole. Each individual shot is gorgeously photographed in black-and-white and artistically framed, yet each is subordinate to the narrative. There are three moments when Kurosawa overdoes it (one violent, two sentimental), but these are small flaws in what is remains an epic artistic achievement.

Stunning, a film I came to love and appreciate as it progressed and one that in many ways, feels like the culmination of Kurasawa's grandiose career, combining the refined and humane elements of his more restrained pictures together with the engaging characters of his samurai epics. We enter a desolate and obscure territory and walk away, just like our main character, a wiser person. Sincere and profound, a remarkable achievement.

;_;

Toshiro Mifune is the most badass doctor. Muthafucka.

Well-made, with beautiful, touching moments, but it feels overlong and doesn't hit me like a lot of Kurosawa's best.

An uneven but overall worthwhile drama by Kurosawa. Although there are several factors preventing me from loving this (the inflated runtime, the forced "life lessons", some ponderous melodramatic scenes and a totally pointless fight scene), there is also an abundance of admirable elements, such as the loose yet smartly structured narrative, some poignant moments, solid camerawork and strong acting by Kayama and Mifune. Overall, one of my favorite Kurosawa films.

An underseen classic. A doctor in nineteenth century Tokyo trains a young doctor about compassion and inner strength in his clinic for the poor. Brilliant, and wonderful performances.

It shouldn't work as well as it does but damn does Kurosawa make it work. Such great use of character and emotion throughout, and one of the most beautiful films in a career of absurdly beautiful films. A very satisfying experience. Also, looks like Mifune was contractually obligated to kick ass at least once in every film he was in.

The narrative is predictable and way too drawn out for its own good. Mifune, who I typically love, is terrible and quite boring here. His mannerisms are usually great to watch but here they just felt forced and unneeded. The fight scene was so unbelievably stupid too. It looks good, sure, but all the random characters start to feel repetitive after awhile and it's difficult to care about most of them. A rare Kurosawa failure.

#704

Kurosawa's best B/W photography.

"I'm afraid I went a bit too far" says Mifune after breaking the arms of about twenty people in this, what I thought to be, medical melodrama. I wish Kurosawa was as self-aware as his protagonist. He goes so overboard with the melodrama and it just feels shamelessly manipulative. The scene where all the patients sob in unison at Sahachi's story is a prime example of this. It's also too long with too many superfluous subplots. Beautiful & poignant, but not one of Kurosawa's (or Mifune's) best.

86.250

The number of ideas and topics this movie talks about and the way they all seem completely resolved, convincingly, should became this movie a pre-requisite to be a doctor, psychologist or politician. I mean, it's a complete manifest about patient treatment, health care and social care systems necessity, childhood protection and knowledge share. That, and a great story, just spoiled by a (for me) good but pointless short-movie included (a patient story) and a completely out of place fight.

On human suffering, trauma, devotion and proposal of utter hope. Impactful, perhaps too much.

At first it's pretty slow, but eventually you come to appreciate the previous character developments as they start to tie the plot strings together. The movie runs along the same line as Ikiru in its sheer thoughtfulness and emotional qualities, but it's more subtle and, I think, efficient. Kurosawa's direction is uncharacteristically restrained but graceful, giving everything time to flesh out. He doesn't let a single second go to waste, so it never really feels boring or overbearing.

Long but never drags

I think this is the most mature work I've seen by Kurosawa so far. And although it has its bleak moments it's also uncharacteristically warm and optimistic for him. It's also quite possibly his best-looking film. I will say that I thought the movie was a bit overlong and could probably stand to be cut down by 15-30 minutes, but even the parts that are less pertinent to the main story (such as the story of Sahachi and Onaka) are well worth watching, so I can understand why they were kept in.

Every technical aspect is developed to perfection, all the performances are exactly what they need to be but this handles almost too many themes, deals with too much emotion. The narrative evolves into something very close to Dostoevsky in its humanism [though, never overt] and delivers some of the most gut-wrenching moments I've ever seen; the flashback is my personal favorite moment of any movie, nothing has ever come close to it. It begs repeating - Kurosawa was a master.

# 632

Not bad but Kurosawa's samurai epics are too much like one another

One of the most thoughtful of Kurosawa's films. Mifune really shines here.

It's heavy-handed, chock full of "life lessons" and characters sobbing at the drop of a hat (at least a dozen crying scenes). Mifune's performance is not up to par. The use of music is overbearing. The shifting focus can be frustrating. Despite all this, I love it. It's Kurosawa's most emotionally satisfying work. The episode with Otoyo and the bowl is the most moving work he's ever done, Ikiru included. And the photography is the culmination of all of Kurosawa's talents.

Kurosawa's humanism is taken all the way here, and though tending towards the melodramatic, it's done with such truthfulness and empathy for the characters, that it never feels manipulative. It also boosts some superbly acted long takes, and beautiful b&w cinematography. A great testament to Kurosawa's belief in the good in man, which, regardless of how naive one might think it is, has to be admired.