Drunken Angel

A thoughtful post-war noir about compassion amidst cycles of dysfunction, insecurity, self-destruction & regret. Held back by some slightly contrived & hammy writing but held up by some creative visuals, strong atmosphere & charismatic performances. You can tell that Kurosawa is not yet as confident as he would be in a few years but I was still shocked to find out that this was the first film he considered his own. Mifune without stubble is... still the coolest thing in the room. In any room.

Yet another Kurosawa movie about a flawed but saintly doctor. This one ranks a little bit better than Quiet Duel but still not in the same league as Red Beard. It's a little rough around the edges, and both Mifune and Shimura drift towards hamminess, but it's got some killer camerawork in the moves, angles and edits, and it's never dull for a moment. Excellent use of music, as well. Like many early Kurosawas, it's depressing but with a hopeful note at the end.

it's almost as if kurosawa's genius is attempting to remain hidden with the diminished quality of the film (actual physical film), it does show through though. this movie is an unabashedly fine example of film making, but at times it can seem a bit sloppy, and the ending was mixed bag, half theatrical prowess, and half contrived BS.

A very good noir from Kurosawa. Strong performances and and strong shot selection give the film a great atmosphere and the subtext of post-war Japan gives the film added depth. It's not quite a masterpiece as it kind of loses its focus in the second half, but it's still very good and interesting to watch.

The beginning of one of cinemas most celebrated collaborations; Drunken Angel stands tall as not only a great film, but an important release for cinematic history. Mifune is great as usual but to me the real standout performance was from non other than the great Takashi Shimura as a wily and booze loving doctor who cares more for his patients than his own well being and oddly, the most courageous character even in comparison to the Yakuza that share the screen. Just wonderful!

Tuberculosis was never so sexy

japonlarin birey olamama, kendilerini ait olduklari toplum adina feda etmelerine deginen hikaye, varosta calisan alkolik, ihtiyar, agzina geldigi gibi konusan doktor ile genc yakuza ekseninde donuyor. karakterler ve oyunculuk one cikiyor.

It's great to watch Mifune and Shimura interact and some of the scenes are truly great cinematography. I didn't much care for the story itself, it just felt a bit one-dimensional and streched out.

Aside from a somewhat interesting dynamic between Mifune and Shimura, a very well done ending, and the fact that the aforementioned Mifune is always a joy to watch, this film is merely good which judging from the other Kurosawa films I've seen is clearly on the lower spectrum of his work. The film seemed to me to waste a lot of it's potential, dragging very badly by the halfway mark. Still, this film was well worth watching and I'll recommend it. Still, I don't know if I'll ever see it again.

Unfortunately, with a lot of what it has to say, it feels like it fumbles around a little bit before getting the message across. That said the acting was mostly good, the story was pretty interesting, the shots were fantastic and I really liked the use of music here, especially the annoying guitar player.

A solid presentation, with what would become some typical Kurosawa flourishes later in his career. It's scenes of destruction and disrepair in post-war Japan contribute to the overall critique of American influence in their country at the time.

Akira Kurosawa and Toshirô Mifune find each other! While I was most impressed with Takashi Shimura as the drunken doctor, it was here Kurosawa discovered the star potential of Mifune increasing Mifune's role as a gangster greatly during production. Perhaps that's why I was feeling the doctor better than the sick badman, for his role was more thought-out, while they expanded the gangster character on the go, creating that mess as best as they could. And it was a pretty lovely mess at times....

Well-shot but generally uninteresting.

A little blunt at times [Mifune also had some maturing to do] but delivers something in an honest and existential light. Great Shimura role. I particularly enjoy the post-war perspective & dual ending of this.

A little rough around the edges, but a compelling story nonetheless.

A little heavy-handed in its message about the dangers of tuberculosis, and the ending goes on too long. But otherwise a sad, compelling, and entertaining little movie.

Like most Kurosawa I've seen it's damn good. Initially I thought the film was a bit thin but I think I'd change that assessment to simplistic. It's not a harsh criticism but I felt whenever the movie left the doctor for too long it was less engaging. Still, it's quite good and the references to the ravaged country post-ww2 were handled well.

Very few directors are more spot on on how people relate to each other.

How to live rationally and well in a world afflicted with pathologies not just medical but psychosocial? The construction and composition of images is superior, and the screenplay is mostly pretty good, even if everything is a bit too obvious. Trains appear in a couple of shots, though no one is shown travelling on them.

I love that the title refers to either protagonist: nice touch! Drunken Angel plays out like an ode to both emotional restraint and righteous fury as it silently asks the world a slew of interesting questions about the (then) uncertain future of Japan. An outstanding noir deserving of a well-lit place in that mourned genre's pantheon.

Kurosawa'nın yakuza yaşam biçimine savaş açtığı, bilimselliğe övgüler dizdiği film. Doktor müthiş karakter.

that dream sequence is brilliant.

Not bad, but a diamond in the rough Mifune did not pair extremely well with an already great Shimura. The visual poetry is still delivered, along with perfect scene & character setups, it's just that the script is not juicy enough.

Star Rating: ★★★★

89.00

Excellent performances from both Shimura and Mifune and a great soundtrack.

A story about sickness of the mind, with all the Kurosawa flourishes that make his films electrifying.

89.000

Mifune acting as an angry drunk doctor that just yells throughout the film is not a very fun watch. Quite a slow pace as well, no thriller till the final third.

Enjoyable, but not quite there. The film is mostly held together by its visuals and the performance of Mifune. Interesting ending to his character arc. Both starting and ending in the white of the yakuza. lovely detail.

Kurosawa's first collaboration with Mifune, but really this is a showcase for Takashi Shimura. His is a fantastic performance in an otherwise somewhat clunky film, though it does kick around plenty of consideration for the still-gaping wounds of postwar Japan.

mifune<3

I hate to do it, but man. This was tough to sit through. Good cameras and stuff but whenever people yell like that I want to turn the movie off.

Kurusawa does noir. Amazing.

Quando Kurosawa fez seu centenário em 2010 passei por um binge da obra do cineasta,mas por alguma razão de que não me lembro, não assisti a esse filme. Tal fato por si já é um pecado porque não é apenas o início da parceria com Mifune (o Shimura já havia trabalhado várias vezes com Akira), como bem um dos seus filmes que desfilam mais dos histéricos que Kurosawa tanto gostava, aqui delineados pela peculiar relação médico-paciente que Shimura e Mifune. BlurayRip no MakingOff.

"Kurosawa's early stylistic experimentations turn a nightclub stopover into a monstrous parody of an American jitterbug dance-off, and when blood gets finally spilled, it's in a slip-and-slide Yakuza frenzy choreographed amid splattered paint." - Fernando F. Croce

89.625

With the cast I expected a much better story with more depth. A irascible Yakuza strong man struggles to accept he is sick with TB and the fearless but frustrated doctor attempting to save his life. It exposes the criminal code as being honorable only as long as it serves the bosses interests. The knife fight was entirely unsatisfying, but the ending was certainly not sugar coated. A few good tense moments but overall it was somewhat underwhelming.

The pairing of Shimura and Mifune is reason enough to strongly recommend this one. Shimura is playing a scruffy, antagonist guy that is fairly outside of his typical roles. Mifune, making his first appearance in a Kurosawa film, is all dashing charm and coiled energy. It's also a fairly atypical film that is far more critical of the yakuza than films of this era, and fairly critical of the American occupation in ways that caused it to have to dance around censorship.

Shockingly (or perhaps not), Toshirô Mifune delivers one of his best performances in his first Kurosawa-directed film. Takashi Shimura is his equal here and seeing the two Kurosawa legends interact so closely at the top of their games is a real treat, not to mention their narrative relationship as the elder doctor Shimura bluntly scolds the young yakuza Mifune like a spoiled son. Drunken Angel's one of the easiest Kurosawa stories to digest, which makes up for its lack of major spark or payoff.

Don't expect a yakuza action film. The expected tendencies of the genre steer and punctuate a more somber and operatic framework while Toshiro Mifune's lost character weakens. There's a superb climactic struggle on the floor of a hallway covered in white paint, symbolism and dramatic technique, new camera angles and musical score.