Comments on: Movie Review – Drunken Angel (1948)

By: Helen

Helen — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 02:13:15 +0000

There’s a wonderful one-on-one conversation in Stray Dog (one of my favorite Kurosawa films, incidentally) between Mifune and Shimura’s characters that echoes the alike/unlike relationship dynamic in Drunken Angel. Quietly talking over the case they’re working on and their own very different emotional responses to it, the senior detective acknowledges he would have felt like his protege when he was the younger man’s age, while the other admits he expects to feel like his mentor when he reaches his.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:28:19 +0000

Agree with helen — Shimura and Mifune balance each other beautifully in this. For a fascinating counterweight, check out Stray Dog, made by Kurosawa in the following year, and with Shimura and Mifune as (moderate) senior and (precipitate) junior COPS –

By: miriam

miriam — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:03:30 +0000

The adage ‘less is more’ is never truer than in the glorious black and white cinematography of a master film maker. I recently viewed Drunken Angel as part of a project to see all of Kurosawa’s US available films in order to accompany the reading of the dual biography of Kurosawa and Mifune, The Emperor and the Wolf by Stuart Galbraith IV (2001). The movie is like a time capsule, the slice of post-war life is so vividly presented. Whether in a contemporary or period setting, Kurosawa is fascinated by the dilemma of the man of honor, yakuza or samurai, attempting to live by the code in a world of corruption and hypocrisy.

By: Helen

Helen — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:00:04 +0000

While Mifune is mesmerizing as always, Shimura’s performance is as good and as important to the film. The clash of two equally strong personalities is the dramatic center of the film, the shifting balance of contention and reluctant camaraderie serving to illuminate each man’s character.