She looks very healthy and cheerful for she is now completely cured. Gangster toshiro mifune visits doctor takashi shimura, after an unfortunate incident with a bullet. Film akira kurosawa often referred to drunken angel as his first film. He is seen here alongside toho regular takashi shimura. This is the blue angel 1959 by serge kaassirov on vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.
One of the greatest actordirector collaborations in all of cinema began with this film, kurosawas eighth feature and his first to star toshiro mifune, the fierce, fiery actorstartlingly handsome, herewho would anchor many of the directors finest works. The particular focus of the drunken angel is matsunaga, the new head of this. Set beside an evil looking, clearly polluted bog in a tokyo blackmarket slum, drunken angel is one of the darkest of kurosawas early films, often described as a kind of film noir. The film stars toshiro mifune, takashi shimura and shirley yamaguchi. This was toshiro mifunes first film with akira kurosawa, and only his fourth film in his career. Drunken angel marks the first major screen role for mifune, one of japans most revered actors.
Drunken angel was the film that gave toshiro mifune his first major screen role. Kurosawa director yoidore tenshi drunken angel 1948, usa 1959. Drunken angel is my first akira kurosawas film and also my first yakuza members of transnational organized crime syndicates in japan film the legend also cemented himself as a director with this feature the movie follows a story with a beautiful moral as quoted a rational approach is the best medicine for life. Although not his first ever onscreen role it is credited with kickstarting his career as well as that of kurosawas. Calculated based on members top movie list and ratings. Drunken angel is available to stream on filmbox, the criterion channel and kanopy.
This story of a consumptive gangster and a drunken doctor living in the postwar desolation of downtown tokyo is a melodrama intermingling desperation and hope, violence, and melancholy. He is best known for his 16film collaboration 194865 with filmmaker akira kurosawa in such works as rashomon, seven samurai, the hidden fortress, throne of blood, and yojimbo. Fans of japanese director akira kurosawa are in luck. It is notable for being the first of sixteen film collaborations between director kurosawa and actor toshiro mifune. At the same time, the doctor, the drunken angel, learns that one of his younger patients had followed his advice and has been fully cured of tuberculosis. While this is an important cause to him, so is getting drunk and screwing up his life. In any event, my wife and i fall in love with the doctor everytime we see this film. Jonas mekas was the cofounder, in 1954, of the seminal publication film culture. And, indeed, the movie exhibits a number of qualities typical of his subsequent work. He was the first film critic of the village voice, and his selfchosen beat was the noncommercial cinema. Drunken angel 1948 in this picture i was finally myself, akira kurosawa was to write of his eighth film, drunken angel yoidore tenshi 1948. The original film materials for drunken angel survive in considerably degraded condition thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed. Select any poster below to play the movie, totally free. Thats not to say its a completely dour film some of akira kurosawas trademark ironic and subtle humor is laced into scenes.
The film itself is a tale involving two men on, a doctor and a young yakuza living in a swampy slum outlying tokyo. What was even better was his ability to get to the root of problems. Drunken angel 1948 a drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violenceprone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond. Even though this symbolic melodrama was made more than ten years ago, before the. So stunning is mifunes performance that, as kurosawa describes it, he transformed the entire film, unbalancing the original focus of the alcoholic doctor who was to. A local shopowner woman who had feelings for matsunaga plans to take matsunagas ashes to be buried on her farm, where she had offered to live with him. More and more movie are legally available through various streaming services. The exterminating angel, about a dinner party for the rich that the guests are mysteriously unable to leave, is also wildly original and amazing. If the role were played by someone else, charley varrick would be something else entirely. Technically it wasnt, but for him, it was the first movie he had made where he felt he had control and could make exactly the picture he wanted. Drunken angel, yoidore tenshi is a 1948 japanese yakuza film directed by akira kurosawa. This is a list of my personal top 10 favourite filmmakers. Donald richie, with additional material by joan mellen. The anger and energy of his performance made him a star and he went on to work with kurosawa in 16 films.
If you know of any new streams for the movie drunken angel, then feel free to support anisearch by adding them to our database. Drunken angel is a 1948 japanese yakuza film directed by akira kurosawa. All of these filmmakers are ones whose complete filmographies i have no reluctance to see regardless if they make a minor film, regardless of subject matter, regardless of critical reception, these are filmmakers with a. Provided to youtube by the orchard enterprises drunken angel alynda segarra drunken angel. Drunken angel, which appears on the album car wheels on a gravel road, recounts the story of blaze foley, an austin songwriter and general roustabout who was shot to death in 1989 while.
Drunken angel is a 60plusyearold, blackandwhite, subtitled japanese movie with virtually no action and not a single gun shot. But here little of the gangster yakuza world is mysterious or shrouded in the confusions and twists of plot so apparent in american film noirs such as the big sleep or out of the past. Everything you need to know about drunken angel movie. Sep 15, 2005 drunken angel starring leonardo dicaprio.
Drunken angel 1948 was the first of 16 film collaborations between akira kurosawa and toshiro mifune with mifune in his first major film role as matsunaga. A year after this film s release, star may britt made headlines when she married entertainer sammy davis jr. Its also probably akira kurosawas first masterpiece. It was a complicated self, and kurosawas remark can be taken to mean that it was in this film that he was finally able to bring together its various strands with a commanding technique. First up is another entry in the toho masterworks series, dedicated to drunken angel. The short starts out by talking about general set design for the directors other features, before diving into the set work for the bog and other aspects of the 1948 film. Also, i was a bit taken aback at how flickery the film can look.
He was a director of broad strokes and so this story of a good man trying to save a gangster is exactly his style. This is a strange film about a very committed but screwed up doctor in postwar japan. Where it all began for akira kurosawa and toshiro mifunes long career together. The doctor, who despises the yakuza, discovers the young man is suffering from tuberculosis, a disease symbolic of what is happening to the doctor and the community he serves. Apr 09, 20 alan kaufman has been compared to jack kerouac, henry miller, hubert selby jr. Filmcrave s top movies of 1959 includes compulsion 1959, sleeping beauty 1959, drunken angel yoidore tenshi and more. It didnt affect his work much, but he really looked the part of a drunk. The blue angel is a 1959 american drama film in cinemascope directed by edward dmytryk and starring curd jurgens, may britt, and theodore bikel. Lucinda williams, drunken angel american songwriter. After the war, the critically acclaimed drunken angel 1948, in which kurosawa.
Kurosawa wasnt wellknown outside of japan until rashomon 1950, which was a big hit on the film festival circuit in 1951. On the third time around in the series of illustrative japanese films that thomas j. If youve never seen any of kurosawas films, drunken angel is not a bad place to start. The doctor lives in the slums of tokyo and is amazed at the filth and widespread incidence of preventable diseases among the poor. The data is only saved locally on your computer and never transferred to us.
Akira kurosawas marvelous 1948 social problem movie, drunken angel has to be seen for many reasons. Professor immanuel rath curt jurgensis a martinet botany professor at a german high school who finds post cards bearing the likeness of lolalola may britt, the blue angel, in the possession of his pupils. The doctor, the titular drunken angel is sanada who makes a pitiful ammount treating poor residents while mixing tea with pure alcohol easier to get than bootleg whiskey on the black market. Top movies of 1959 list, best movies 1959 page 2 by. In early drafts of the script, the story was almost entirely about doctor sanada takashi. Drunken angel, his new autobiographical work, drops like a sledgehammer. He goes to the cafe where she is appearing to see if any of his pupils are there, and spots two of them.
Reading a japanese film, written by a pioneer of japanese film studies in the united. Drunken angel is an early yakuza movie, though its different to what we may later consider typical for yakuza films. A drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violenceprone gangster with. He was a doctor who was famous for his ability to treat tb patients, but he was also a slave to alcohol. Sun came up it was another day and the sun went down you were blown away whyd you let go of your guitar whyd you ever let it go that far drunken angel. For each ive listed the movies theyve directed that ive seen and would give a 1010 or 910 score to. Viridiana, his ferociously anticlerical film about a young nuns loss of innocence, may be his best work. The blue angel is a 1959 american drama film in cinemascope directed by edward dmytryk. When i looked in the booklet that came with the dvd, i was told. I hope you enjoy the videos and subscribe for more. The first of their 16 films, drunken angel is a yakuza film that is not really a yakuza film. Kurosawa first took note of the handsome actor when mifune was twentyseven, during an open audition at toho studios.
Shubun1 is a 1950 film written and directed by akira kurosawa. Drunken angel, which starred oftused actor toshiro mifune who went. Looking to avoid the authorities, he calls his alcoholic doctor friend to remove the. He is the better angel of our nature, scolding and caring. Drunken angel 1948 toshiro mifune and noriko sengoku in drunken angel 1948.
There are, initially, the flawed protagonists of drunken angel. The genuine compassion of a drunk doctor and the false courage of a yakuza patient with dishonest pride and reluctant humility, drunken angel is an exceptional satire of the unwarranted social. On imdb tv, you can catch hollywood hits and popular tv series at no cost. Apr 15, 2012 watch eric church perform john prines long monday in the late songwriters honor.
The hidden fortress is an archetypal dark comedy and could be well adapted in the future because of its intelligent dynamics and carefree yet succinct episodes the first star wars employs much of the same wide open sense of adventure. For this, credit is due akira kurosawas drunken angel yoidore tenshi, which was brought in yesterday. Apr 19, 2012 the particular focus of the drunken angel is matsunaga, the new head of this polluted locale, brilliantly played by the always readytospring angry young man, toshiro mifune. Jonas mekas, champion of the poetic cinema the new yorker. A gangster leonardo dicaprio suffers a gunshot wound.
The chaotic worlds of the yakuza and an alcoholic doctor collide in this film noir classic from akira kurosawa. It is about a yakuza member, matsunaga mifune, who comes into contact with doctor sanada takashi shimura after he is shot in the hand. The star of this film was takashi shimura, who would go on to earn two bafta nominations. Drunken angel has also been cited by kurosawa as the film in which the immature director finally discovered himself. Drunken angel is a germinating seed that influenced a prolific crop of japanese film noir, neo noir and new wave that followed. And although kurosawa had made numerous movies before this production, the director himself recognized it as his first truly distinct and personally satisfying motion picture. Nov 30, 2007 fans of japanese director akira kurosawa are in luck. Company was established in april 1959, with toho as majority shareholder. His 1948 film drunken angel is now available for the first time on video. Drunken angel 1948 the chaotic worlds of the japanese mafia yakuza and an alcoholic doctor collide in this film noir classic from akira kurosawa. The performance of toshiro mifune as the violent young gangster, matsunaga his fourth overall and first in a kurosawa movie, was so powerful and memorable that, according to director akira kurosawa, many people in japan and presumably elsewhere falsely assume that the title, drunken angel, was intended to refer to matsunaga.
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