Review of Drunken Angel (1948) by Fredrik S — 25 Jun 2014

I can't imagine anything better than the troika of Kurosawa, Mifune, and Takashi Shimura in a film. Perfection. And this early Kurosawa film in which he felt free to be himself for the first time, now added as yet another of my favorites from the Master Kurosawa, who has given us more great films than any other director that comes to mind, is close to perfect.

Mifune, still not far off from being one of Toho's "New Faces", non-actors who were brought in off the street in contests to see if they had any star power, is riveting. Kurosawa's direction, including his trademark use of water imagery and creative music to set mood and intra-scene tone, gives us an early glimpse of the genius films yet to come.

And as always, Takashi Shimura is the perfect foil to Mifnue's boundless energy, though in this film he also occasionally has an emotionally energetic burst, which is really a treat to see from one of the finest actors ever to see celluloid.

Top notch, and almost cinema verité in its exposition of postwar Japanese reality.