Review of Drunken Angel (1948) by Gary C — 24 Apr 2008

Drunken Angel was the first film Kurosawa was allowed to make without studio interference, and features an alcoholic doctor who forms an unlikely bond with a gangster who he diagnoses with tuberculosis.

This film is all about the characters; Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune were regular collaborators with Kurosawa and for good reason. Their performances were a little more melodramatic than in their later works, but they still have great chemistry and charisma as the two similarly stubborn men butt heads almost to comic effect in places.

I found the visual metaphor a little heavy handed and it lacks some of the emotional involvement of Kurosawa's finest, and so it doesn't seem as sophisticated as his best films. It still has style in spades, and it's great for every moment Shimura and Mifune are on the screen together.