Review of Drunken Angel (1948) by Tim H — 11 Feb 2008

Here's my other pickup from Giant Eagle. I know, I'm still amazed. If you want to know the whole story (what little of it there is), read my Sawdust and Tinsel review.

I have to say that I have an entire Post-War Kurosawa set to breakthrough pretty soon so I can't say that didn't loom over me when I watched this movie. Yes, it's great, but I feel like I should address the negative aspects of this movie.

It has a crazy slow, almost boring first act. I'm sorry, Akira, but I was zoning out for the first fifteen minutes of the movie. It should be stated that Akira Kurosawa is my third favorite director after Alfred Hitchcock and Woody Allen. I'm trying to see all of his stuff, but I have always been preferencial to his feudal Japanese stories. But once this movie gets going, it really is very interesting.

This is one of Kurosawa's most character/relationship driven pieces. It is very clear what the two characters want from one another and they butt heads very willfully and stubbornly. I love that kind of stuff. I can watch that all day. The conflict is resolved about half-an-hour before the movie ends, which normally raises some red flags for me, but the action just gets more intense after that. No Frodo getting on a boat for seven hours. (I actually love the ending to Lord of the Rings, but I feel I have to compare it to something that everyone's griped about.) The end is absolutely smashing and is visually very masterful.

I have to say that Kurosawa makes the symbolism prevalent in this one, borderlining obvious. But he never really addresses the symbolism of the stagnant lake, so I give him all the praise in the world for that. Most directors would have had long shots of the muck and the poison and said "My life is like this lake" or something of a similar nature. I appreciate that Akira Kurosawa doesn't think I'm an idiot. Or if he did (and had some kind of amazing future-based psychic abilities), he hid it very well.

Again, I must state that this is not one of my favorite Kurosawas, but it is absolutely great. It's very low-key compared to his other epic films, but sometimes that is needed. If they were all huge, we would think that he was a one trick pony. Admittedly, that one trick is f*cking awesome, but I'd rather have a whole barrel of good times anyway.