Drunken Angel: The Criterion Collection (DVD)
APPROX. 98 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 1948 - MPA RATING: NR
" The film also launched (an) important relationship, that of Kurosawa and his leading man Toshiro Mifune.
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Long before John Woo permanently linked male melodrama to the Japanese gangster film, Akira Kurosawa directed "Drunken Angel" (1948), a film about the unlikely relationship between a sickly yakuza and his soused doctor. The film also launched a far more important relationship, that of Kurosawa and his leading man Toshiro Mifune.
In "Drunken Angel," the 27 year-old actor still looked as if he might take become the next matinee idol with his handsome features and lithe build. He is not instantly recognizable as the same man who appeared in "The Seven Samurai" just six years later, but in just his second major film role he already displays a boundless energy that can´t be contained by the screen, let alone by his body. One of the most gifted physical performers in the history of film, Mifune, like Klaus Kinski and like John Wayne, does not simply appear in a scene; he inhabits it.
Mifune had his critics in Japan, especially in his early years. Used to restrained/constrained performances, some Japanese critics accused Mifune of being a shameless over-actor. This would be an accurate charge if Mifune was actually acting, but the fact is that he was simply being and that being so damned electric it would have been impossible, as well as criminal, to even try to contain it. Mifune was not over-acting, film was simply too small to fully capture his presence.
The film that marks the first pairing of one of the most remarkable director/actor teams of all time is itself relatively unremarkable. Filmed in the early years of America´s post-war occupation of Japan, the film depicts an urban life filled with filth and despair. The main attraction in town is a giant sump lake, a fetid sewer so polluted its surface doesn´t reflect the sun so much as distort into something unnatural. Young Matsunaga (Mifune) lords over his wretched section of this wretched town because his boss Okada (Reisaburo Yamamoto) put him in charge before being imprisoned.
Everything´s looking up for Matsunaga until he comes down with a persistent cough. Though he´s a "big time" yakuza, he can´t afford real medical treatment, so he visits Dr. Sanada (Takashi Shimura), a down-and-out doc who could have been great if not for his affinity for booze and broads. Sanada is no quack, however, just a man in need of redemption and Matsunaga is like a gift from the gods. If he can save even this most unworthy of patients he can feel better about himself as a doctor and as a man. Alas, it´s going to be a difficult task. Like many Japanese citizens in the post-war years, Matsunaga is stricken with tuberculosis, and won´t follow doctor´s orders because he still sees himself as young and invincible.
The story arc describes the gradual disintegration of Matsunaga´s sense of identity. All full of piss and vinegar at first, he is unmanned both by his progressive illness and his concomitant loss of status in the yakuza community. Now that he´s damaged goods, he´s of use to the self-important gangsters only as a pawn to increase their own power. Inevitably, as the genre demands, Matsunaga must confront Okada, recently returned from prisoner, and try to chart a new path for himself in a world where nobody other than Dr. Sanada gives a damn about him. The film´s climax is surprisingly touching even if the coda runs a bit too long.
