Dr. Akagi

Released May 17, 1998

2h 9m

Drama

List

94%

Tomatometer

18 Reviews

77%

Audience Score

500+ Ratings

A prostitute (Kumiko Asô), a monk (Juro Kara) and others help a country doctor (Akira Emoto) seek a cure for hepatitis in 1945 Japan.

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Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

Accomplished at expressing the complexities of human nature and emotions, Imamura has captured a sense of timelessness to the extent that we all but forget the time and place.

Feb 14, 2001

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J. Hoberman

Village Voice

As lively, irreverent, and bizarrely cheerful as any of Imamura's previous low-life sagas.

Jan 1, 2000

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Rated: 4/4

Jan 1, 2000

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Michael E. Grost

Classic Film and Television

An often fascinating work of storytelling.

Nov 21, 2017

Full Review

Mark Halverson

Sacramento News & Review

Rated: 4/5

Aug 7, 2008

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 3/5

Jun 15, 2005

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Audience Member

Quite boring and long. The strangely comic music did not fit either.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

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Audience Member

Shohei Imamura had perhaps more than any other Japanese director, and this is saying a HELLUVA lot considering pretty much all Japanese directors are wizards at shot construction, the most intuitively brilliant flare for shot construction. This gives his films, which usually deal with difficult social subjects, a haunting precision. But it's not merely observe and record. His films have a certain attentive care for the characters, and in the process oddly moving scenes are captured. Think about the premise of this film. A small-town family doctor rushing back and forth between different cases of hepatitis during the end of the Second World War. What could possibly be endearing or moving in that? Well, Dr. Akagi, played beautifully by Akira Emoto, is followed by the camera sparingly along with all of the other town characters. The moments that are captured are filled with wonderful pathos. We see Dr. Akagi sweating and huffing down the streets past soldiers and workers, carrying his medical kit and stopping every once and a while for a quick breather. We see the same Dr. Akagi attend to a Dutch soldier beaten and wounded by torture. We see him in front of a commission of doctors, pleading for a crusade against the rising cases in hepatitis. And then we see odder things like Dr. Akagi going on a boat with the ex-prostitute so that she can catch a whale for him. It's all of these episodes, whether odd or obviously reassuring, all come together with savage synthesis only Imamura was capable of. I loved this movie.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

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Audience Member

Alternately funny and moving, but in the final 20 minutes, characters' motivations grow too opaque, their scenes almost too ludicrous to be enjoyable.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Audience Member

This film has the basic materials to be very good indeed. 1945, Japan. Dr. Akagi on his mission to combat an epidemic of hepatitis; helped in that mission by an escaped POW; while he manages to resist the advances of a young sexpot. Unfortunately, it doesn't resolve itself well at all. Not enough is made of the POW. Or the junkie-surgeon. Or the harlot-turned-nurse. There are more good characters here than our writer/director can handle. Then comes the whale and bomb ending that just seems a confession of failure: "I don't know how to end this so let's just make it absurd." Someone called this a black comedy. Nonsense. It's not a bit funny and that absurd ending doesn't convert what was all along a drama into a black comedy.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

(***): [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img] I found it to be well-acted and interesting. AKA: [i]Kanzo Sensei[/i]

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is a terrific movie. Imamura is like Vonnegut for Japan.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

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Shôhei Imamura

Director

Akira Emoto

Dr. Fuu Akagi

Kumiko Asô

Sonoko

Juro Kara

Umemoto

Masanori Sera

Toriumi

Jacques Gamblin

Piet

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Synopsis

A prostitute (Kumiko Asô), a monk (Juro Kara) and others help a country doctor (Akira Emoto) seek a cure for hepatitis in 1945 Japan.

Director: Shôhei Imamura
Screenwriter: Shôhei Imamura, Ango Sakaguchi, Daisuke Tengan
Distributor: New World Pictures, Kino International Corp.
Production Co: New World
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (Theaters): May 17, 1998, Original
Box Office (Gross USA): $71.8K
Runtime: 2h 9m
Sound Mix: Dolby SR, Surround