Drunken Angel

Released Dec 30, 1948

1h 42m

Drama

List

94%

Tomatometer

16 Reviews

89%

Audience Score

2,500+ Ratings

The chaotic worlds of the Japanese Mafia (Yakuza) and an alcoholic doctor collide in this film noir classic from Akira Kurosawa. Gangster Toshiro Mifune visits doctor Takashi Shimura, after an unfortunate incident with a bullet. The doctor, who despises the Yakuza, discovers the young man is suffering from tuberculosis, a disease symbolic of what is happening to the doctor and the community he serves. Facing his own anger and fear, the doctor aligns himself with the gangster's world.

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Fernando F. Croce

Slant Magazine

Kurosawa's early stylistic experimentations turn a nightclub stopover into a monstrous parody of an American jitterbug dance-off, and when blood gets finally spilled, it's in a slip-and-slide Yakuza frenzy choreographed amid splattered paint.

Rated: 3/4

Nov 26, 2007

Full Review

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

On the whole his imagery is forceful.

Rated: 3.5/5

Mar 25, 2006

Full Review

Gary Dowell

Dallas Morning News

Considered by many to be Akira Kurosawa's directorial breakthrough, the movie that introduced Kurosawa the artist to the world.

Rated: A-

Apr 10, 2003

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Drunken Angel is by no means Akira Kurosawa's greatest achievement; rather, it is his first vital narrative and his first whole thesis on Japan's postwar kyodatsu condition of many to follow.

Rated: 4/4

Feb 14, 2022

Full Review

Dwight MacDonald

Esquire Magazine

An embarrassingly familiar gangster melodrama. Drunken Angel was directed by Akira Kurosawa, who also made the brilliant Rashomon, a fact sufficiently puzzling without having to add that he also made... Ikuru.

Jul 15, 2019

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Seanax.com

This was the first major role for Mifune, the first collaboration between the actor and Kurosawa, and the launch of a career that made Mifune an international star and a Japanese superstar.

Apr 22, 2016

Full Review

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Audience Member

Surprisingly layered and nuanced, this emotional drama about a Yakuza who contracts TB and the doctor trying to help him while dealing with his own disease, is profound on many levels. The title might refer to either the Yakuza or the doctor or both. The tragedy of these characters and their separate but connected struggles is moving to watch and Mifune both crackles with charisma and breaks your heart simultaneously. The atmosphere is cozy, chilly and melancholy but with a constant drive for hope. This is truly a beautiful film.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

william d

The story is rather weak, but the acting by Mifune and Shimura is excellent.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Akira Kurosawa's breakthrough is a milestone for the rise of one of the most accomplished filmmaker of the 20th century, who would only improve his skills over the years.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Not a favorite Kurosawa for me, but visually there's a lot to appreciate. I saw some seminal ideas that would be further developed in Ikiru, such as the bubbling, pestilent swamp in the Tokyo neighborhood where the film is shot. The plot didn't do a lot for me.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Excellent. Shimura, one of my favorite actors, completely fills the lead: a hotheaded, moralizing, committed doctor who either is working in the ghetto because he hit the bottle, or hit the bottle because he chose to work in the ghetto. Mifune would go on to become the bigger star, but here Shimura is the star and i like the different dynamic between them. There are a few hackneyed moments, but Kurosawa's full-throated thrashing of mobsters is so refreshing, after their stupid elevation in American cinema.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This film was great.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

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Akira Kurosawa

Director

Toshiro Mifune

Matsunaga

Takashi Shimura

Doctor Sanada

Reizaburo Yamamoto

Okada

Michiyo Kogure

Nanae

Akira Kurosawa

Writer

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Synopsis

The chaotic worlds of the Japanese Mafia (Yakuza) and an alcoholic doctor collide in this film noir classic from Akira Kurosawa. Gangster Toshiro Mifune visits doctor Takashi Shimura, after an unfortunate incident with a bullet. The doctor, who despises the Yakuza, discovers the young man is suffering from tuberculosis, a disease symbolic of what is happening to the doctor and the community he serves. Facing his own anger and fear, the doctor aligns himself with the gangster's world.

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Screenwriter: Akira Kurosawa, Keinosuke Uegusa
Production Co: Toho Company
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 30, 1948, Wide
Release Date (DVD): Nov 27, 2007
Runtime: 1h 42m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Academy (1.33:1)