Hector I
What a beautiful film! Long, even very long, it's the story of a young middle-class doctor in shogun Japan. He thinks he's arriving at a prestigious post, but finds himself assigned a hospice full of poor people.
Pedantic at first, he becomes more human as he comes into contact with illness and death. A little maudlin at times, he manages to convey the necessary fight for the dignity of the weakest. The little girl who comes out of the brothel is very touching, especially in her relationship with the doctor. Mifume, as the old doctor-mentor, is imperial here, even if he's a bit stereotypical in the touching mentor full of renunciations for his patients, a Japanese cox doctor who doesn't hesitate to lie and extort money from the rich.
A little simplistic, even miserable, but the direction is so beautiful, lively and ingenious.
In the middle of the film, we forget about the other patients and concentrate solely on the young girl and the little thief. In the process, we forget the heroin-addicted woman, a rather terrifying scene.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/11/25
Full Review
Liam D
One of Akira Kurosawa’s most underappreciated movies. A slow burn character study Samurai film with solid direction and great acting
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
04/28/24
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Robert J
Wonderful movie which traces the spiritual growth of a young doctor who resents being sent to a poor rural clinic in 19th century Japan. Do not be put off by the 3 hour running time, it is all essential to develop the characters and makes the transition of the young doctor as he observes the head Dr. (the titular "Red Beard") and how he treats patients and those who work with him at the clinic, more compelling and believable. The cinematography, and score are also superb.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/17/23
Full Review
William L
Red Beard marks the last of the collaborations between Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune, a long and fruitful partnership that resulted in 16 films (including several internationally regarded masterpieces) but which was ultimately undone by Kurosawa's own auteurship; two year filming schedules are understandably difficult to stomach for in-demand acting talent.
While often hailed as one of the director's many great films, Red Beard has been more polarizing than some of the director's output that is more commonly watched in the modern day, derided by some as more akin to a soap opera than many of his darker, similarly philosophical pieces. The film deals with humanism and inner conflict, as a young, proud doctor with ambition (Yūzō Kayama's Dr. Noboru Yasumoto) comes to understand the value of caring for others under the strict, gruff, yet ultimately tender and sincere tutelage of Mifune's Dr. Kyojō Niide (Red Beard); in reality, Red Beard's practices are also intended to rectify the young doctor's own mental ills (having been betrayed by those he trusted) through the good he does for his patients. Along the way, there are a series of subplots that uniformly feature a series of characters bearing tragic backstories brought to light as a result of a medical emergency, or often their own final moments. It's got the traditional sweeping nature that you'd expect of the material and the director, with misfortune ultimately transitioning to more uplifting aspects of human nature, but in many cases it all just seems too convenient or dramatic.
Where Red Beard begins to lose you is the sheer number and variety of melancholic stories that it attempts to cram into its three hour runtime. Noboru's training begins with the responsibility of attending a dying man's bedside, as his academic training meets a more tangible, upsetting reality. It's genuine, understandable, and believable, yet powerful and uncomfortable - a baptism by fire into the medical profession and the methods that Red Beard uses. But then the other subplots feel the need for a sense of one-upsmanship that they never shake. All of a sudden every patient in the medical clinic has some form of long-winded backstory that conveniently reinforces a tenant of humanism, to the point where the sum total seems often excessively dramatic to the point of being tiresome (with a rather predictable outcome in visible changes to Noboru's character). At the same time, you've got Kurosawa's meiculous scene direction, framing, and camerawork; he's clearly putting his exceptional skill to use. Many consider this film to be among the director's finest work, but to me its technical proficiency doesn't totally make up for narrative excess and overt thematic design.
One thing that stands out in Red Beard in particular is the contrast between the exceptional quality of the cinematography and the basic transitional design; late in the film you're treated to a shot of grief-stricken characters shouting down into a well as the camera pans from looking up at them from within the well down the side of the shaft before settling on their reflections in the water, all without the camera being seen (which was all practical effects). But simultaneously, the transitions between scenes are often abrubt wipes that seem much less stylistic. It's not unique to Red Beard (you can see it in several of Kurosawa's works), but is particularly prevalent here. (3.5/5)
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
07/10/22
Full Review
william d
This wasn't what I expected. Toshiro Mifune's titular character really isn't in it that much. Instead, we get a series of vignettes dealing with the lives of the patients and a rookie doctor. The result is a sweet and sentimental film, although at times it gets a bit mawkish. As in all Kurosawa films the acting is excellent. He really knows how to get the best out of his actors.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
One superb director. A master. That's all you have to know.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/01/23
Full Review
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