Red Beard

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3h 5m

Drama

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16 Reviews

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Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto (Yûzô Kayama) is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard (Toshirô Mifune). Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute (Terumi Niki) rescued from a local brothel.

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Michael Sragow

New Yorker

Kurosawa somehow manages to imbue every moment of this three-hour-plus movie with the transcendent vitality and intelligence of a great Victorian novel.

Jun 1, 2015

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Akira Kurosawa's Red Beard is assembled with the complexity and depth of a good 19th-century novel, and it is a pleasure, in a time of stylishly fragmented films, to watch a director taking the time to fully develop his characters.

Rated: 4/4

Oct 23, 2004

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Don Druker

Chicago Reader

A mature work that merits the term most apply to it: Dostoyevskian.

Jan 1, 2000

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

The final collaboration between director Akira Kurosawa and Japanese icon Toshiro Mifune is one of Kurosawa's most ambitious, personal, and heartfelt films.

Oct 28, 2023

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Howard Waldstein

CBR

What Red Beard lacks in terms of scope, and the more familiar aspects of an Akira Kurosawa film, it makes up for in grace, dignity, and emotional impact.

Jun 27, 2023

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Dwight MacDonald

Esquire Magazine

Cinema erupts a couple of times in those first two hours, but for the most part we are treated to lengthy scenes in which the characters talk lengthily to each other while the camera peers up into their faces like a faithful dog.

Aug 13, 2019

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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 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 out of 5 stars

08/17/23

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John B

This film is over three hours long but, you will be so absorbed in this story of a seemingly grumpy country doctor you will not only wonder what happened to the time spent but actually be sorry to see it end. No spoilers. If you ever have the time, love the performances of Toshiro Mifune and the direction of Akira Kurosawa, this masterpiece will occupy, nay... haunt your mind, for days after it's over. I can't give it all the kudos it deserves because there aren't enough word in the English language to do it justice

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/26/22

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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 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 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

One superb director. A master. That's all you have to know.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

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Akira Kurosawa

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Toshiro Mifune

Redbeard

Yûzô Kayama

Noboru Yasumoto

Yoshio Tsuchiya

Handayu Mori

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Synopsis

Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto (Yûzô Kayama) is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard (Toshirô Mifune). Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute (Terumi Niki) rescued from a local brothel.

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Producer: Ryûzô Kikushima, Tomoyuki Tanaka
Screenwriter: Masato Ide, Ryûzô Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Shûgorô Yamamoto
Production Co: Kurosawa Production
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 19, 1965, Wide
Release Date (DVD): Jul 16, 2002
Runtime: 3h 5m
Sound Mix: Stereo
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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