"Drunken Angel" - Film Review

Drunken Angel is a film that's all about change, or rather the inability to do so. Matsunaga (Toshiro Mifune) can't escape being a member of the yakuza, and neither he nor Doctor Sanada (Takashi Shimura) can escape their drunken ways. Sanada sees a lot of himself in Matsunaga, which is why he goes so out of his way to try to heal him of his tuberculosis. But Matsunaga keeps refusing his help and his advice and this only makes his illness worse. By the time he wises up and starts cleaning up his act in order to get better, he gets dragged back into the underworld of the yakuza; a yakuza member, Okada (Reisaburo Yamamoto), is released from prison and Matsunaga gets caught up in the welcome home celebration. It's like the scorpion tells the frog, "It's in my nature".

It's also a film about lamenting the past. Sanada blew his chance at having a successful private practice, squandering his youth getting drunk and partying. In Matsunaga, he sees himself at that age. Deep down he's not a half-bad guy, but he's done in by his own violent and drunken ways. We also see this in the local shop-owner who pines for Matsunaga. She long ago came to the city and got stuck there in a rut; she yearns to leave the city, and it's only after Matsunaga is done in by film's end that she can convince herself to get out.

The city is constantly referred to as a corrupting force. It's seen as dirty place that's gone to hell, dragging people down with it. There's a pull and tug between Sanada and the yakuza for the soul of Matsunaga with the yakuza acting as a similarly corrupting influence. For the longest time, it seems like Sanada might just win out. The early going of the film appears to tailor a story where Sanada fixes up Matsunaga and in the process wins a spiritual victory to redeem his woebegone past. The film, however, lands on a more bittersweet ending. Matsunaga learns that the yakuza are using him as a pawn to be given up to a rival gang. At this point Matsunaga confronts Okada and it leads to his demise.

Sanada does get a victory but it's in a more unexpected way. A younger patient with TB tells him that she's been cured of the illness. Perhaps after a certain point in your life, you can't change, but that girl has a chance. And, well, Sanada is going to revel in that at least. There's hope even if it's just a silver lining.

Stray Thoughts:
-Director Akira Kurasawa knows how to set a mood. Those opening night shots are wonderfully evocative. The dancehall scene is another nice, but different, example of this.
-I really like the way the fight between Okada and Matsunaga becomes incredibly messy. The end of it slipping around in paint really gives a darkly comic tinge and adds to the sense of chaos and exhaustion.
-The ending with the girl could have been saccharine but it somehow really works. I think the film just needed some sort of victory at that point.
-Some really fabulous acting from both Takashi Shimura Toshiro Mifune (who would go on to star in many other Kurasawa films).
-Those hairdos man! I know this was 1948, but this has a very 60's feel to it at times.
-The poisonous bog is a great metaphor. It could have been too blunt, but the film never feels the need to underline its meaning and so it works really well.

Consensus: A great, thematically rich film filled with lovely imagery and carried by the impeccable craftsmanship of director Akira Kurasawa and the performances of the two leads.

Grade: A