A good movie

It has been ages since I saw a movie directed by Akira Kurosawa and, since this movie was available on YouTube, I was really eager to check it out. In fact, even though I had never heard of this movie before, it was actually quite a milestone for Kurosawa as it was the first time he was working with Toshiro Mifune. Well, I have to admit that I was quite impressed by the damned thing when it started. Indeed, it turned out to be some kind of film noir but with no plot and, instead of a plot, they focused on the weird relationship between this doctor and some yakusa. Within 5 mins, I was suddenly reminded why Kurosawa was such a master. Somehow, both men were quite charismatic (it does help when you have such legendary actors like Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura involved) but also some losers at the same time, both had some really hot temper and yet you could feel that they both have a soft side. It was just great to have such complex characters and it’s amazing what Kurosawa managed to squeeze out from such seemingly flimsy material. As a result, both men couldn’t stand each other and, yet, they kept gravitating towards each other for some reason they both didn’t understand. As long as they focused on this 2 men, it was just fascinating to behold. Unfortunately, they also added a sub-plot about the doctor protecting an old flame of a former partner of the yakuza and this sub-plot was rather underwhelming. Sure, by getting this old partner out of prison, it displayed how precarious the life of this yakuza actually was (this movie had a pretty strong anti-yakuza message) but to add this woman was too much and actually unnecessary. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I really enjoyed the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Kurosawa’s work.

7/10