Following the release of the Samurai Collection last year, the BFI are now releasing a new DVD box set of films by legendary Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa. Featuring six of his early films – all of which pre-date his 1948 Drunken Angel – the box-set offers a range of genre and content, providing a fascinating insight into Kurosawa’s development as a director and the influence of wartime propaganda on Japanese cinema.
Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
The first film of the set, Sanshiro Sugata is set in 1882 and follows the eponymous Sugata (Susumu Fujita) as he joins sensei Shogoro Yano (Denjiro Okochi) to learn Judo; a controversial decision, as the new martial art was seen to be supplanting the older art of Jujutsu. During the course of his training, Sugata must learn to control his ambition and temper, as well as to respect others, if he is to master judo and defeat the jujutsu followers...
Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
The first film of the set, Sanshiro Sugata is set in 1882 and follows the eponymous Sugata (Susumu Fujita) as he joins sensei Shogoro Yano (Denjiro Okochi) to learn Judo; a controversial decision, as the new martial art was seen to be supplanting the older art of Jujutsu. During the course of his training, Sugata must learn to control his ambition and temper, as well as to respect others, if he is to master judo and defeat the jujutsu followers...
- 3/27/2011
- Shadowlocked
Yoidore tenshi / Drunken Angel (1948) Direction: Akira Kurosawa Screenplay: Akira Kurosawa, Keinosuke Uekusa Cast: Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune, Reisaburo Yamamoto, Michiyo Kogure, Chieko Nakakita By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica: Watching Akira Kurosawa’s 1948 black-and-white effort Yoidore Tenshi / Drunken Angel is an interesting experience, for he clearly had not mastered the art form, yet. Even so, there is so much that is good in Drunken Angel — touches that would become great in just a few years. It’s like looking at a fetus and seeing distinguishable characteristics of its parents, though none is fully formed. Additionally, the same could be said of the director’s budding partnership with leading man Toshiro Mifune, partly because Mifune is not the film's main character. After all, the 'drunken angel' is played by Takashi Shimura, one of the best actors in film history – just watch Ikiru – and Kurosawa’s leading male actor until Mifune asserted [...]...
- 11/13/2010
- by Dan Schneider
- Alt Film Guide
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