Yoidore tenshi (1948)

Note des utilisateurs:

7.8/10   

Réalisateur:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Akira Kurosawa (writer)
Keinosuke Uegusa (writer)

Release Date:

30 décembre 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drame | Thriller

Plot:

After a battle with rival criminals, a small-time gangster is treated by an alcoholic doctor in post-war Japan...

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | Doctor | Criminal | Alcoholic | Post War Japan

Awards:

4 wins

Avis des utilisateurs:

Good early start!

Ensemble

Takashi Shimura	...	Doctor Sanada
Toshirô Mifune	...	Matsunaga
Reisaburo Yamamoto	...	Okada
Michiyo Kogure	...	Nanae
Chieko Nakakita	...	Nurse Miyo
Noriko Sengoku	...	Gin
Shizuko Kasagi	...	Singer
Eitarô Shindô	...	Takahama
Masao Shimizu	...	Boss
Taiji Tonoyama	...	Shop Proprietor
Yoshiko Kuga	...	Schoolgirl
Chouko Iida	...	Old maid servant
Isamu Ikukata	...	Punk
Akira Tani	...	Yakuza Follower
Sachio Sakai	...	Guitar Player

Autre(s) titre(s):

Drunken Angel (International: English title)
L'ange ivre (France) [fr]

Durée:

98 min | Japan:150 min (director's cut) | USA:102 min

Pays:

Japan

Langue:

Japonais

Couleur:

Noir et Blanc

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Son:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Classification:

Finland:K-15 (2005) | Australia:PG | Sweden:15 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | UK:PG | USA:PG-13

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

Toho Studios, Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Toho Company

Anecdotes:

First of many collaborations between Toshirô Mifune and Akira Kurosawa

Guillemet:

Dr. Sanada: He tormented you, made you sick, and then deserted you like a puppy. And you still wag your tail and follow him.

Good early start!

This movie is very important for a number of reasons: it marks the beginning of the prolific collaboration between Mifune and Kurosawa, it is the first film the director made without interference from the studios and it is not a "typical" Kurosawa film as many seem to think at his samurai movies.

I must say I have a thing for the master's earlier project, such as this one, Stray Dog and his masterpieces Rashomon and Ikiru, movies that I come back to from time to time. Drunken Angel is interesting because it takes some of the elements of gangster and noir, combining them with some neorealist elements into a unique Japoneese blend. As such the movie is a drama of change, since it was shot in the intense atmosphere of post-WWII Japan. We are dealing with a thug played marvelously by Mifune who is diagnosed with TB but is reluctant to face the fact he's going to die soon. At the same time we have him as a member of the Yakuza who believes in a code of honor even if he may be one of the last to believe in that code.

It's hard to understand the poignancy of this message today but when Kurosawa made the movie it was very relevant, Mifune's character is unable to understand the proximity of his own death because he is unable to stand up to it and on the other hand he clings to past ideals in which nobody but him still believes. His only friend is a "drunken angel", a doctor who is torn between his duty to fight the disease of his patient and his own problems with facing a cruel reality.

The metaphor of the swamp is also very interesting and marks a beginning of Kurosawa's use of landscape to develop a story. There is also the symbolism of water present only it's not yet as meaningful as in Rashomon