Drunken Angel, Kurosawa's First Big Oddly-Mooded Dramatic Film

    Akira Kurosawa, one of the greatest film directors of all time, obtained praise all around for his drama known as Drunken Angel. I wasn't exactly sure what I was getting myself into prior to this screening, but I had seen Seven Samurai last year. However, I certainly feel that Drunken Angel was not on par with his now hailed masterpiece. Obviously they are different films, but on a skill level I just feel that this wasn't as immersive or "pretty" to look at. That can be considered fine because it was an early one of his, it's just sometimes director's early films are better. I did love that this is considered a drama, yet it can be seen as something more.
    Throughout the film I carefully analyzed it the best someone can during their first showing, and I focused on the clear cut, as well as more subliminal, humor and the use of the guitar. Unfortunately my analyzation of the guitar segments proved to be a little scattershot and I won't discuss them until my second viewing. The humor on the other hand worked out pretty well in my opinion. There were several scenes in which an obvious or a subtle comedic segment took place just before something rather intense did. A nice example is the scene in which Mifune is drunk out of his mind and he decides to pick up a girl and just dance at the club. While they are dancing we are graced with the presence of the wonderful band, led by the rather comedic female singer. This entire scene is definitely trying to delight us, but it almost seems out of place. It wasn't until the next scene started did I realize what it was for. The next scene immediately opened up with Shimura slapping Mifune for drinking and because of the abrupt cut and humorous dance, it came off as funny. Kurosawa meant for those kind of scenes because there isn't exactly the greatest happiness by the end of the film. For those that don't remember, this was the final humorous anything in the film. Thus why it had to be as ridiculous as it was. Imagine these as pain pills. Another quick example is when the kids were having a good time while playing around the stream. The stream is obviously heinous, but the light-heartedness that surrounded that scene lightened the threat for the time being. Notice again, that never is that water even joked about. If Kurosawa did one thing right, it's certainly knowing when things are and aren't appropriate for the sake of the mood. For that alone, I enjoyed the film more than things typically spat out these days, and I have Kurosawa to thank.