{"id":4768,"date":"2009-06-29T02:46:15","date_gmt":"2009-06-29T10:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=4768"},"modified":"2009-06-29T06:32:43","modified_gmt":"2009-06-29T14:32:43","slug":"red-beard-akira-kurosawa-1965-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=4768","title":{"rendered":"Red Beard (Akira Kurosawa, 1965): Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Byron Potau<\/a>.\u00a0 Viewed on DVD.<\/p>\n

\"\"Masterpiece is a word that is never overused when talking about the films of Akira Kurosawa.\u00a0 In Red Beard<\/a><\/em> he gives us yet another awe inspiring masterpiece of cinema to admire, study, and enjoy, and shows us once again why he is among our greatest directors of all time.<\/p>\n

Young doctor Yasumoto (Yuzo Kayama), fresh from medical school, has been studying to become the shogun\u2019s doctor and is appalled when he finds he is assigned to the free clinic, run by the tyrannical and stubborn doctor known as Red Beard (Toshiro Mifune), where he is expected to treat the undesirable, poverty stricken.\u00a0 In defiance of his new position, which he feels is beneath him, Yasumoto refuses to do his duties as a doctor, defying Red Beard\u2019s rules and spending his time drinking in his room.\u00a0 When he is attacked by an insane woman patient whom he proudly and foolishly thinks he can help, he is treated by Red Beard and he begins to see the humanity and sensitivity of his methods.\u00a0 As he begins to make his own connections with the patients, hearing their stories, seeing their suffering, he finally sees them as human beings worthy and deserving of his attentions, coming to learn a deeper value of humanity in the process.<\/p>\n

This film is just crying out words like cornball and cheesy, and in the hands of a lesser director it would be, but this is Kurosawa and so few have ever matched his directorial skill.\u00a0 Kurosawa is master at handling the type of emotional scenes that make up so much of this film, tugging at the viewer\u2019s heartstrings in a way that is never forced or maudlin.\u00a0 A sweet, uplifting score from Masaru Sato adds much to the feel of the film as we get swept up in one heart wrenching scene after another.<\/p>\n

Toshiro Mifune is perfectly cast as the righteous Red Beard who is unwavering in his compassion and his principles, resulting in one of the greatest performances of his career.\u00a0 Mifune has such a commanding presence onscreen to which he here adds a quiet intensity, dominating every scene he is in.\u00a0 He also gets to kick a little ass too.\u00a0 Sadly, this was Mifune\u2019s last collaboration with Kurosawa, ending one of cinema\u2019s most successful actor\/director pairings.\u00a0 The rest of the cast, especially, the numerous small supporting roles, give solid performances as well.<\/p>\n

Amidst heartbreak and sorrow, kindness and human spirit prevail and it has seldom, if ever, been more satisfying than in this film.\u00a0 Great to rent, better to own, this masterwork is powerful enough to restore anyone\u2019s lack of faith in humanity.<\/p>\n

DVD Extras:\u00a0<\/strong> Audio commentary by Kurosawa film scholar Stephen Prince, notes by Japanese film historian Donald Richie, and theatrical trailer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Byron Potau.\u00a0 Viewed on DVD. Masterpiece is a word that is never overused when talking about the films of Akira Kurosawa.\u00a0 In Red Beard he gives us yet another awe inspiring masterpiece of cinema to admire, study, and enjoy, and shows us once again why he is among our greatest directors of all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dvd","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4768\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}