Red Beard - Criterion Collection (1968)

Mifune's Greatest Performance?

In his last collaboration with Akira Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune gives possibly his best performance ever. This is a tough call to make because so many of his performances are so incredible. Just in his collaborations with Kurosawa he delivered command performances in Red Beard, Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo. Yuzo Kayama delivers a comparably excellent performance as an apprentice doctor who matures from a conceited youngman into a humble, compassionate doctor under Red Beard's quiet tutelage. In fact, the acting is excellent throughout. Red Beard is one of Kurosawa's few movies to feature several excellent roles for actresses and the performers all rise to the occassion.

Red Beard is a three hour, black and white Japanese drama and it is a masterpiece. Red Beard is a brilliant exercise in humanism as it touchingly displays the dignity of the lowest wretches imaginable. Mifune is a tough but compassionate director of a rural charity clinic in the 19th century who is gruff and unfeeling toward his apprentice doctors but kind and generous to his patients. His patients consist mostly of lower caste peasants and outcasts like prostitutes. The script perfectly mixes searing scenes of pathos with warmhearted light moments.

Featuring Kurosawa's trademark beautiful cinematography, thanks largely to reknown cinematographer Asakazu Nakai, Red Beard took two years to film mostly due to Kurosawa's meticulous attention to detail. Kurosawa was a master craftsman and was one of the few filmmakers to excel in both excellence in storytelling and production. Even the wood for the buildings had to be just the right wood for the time and place the movie is set. Kurosawa's professionalism is our reward, as the world created in the movie is instantly accepted and accessible.

Red Beard marks the end of the main body of Kurosawa's career. From 1943 to 1965, he made nearly a movie a year. After Red Bead, he would make only seven movies in the next 28 years. This last collaboration between the greatest director/actor team in thehistory of cinema is a beautiful work of art and to be cherished by all movie lovers.
July 5, 2008

Can A Film Change Your Life?

When critics and film buffs talk about the legendary Akira Kurosawa, they usually focus on how he influenced American cinema, or his deep philosophical undertones. While those topics merit discussion (and books), I think those same critics and film buffs forget to mention just how entertaining Kurosawa was. You can spend months dissecting each brilliant camera shot and subtle ideals, but what about those precious hours where all you have to do is watch the screen? To appreciate Akira Kurosawa's impact on cinema requires you to believe a very simple truth: "There is more than one way to be excited, to be moved, and to be entertained."

If you can accept that principle and are ready to challenge your moviegoing senses, then the work of Kurosawa will possibly change your life as it has mine. I'm not gonna call Kurosawa the greatest filmmaker who ever lived, because a couple of his pieces (particularly his latest work) just don't do it for me. But I will say that when the Japanese legend managed to reach me, no other filmmaker inspired me more as a person. My favorite example is RED BEARD, a very gentle and uplifting story of loyalty, maturity, friendship, and hundreds of other synonyms I could throw at you.

During the opening credits, you think you know what you're getting into. The gentle music, the peaceful shots of calm rooftops, the sounds of nature...at the outset, you're right. RED BEARD begins as sentimental as its musical score implies. The peaceful tone continues as we're introduced to the young Dr. Yasumoto, a brilliant intern who instead of being sent to practice at a prestigous government office, is assigned to a poor village. Yasumoto is to work under Dr. Niide, a man who's basically the mentor we all wish we could have. Niide (aka "Red Beard") is firm, wise, strong, and patient. RED BEARD's main story is Yasumoto's appreciation for life and humility.

Of course, like any great film, RED BEARD gradually reveals layer after layer, theme after theme, character after character, & brilliant scene after brilliant scene. What I want to make clear is that RED BEARD isn't just a character drama. It's a jack-of-all-trades. There are several harrowing scenes where the doctors have to treat patients, none of them excessive or overly grotesque. The story is romantic, but in a believable and respectable way. There are even a few scenes of violence: one a suspenseful attack, the other an unexpected fight sequence. I promise you that while the choregraphy of the violence is thrilling, the aftermath to each is even more of pleasure to watch. RED BEARD also briefly addresses issues like class politics and domestic values.

Kurosawa often explored the different classes in his films, but in most of his samurai films, he was incredibly cynical about the tension between them. Contrary to American sociology, the lower class is often reviled more in his films than the upper class. Although no character in a Kurosawa flick was perfect, we often sympathized with the stronger protagonists, rather than the weaker subordinates. Another Kurosawa norm is the "overacting"; detractors sometimes can't get into Kurosawa's films because the actors seem to 'speak' their emotions rather than 'perform' their behavior.

RED BEARD breaks these traditions. The performances are more grounded and less theatrical. The tone is generally light; the tunnel never gets dark without a light at the end of it. And frankly, I don't think I've ever been more moved by a story in my entire life. There's a perfectly-executed sequence in the middle act, where two souls heal each other in the most unusual way. To give away the rest would be unfair to you, but even if you read the entire plot, RED BEARD wouldn't be any better or worse for you.

Most of RED BEARD's detractors focus on its time length. The film is 185 minutes long. It might be a few minutes too long, but then again there's no such thing as a perfect film. Kurosawa isn't in any hurry to tell his story, but that doesn't mean he didn't pace himself. If everything I've read about Kurosawa's techniques is true - and I believe they are - no filmmaker showed more discipline to his craft than Kurosawa. Even respected greats like Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, and Sidney Lumet would tell you no other filmmaker was more dedicated or selective with his style. There are thousands of classics with worse flaws; RED BEARD's flaws are literally a matter of minutes.

The Criterion DVD includes only two extras. First is a theatrical trailer, which honestly isn't anything special other than a peek at 1960s movie marketting. But the other bonus - and I do mean BONUS - is a stunning feature-length commentary track by Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince. I've listened to this man speak on 6 Kurosawa films' DVDs, and this is just as great as his other tracks. He analyzes shot sequences, historical background, behind-the-scenes issues, scene composition, philosophy, & hundreds of other factoids I can't remember. Prince talks endlessly throughout the film, but not because he loves the sound of his own voice. He keeps speaking because he knows that 185 minutes isn't enough time to do RED BEARD justive. Simply put, Stephen Prince knows how to turn a skeptic into a believer. Trust me, I've walked away lukewarm from a couple Kurosawa "classics", only to have Prince challenge my criticisms.

RED BEARD's plot description doesn't look like much on the surface, but no summary does any film justice. What should persuade you to check out RED BEARD is how it's inspired and moved the curious few who've watched it. The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) reports only 3000+ voters have scored this film; the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN films have over 100,000 votes each. It's lost masterpieces like RED BEARD that the Criterion Collection exists.

Criterion sometimes releases works of art that only the most educated cryptologists and historians can apprecate --- RED BEARD is not one of them. Even though it's in black-and-white with subtitles, it's as commerical and accessible as any true classic. I'm convinced you will walk away from this film a better human being. June 9, 2008

Red Beard - Criterion Collection

Mifune should have and could have had a bigger role and this would have made the film better. They did not give him enough to do and this diminished the picture. May 27, 2008

An Hour too Long

I didn't check the running time of "Red Beard" before watching it. At a point I though might be the end, I was surprized to see "Intermission" pop up on the screen. This movie runs just over 3 hours and there really isn't a reason for any more than the standard 2 hour length. If it had kept within those confines, this would likely merit 5 stars from me as well. However, when you take too long to make a point...well, maybe I'd better move on to something else myself.

What makes "Red Beard" the (near)great movie that it is comes from the evolving humane compassion it displays. A young doctor finds himself assigned to some charity clinic instead of the job he was expecting as the personal physician to some big shot Shogun. We can figure out right away what direction the movie will take but it is still a joy in watching it develop (except that it dragged out so...but wait, we weren't going to talk about that anymore). The title character is played by Toshiro Mifune but he may have been asked to do too much. There is an unnecessary (there I go again) scene that seems meant for a samurai movie (which, of course, Kurosawa knowa how to make).

There are many different characters in the movie but the best ones, in my opinion, are the cooks who seem to be a sort of Greek chorus that measures the emotional changes that take place throughout the movie. This really is a good movie with a master film-maker who knows how to create an emotional statement. If he could've taken less...oh, better not get started on that again. January 20, 2008

The title qualifies but never enables!

It's widely known the epic gaze that made from the great master Akira Kurosawa, an undeniable supreme filmmaker. So under this perspective - at least according my view- this movie - based on a charity clinic , is somehow an original way to explore the countless facets of the human behavior, in which concerns to misery, sickness that is used by Kurosawa as a smart metaphor, but an incisive scalpel to carve in relief an epic statement respect the way we must deal the existence, day by day.

A ferrous drama that demonstrates once more the lavish genius of Kurosawa. And despite it's overlong its intrinsic virtues are disseminated in every frame of the picture. The youthful irreverence of a young doctor who pretends his knowledge belongs exclusively to him, but since the moment he enters to that clinic he will have to deal with the life and death, some issues that are not explicit in the books, slowly but progressively his initial arrogance will decay through this life's lesson.

Another artistic feat of the Japanese master!
February 24, 2007

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