← Back to the films
Drunken Angel 1948

Drunken Angel

A doctor tries to treat a gangster with tuberculosis in postwar Tokyo. Their uneasy bond puts care up against pride, with Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune pulling in opposite directions.

Catalogue reference: 98 min (Criterion Collection spine 413 catalogue presentation).

Listed catalogue duration, not a measured runtime. Exact cut and matching disc or stream have not been established.

1948 · Directed by Akira Kurosawa

What to expect

The attraction is the friction between the two men: helping someone requires confronting the identity he is desperate to defend. The damaged city gives that conflict a larger setting.

How to ease in

Start with the doctor–patient relationship. Notice when an argument expresses concern rather than simple hostility.

A strong fit for volatile performances and compromised acts of care.

Less suitable for a comforting medical story.

Heads-up

Illness and criminal violence shape the story. Choose it for a tense character drama, rather than an ingenious crime puzzle.

Sources for the facts

Where to go next

Momo's Note Who is Momo? →
Momo staring dreamily with a little drool

— COMING SOON —

Why no note yet?

  • Hasn't seen it yet.
  • Too good for words.
  • Too bad for words.

Continue through the catalogue →