Movie of the Week#5: Red Beard (1965), Akira Kurosawa

Red Bear (Japan, 1965). Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Written by Masato Ide, Hideo Oguni, Riûzû Kikushima & Akira Kurosawa, Based on short story collection by Shugorô Yamamoto. Cinematography by Asakazu Nakai & Takao Saitô. Music by Masaru Satô. Production Design by Yoshirô Muraki. Costume Design by Yoshiko Samejima. Cast: Toshirô Mifune, Yûzô Kayama, Tsotomu Yamazaki, Reiko Dan, Miyuki Kuwano, Kyôko Kagawa, Tatsuyoshi Ehara, Terumi Niki. 

19th century. Yasumoto arrives in a provincial charity hospital from Nagasaki and initially hates the option to which he was nominated, with no chance of winning brilliance in his career. Reporting to the dour Dr. Niide (Mifune), known as Barbarossa, he refuses to follow the service hierarchy. After following the case of two patients who die, Yasumoto engages as ever with Tomoyo teenager (Niki), taken from a brothel when she was sick. After taking care of the aggressive Tomoyo, the Yasumoto itself is bedridden and care by her. The owner of the brothel, while occasionally find Tomoyo have a plan to take back her, but Niide and Yasumoto prevent it. Yasumuto denies the request to become a doctor of the shogunate, preferring to remain in the hospital.

This very long film,  last collaboration of director with Mifune, who had helped to mythologize in his films, even turning away from spectacular battles present in some of his most famous films ( Kagemusha , Ran ), nor ceases to mark their choice of a dramatic tradition more romantic and sentimental than, for example, of a director as Kobayashi. The dramas and options of the characters seem almost exclusively marked by their personal decisions and feelings where the force of tradition and the community, as opposed to Mizoguchi earns little relevance. Since its prologue, the film seems marked by the obvious awareness of its protagonist and its metamorphosis egocentric concerned only with his career to a full human being. It is constructed such conversion of most conventional way possible where it does not lack a musical track orchestrated, unlike used by Kobayashi in contemporary films (such as Samurai Rebellion and Kwaidan ) and the construction of tics for the characters, as the characteristic gesture of Barbarossa scratching his beard. To satisfy the fans of Mifune movies with greater presence of physical action does not lack a sequence where Barbarossa faces virtually all men of the locality alone and destroys everyone to carry Tomoyo with him - this hyperbolic dimension the heroes of the Nipponic cinema have, also present in Kobayashi, will be emphasized at the level of parody by filmmakers such as Takeshi Kitano. Nor does the film fails to get entangled in subplots expendable, like the boy who steals and wins Tomoyo protection, which has no other function than mark once the good heart of her. That said, there is to do justice to the excellent work of illumination and the use of silence as important dramatic elements, even fundamental.Kurosawa Prod. & Co. to Toho Toho. 180 min. 

Postado originalmente em português em 29/09/16