Red Beard (Akahige) by Akira Kurosawa

Posted on 23. Oct, 2009 @ 11:20 am by in Media, Movies Views: 762

Akirakurosawa's 赤ひげ "Red Beard"
Akirakurosawa's 赤ひげ "Red Beard"

A while ago I recommended that a Japanese friend in Osaka watch Kurosawa’s Yojimbo & Sanjuro, she did, she loved them, and then started a Kurosawa kick of her own.

Side note. There are a lot of Japanese who have never seen a Kurosawa film. No “Seven Samurai”, no “Ikiru”, nothing. I guess this isn’t too surprising, I mean, I don’t think I have ever actually watched “It’s a Wonderful Life.” To many they’re just old movies. Most all Japanese have heard of Kurosawa and his films, but many have never taken the time to sit down and take one in. I’m not going to say it’s a shame… But, I dunno. もったいない！

Anyway, eventually she caught up with me and recommended that I watch Kurosawa’s Red Beard (赤ひげ akahige). I was surprised that I hadn’t even heard of that one before, so quickly looked it up and borrowed it from the school library. I’m glad I did, now it’s one of my favorites!

I don’t like to talk about movie plots too much so that I can avoid spoilers… But let’s just say that this was one of the most touching films I have ever seen. Toshiro Mifune plays Red Beard, an astute doctor who has a way with tough love. Mifune does have one fun action scene, but otherwise this is a story of human compassion and learning to care for others. When I tweeted that I would be watching it one of my Japanese Twitter friends said…

@htazawa「赤ひげ」は人間愛あふれる素晴しい映画です。この映画を見たことがない医者がいたら、俺が刺身にしてやる！

Which roughly translates into, “Akahige is a wonderful film overflowing with human love. If I run into a doctor who hasn’t seen this film… I’m gonna make them into sashimi!”

Of course, @htazawa’s avatar happens to be an image from a Kurosawa movie… so maybe he’s a bit biased.

You guys are going to think I’m a softy if I go on any longer, so I’ll leave it at that. Go see this movie. If you’re on a University campus check the library. If not, check your public library. Otherwise, hit up Netflix or Amazon or something. It’s worth it!

- Harvey

Check out this other post about Kurosawa’s “I Live in Fear.”

  • http://toshogu.blogspot.com Tornadoes28

    I’ve seen this. Awesome movie. I have seen most Kurosawa movies. Seven Samurai is one of my favorite all time movies. I have also seen Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Hidden Fortress, Kagemusha, Ran, Throne of Blood, Rashomon. Ran and Rashomon are also two of my favorites. If you haven’t seen these two I highly recommend them.

  • http://www.japannewbie.com harvey

    I have seen both Ran and Rashomon. Rashomon is indeed very good. My favorite though is probably Yojimbo – Tsubaki Sanjuro as a close second. Dersu Uzala was also surprisingly enjoyable. It’s not even Japanese!

    Harakiri is also really fun!

  • http://toshogu.blogspot.com Tornadoes28

    I loved both of those films. I actually liked Sanjuro, the second one, a little more than Yojimbo. But they were both awesome.

  • http://toshogu.blogspot.com Tornadoes28

    Oh yes, Harakri, or Seppuku, is incredible. I just watched that recently and I put that up there with the best of the Kurosawa films. Harakiri was an incredible flick. One of my favorite.

  • http://www.japannewbie.com harvey

    Actually you got me thinking. Kurosawa’s Rashomon is really really good.

    Harakiri (seppuku) is great too. That is great. I want to see that again. I saw Harakiri about a year and a half ago… but I remember it was a great ride.

    Man. So many movies. So little time!

  • http://toshogu.blogspot.com Tornadoes28

    I’ve been watching a lot of samurai movies recently, especially the classic chanbara sword fighting flicks. My favorite are the Lone Wolf and Cub movies. I recently watched all six of them.

  • AllNippon

    I’m not completely surprised that even (younger) Japanese people don’t know Kurosawa’s movies. I haven’t watched any of my countries classic movies or read any of the great classic books. That said, Kurosawa’s movies are a treasure which deserves a lot more attention than 99% of the “movies” that are made in Hollywood. Sadly, American movies (and music) dominate most of the western countries and people don’t bother to look beyond. Fast food generation, easily satisfied.

    Recently watched Kagemusha again, good movie too!

  • http://toshogu.blogspot.com Tornadoes28

    The Seven Samurai was remade in America called The Magnificent Seven. I’m surprised the story of the 47 Ronin has not been remade into something in the United States.

  • http://www.japannewbie.com Harvey

    You know, Bruce Willis Last Man Standing was based on Yojimbo I hear.

  • http://divita.eu/ Philip Seyfi

    The Magnificent Seven was based on the Seven Samurais, Star Wars was based on The Hidden Fortress, the Dollars Trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) was based on Yojimbo… and that’s only to name the fews. Nearly all Kurosawa’s film were remade at least once.

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