View source for Drunken Angel

{{Short description|1948 Japanese yakuza film by Akira Kurosawa}}
{{about|Kurosawa movie|the Lucinda Williams song|Car Wheels on a Gravel Road}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Drunken Angel
| image          = Yoidore tenshi poster.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Akira Kurosawa]]
| screenplay     = {{Plainlist|
* [[Keinosuke Uekusa]]
* Akira Kurosawa
}}
| producer       = [[Sōjirō Motoki]]
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Takashi Shimura]]
* [[Toshiro Mifune]]
* [[Reizaburo Yamamoto]]
* [[Noriko Sengoku]]
}}
| cinematography = {{ill|Takeo Itō (cinematographer)|lt=Takeo Itō|ja|伊藤武夫}}
| editing        = {{Plainlist|
*Akikazu Kōno
*Akira Kurosawa
}}
| music          = [[Fumio Hayasaka]]
| studio         = [[Toho]]
| distributor    = Toho
| released       = {{Film date|1948|4|27|Japan}}
| runtime        = 98 minutes
| country        = Japan
| language       = Japanese
| budget         = 
| gross          = 
}}

{{nihongo|'''''Drunken Angel'''''|醉いどれ天使|Yoidore Tenshi}} is a 1948 Japanese [[yakuza film]] directed by [[Akira Kurosawa]], and co-written by Kurosawa and [[Keinosuke Uekusa]]. Produced by [[Toho]] and starring [[Takashi Shimura]] and [[Toshiro Mifune]], it tells the story of alcoholic doctor Sanada, and his recidivist [[yakuza]] patient Matsunaga. Sanada tries to save Matsunaga from illness and the corruption of the yakuza while Matsunaga finds himself gradually sidelined within the yakuza syndicate and becomes increasingly self-destructive. The film was the first to depict the post–[[World War II|War]] yakuza and is generally considered to be Kurosawa's first major work.

During the writing of the screenplay Kurosawa and Uekusa fought about Uekusa's growing sympathies with the yakuza due to his regular meetings with a life-model to study for the character. Production began in 1947 amid a series of [[Toho strikes|labour disputes]] in the [[Toho]] company. Filming lasted from November of that year to March 10, 1948. During the production of the film Kurosawa encountered a number of setbacks, including the death of his father in February 1948. The film was the first of sixteen collaborations between Kurosawa and Mifune, and the first collaboration between Kurosawa and [[Fumio Hayasaka]]. It was in the production of ''Drunken Angel'' that Kurosawa began to think more about music's relationship to the image in film.

Despite encountering some censorship from the [[Civil Information and Education Section]] of the Allied [[Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers|occupation government]], the film was released in Japan on April 27, 1948, to generally positive reviews. The film won awards for Best Film from [[Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film of the Year|''Kinema Junpo'']] and ''[[Mainichi Film Award for Best Film|Mainichi Shimbun]]''. After the international success of ''Rashomon'' (1950) at the [[12th Venice International Film Festival|1951 Venice Film Festival]], Toho promoted the film abroad. Analyses of ''Drunken Angel'' have looked at the pairing of multiple characters and their interactions in the post–War environment, with discussions focussing on the morality of its characters (the titular "drunken angel"), intertextual references to the novels of [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]] and contemporary [[noir fiction]], and the symbolic meaning of the sump seen throughout much of the film.

== Plot ==
Sanada is an [[Alcoholism|alcoholic]] doctor living in a [[shanty town]] next to an open sump. He treats a small-time {{translit|ja|[[yakuza]]}} named Matsunaga—who was injured in a gunfight with a rival syndicate—despite his dislike of organised crime. Sanada diagnoses Matsunaga with [[tuberculosis]]; Matsunaga initially reacts violently but the two of them are interrupted by the arrival of Sanada's nurse Miyo. The following day Sanada goes to a bar in the local [[black market]], which Matsunaga controls, and attempts to persuade Matsunaga to give up drinking and smoking. After Matsunaga kicks Sanada out of the bar, Sanada and Miyo discuss the imminent release from prison of Matsunaga's fellow yakuza and sworn brother, Okada, Miyo's abusive ex-boyfriend. Sanada continues treating his other patients, one of whom, a young female student, is making progress against her tuberculosis. After some pestering, Matsunaga agrees to listen to the doctor's advice and quit drinking.

However, with Okada's release, Matsunaga quickly succumbs to peer pressure and slips back into vice together with his fellow yakuza. Angered at the betrayal of his commitment, Sanada rebukes him. Matsunaga finds himself gradually displaced within the yakuza syndicate, and after losing a large amount of money playing ''[[chō-han]]'', he collapses and is taken to Sanada's clinic for the evening. Distressed as his lover leaves him and his illness takes a turn for the worse, Matsunaga leaves his apartment and is confronted by Sanada at the open sump. Sanada beseeches Matsunaga to continue his treatment, while Matsunaga has a vision of his own corpse trying to kill him. Okada shows up at the clinic and threatens to kill the doctor if he does not tell him where to find Miyo, and while Matsunaga stands up for the doctor and gets Okada to leave, he realises that his sworn brother cannot be trusted.

Hoping to resolve the issue, Matsunaga goes to the home of the boss of his syndicate but overhears a discussion in which Okada says he intends to sacrifice him as a pawn in the war against a rival syndicate. Distressed and self-destructive, Matsunaga orders a drink from Gin, a local barmaid, who tries to persuade him to seek treatment in the countryside. The boss returns the territory of the black market to Okada, who orders the storeowners in his territory to refuse service to Matsunaga. He goes to Okada's apartment; there, he finds the yakuza with his former lover, and angrily tries to stab Okada, but starts to cough up blood. Okada then stabs him in the chest, and Matsunaga stumbles outside before he succumbs to his wounds and dies.

Okada is later arrested for the murder, but Matsunaga's boss refuses to pay for his funeral. Gin, who had feelings for Matsunaga, pays for it instead and tells Sanada that she plans to take Matsunaga's ashes to be buried on her father's farm, where she had offered to live with him. The doctor retorts that while he understands how she feels, he cannot forgive Matsunaga for throwing his life away. Another of his patients, the female student, arrives and reveals that her tuberculosis is cured. The doctor happily leads her to the market to buy her sweets.

==Cast==

[[File:Yoshiko Kuga Toshiro Mifune 1948.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|alt=Yoshiko Kuga stands above and behind Toshiro Mifune.|[[Toshiro Mifune]] (bottom) and [[Yoshiko Kuga]] in a publicity shot for the film]]

* [[Takashi Shimura]] as Doctor Sanada
* [[Toshiro Mifune]] as Matsunaga
* {{ill|Reizaburo Yamamoto|ja|山本礼三郎}} as Okada
* [[Michiyo Kogure]] as Nanae
* [[Chieko Nakakita]] as Nurse Miyo
* [[Eitarō Shindō]] as Takahama
* [[Noriko Sengoku]] as Gin
* [[Shizuko Kasagi]] as singer
* [[Masao Shimizu]] as Oyabun
* [[Yoshiko Kuga]] as schoolgirl

== Production ==
=== Development ===
''Drunken Angel'' was made in the context of [[Toho strikes|a series of labour disputes]] with the [[Toho]] company. The powerful trade union had managed the production of films, with Kurosawa's prior films ''[[No Regrets for Our Youth]]'' (1946) and ''[[One Wonderful Sunday]]'' (1947) requiring the approval of the union. By the end of 1947, the union influence that had been exerted over the content of films produced by Toho began to wane following a series of less profitable releases. As a result, Kurosawa was able to produce the film with minimal interference from the studio and its union.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=91}} Kurosawa co-wrote the film with his childhood friend [[Keinosuke Uekusa]] in their second and last collaboration.{{sfn|Kurosawa|1983|p=155}} While staying at an inn at the seaside resort [[Atami]], Kurosawa noticed that the [[prow]] of a sunken [[concrete ship]] was being used as a diving board by local children. Seeing it as an apt metaphor for Japan's defeat in the [[Second World War]], this image became the open sump seen in ''Drunken Angel''.{{sfn|Kurosawa|1983|pp=155–156}} Kurosawa intended to write the film to report on—and denounce—the growing power of the ''{{translit|ja|[[yakuza]]}}'' in post–War Japan.{{sfn|Richie|1970|p=49}}{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=92}}

[[File:Uekusa Keinosuke.JPG|thumb|upright=0.6|alt=A full body picture of a seated Keinosuke Uekusa smoking.|[[Keinosuke Uekusa]] in 1948]]

During writing of the screenplay, Uekusa met up with a member of the yakuza to develop the character of Matsunaga. While he and Kurosawa had intended for his counterpart to be a morally upright [[Humanism|humanistic]] young doctor, the character was difficult to conceptualise and was changed when the two remembered an encounter they had with an unlicensed [[Alcoholism|alcoholic]] doctor in Tokyo's black market district.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|pp=91-92}} Having spent five days prior to the doctor's change in character unsure of how to progress the script, they finished writing the film in about a day.{{sfn|Kurosawa|1983|p=158}} However, Uekusa's meetings with the yakuza character model caused him to sympathise with their way of life to the degree that he and Kurosawa eventually argued over his sympathies.{{sfn|Kurosawa|1983|p=156}} Despite the speed with which the two of them finished the script, Kurosawa recalled the two of them sharing a rocky relationship during its development. Although they remained friends, the two of them separated and did not collaborate again following the script's completion.{{sfn|Kurosawa|1983|pp=158–159}}

=== Pre-production and production ===
Pre-production began in November 1947.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=94}} Toshiro Mifune was cast after Kurosawa saw his performances in ''[[Snow Trail]]'' (1947) and [[Kajirō Yamamoto]]'s ''{{ill|These Foolish Times|ja|新馬鹿時代}}'' (1947).{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=95}}{{sfn|Kurosawa|1983|p=161}} Kurosawa had seen Mifune's audition to work at the Toho company in 1946 and had directly intervened in the hiring process in order to secure Mifune a position; the jury had wrongly interpreted the actor's wild behaviour during the audition as disrespect.{{sfn|Kurosawa|1983|pp=159–161}} ''Drunken Angel'' became the first of their 16 collaborations.{{sfn|Conrad|2022|p=56}} This was also the first film where Kurosawa worked with [[Yoshiro Muraki]].{{sfn|Wild|2014|p=88}} The film was built around a pre-existing set, used in ''These Foolish Times''.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=91}} This set was of a shopping street with a black market, which Kurosawa credits for the origin of his interest in dissecting the character of yakuza gang members.{{sfn|Kurosawa|1983|p=156}}

The film was produced by [[Toho]] and shot in [[black-and-white]].{{sfn|Galbraith|1996|p=155}} Filming began in November 1947.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=94}} During the course of production, Kurosawa faced a number of personal and professional problems. Toho executives pressured Kurosawa to finish production quickly, anxious to see more films in cinemas before any more potential strikes, and actress {{ill|Keiko Orihara|ja|折原啓子}} became ill shortly into production—she was replaced by Chieko Nakakita in January 1948. Additionally, in February, Kurosawa's father Isamu died at the age of 83. Kurosawa felt too pressured to be able to return to [[Akita Prefecture]] during the final weeks of shooting to be with his father.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=94}}

Takashi Shimura loosely based his character of the doctor on the performance of [[Thomas Mitchell (actor)|Thomas Mitchell]] in ''[[Stagecoach (1939 film)|Stagecoach]]'' (1939). Despite Shimura's role as the protagonist, Kurosawa later expressed difficulty in being able to contain Mifune's performance as the gangster so that he did not dominate the film with his screen presence.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=95}} Kurosawa also praised the acting of Reizaburo Yamamoto, although he described being too afraid to approach him for some time due to his "frightening eyes".{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|pp=95–96}} Filming ended on March 10, 1948.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=95}} A 150-minute cut of the film was made but never released; all existing negatives and prints are of the 98 minute cut.{{sfn|Galbraith|1996|p=155}}

=== Music ===

[[File:Hayasaka Fumio.JPG|thumb|upright=0.6|alt=A two-thirds picture of Fumio Hayasaka wearing a kimono.|Composer [[Fumio Hayasaka]] in 1955]]

''Drunken Angel'' marked Kurosawa's first collaboration with composer [[Fumio Hayasaka]]. The two agreed on much of the film's composition. Kurosawa wrote memos (published in the April 1948 edition of ''[[Eiga Shunshu]]'') that detailed his changing attitude towards the use of music in his films, becoming more conscious of its inclusion by matching it to parts of the script during the film's writing.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=96}} For Okada's introductory scene, Kurosawa and Hayasaka wanted to use the song "[[Mack the Knife]]" from ''[[The Threepenny Opera]]'', but found that it was copyrighted and the studio was unwilling to pay for the rights.{{sfn|Harris|2013|p=61}}{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=97}} The use of cheerful-sounding song "The Cuckoo Waltz" was designed to juxtapose the film's low-point of Matsunaga being rejected from different neighbourhood establishments.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=97}} Kurosawa thought to use this song when, on the day he received news of his father's death, he heard the music over a loudspeaker and found that it intensified his own grief.{{sfn|Kurosawa|1983|pp=162–163}} Supposedly the director and composer shook hands after discovering that they had had the same idea separately but simultaneously. The film's sound recorder was [[Wataru Konuma]].{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=97}}

=== Occupation censorship ===
At the time of ''Drunken Angel''{{'}}s production, there were limitations placed on Japanese films by the [[Occupation of Japan|Allied occupation]] government. Films were encouraged to promote individual liberties and Japan's demilitarisation, while forbidden from promoting [[nationalistic]] or [[feudal]] values. From 1946, the [[Civil Information and Education Section]] enforced a double censorship of completed scripts during pre-production and completed films following the final edit.{{sfn|Hirano|1992|pp=5–6}} The occupation's censors required Kurosawa to rewrite several portions of the film mostly due to ethical concerns; for example, a mention of [[suicide]] was cut, and complaints were made concerning the film's frank depiction of [[prostitution]] and [[black markets]].{{sfn|Hirano|1992|pp=75, 77}} The film's ending was also changed; originally the doctor Sanada drove Matsunaga's corpse around the Tokyo slum.{{sfn|Hirano|1992|p=77}}{{sfn|Conrad|2022|p=61}} Matsunaga's manner of death also underwent several re-writes within each of which he was killed by different people.{{sfn|Hirano|1992|p=77}}

== Themes ==
=== Post–War dual identity ===
In his study of Kurosawa's filmography, [[Stuart Galbraith IV]] sees the gangster Matsunaga and Doctor Sanada as linked by their illness. To Sanada, Matsunaga represents the "chaotic temptations of postwar Japan", which Sanada relates to his own past behaviour. However, Matsunaga equally stands for the corrupt criminality of the period's social chaos that Sanada reviles.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|pp=92–93}} Galbraith believes that the doctor is the film's titular 'drunken angel' for seeking the improvement of others over himself despite his self-hatred; the film historian [[Donald Richie]] agrees, but believes that Matsunaga and Sanada "are angels to each other."{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=93}}{{sfn|Richie|1970|p=49}} To Richie, Matsunaga's death, doused in white paint, represents a blurring of morality and an [[apotheosis]] for the character.{{sfn|Richie|2005|p=167}} Matsunaga is also paired with various women in the film: he and Sanada's nurse Miyo each have a relationship with his old yakuza boss Okada, however, she resists returning to her old life; additionally, one of Sanada's patients is also afflicted with tuberculosis, but is able to overcome her illness. Both Matsunaga and Sanada have women that love and care for them in what Galbraith terms a "Hitchcock-like parallelism".{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|pp=93–94}} It is these women that historian David Conrad believes best embody the future, despite their marginal role in comparison to Kurosawa's earlier films ''No Regrets for Our Youth'' and ''One Wonderful Sunday''.{{sfn|Conrad|2022|p=61}}

[[File:Kinema-Junpo-1963-October-special-1.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|alt=A violent Matsunaga pins Sanada to the wall with his elbow.|A publicity still showing Matsunaga ([[Toshiro Mifune|Mifune]]) and Sanada ([[Takashi Shimura|Shimura]])]]

The film scholar James Goodwin's perspective on the film's dual identity is informed by his reading of the psychological doubling between Matsunaga and Sanada. He recalls Sanada's paradoxical commitment to alleviating his patients' illnesses which ends their need for his services, while he himself remains an unhealed alcoholic. Similarly, when his condition deteriorates, Matsunaga hallucinates raising his own corpse from a coffin, only to be scorned by it. Both characters are positioned as sharing, "a vital [emotional] bond."{{sfn|Goodwin|1994|p=61}} Richie identifies Matsunaga's hallucinatory sequence with the relationship he shares with the nurse Miyo to the yakuza Okada. The sequence follows a scene where Miyo had been recognised by the yakuza; she is then identified by an edit that sees Mifune watching a doll floating in the sump. As he hallucinates, the sump transforms into the open sea, a change in location that signifies both characters' desires to escape.{{sfn|Richie|1970|p=51}} Richie describes the film's final scene between Sanada and Gin as a misunderstanding, since the conflict within Matsunaga was internal, they are unable to understand that his violent death was an attempt to eradicate the evil of his past self.{{sfn|Richie|1970|p=52}} However, Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto considers Kurosawa's attempt at moral complexity to be a mistake, since despite his alcoholism, Sanada remains the idealistic moral anchor of the film.{{sfn|Yoshimoto|2000|p=139}}

[[Stephen Prince]], in his analysis of Kurosawa's filmography, considers the "double loss of identity" present within the film. One loss which requires the individual to forge a new sense of self by separating themselves from old institutions, such as the nation and yakuza which erode personal identity. The other being symptomatic of a "national schizophrenia" that has resulted from the [[Americanisation]] of Japan which also represents an affront to the individual.{{sfn|Prince|1991|p=86}} In the film the young are cut off from the past but still bound by its social mores.{{sfn|Prince|1991|p=89}} Scholar James Maxfield examines the relationship formed between yakuza within the film. To him, Sanada's assertion that the code of honour observed by the yakuza is only built on money is proved correct when Matsunaga's confrontation with his syndicate's boss shows the former wearing shoes on {{translit|ja|[[tatami]]}} with money strewn around him, indicating the two men's mutual disrespect to each other.{{sfn|Maxfield|1993|p=25}} As Matsunaga continues to lose his status, Maxfield rejects any moral reasoning for Matsunaga's confrontation with Okada, rather positing that he is motivated by pride and selfishness.{{sfn|Maxfield|1993|p=26}} Through this motivation, Maxfield sees the link in Sanada and Matsunaga's relationship: that because of his identification with Matsunaga's behaviour, Sanada loves him and tries to heal his own past wounds.{{sfn|Maxfield|1993|p=22}}

=== Open sump imagery ===

[[File:Drunken_Angel_open_sump.jpg|thumb|upright=1|right|alt=A man only visible as an outline stands overlooking a dirty sump.|Sanada stands over the open sump, variously interpreted as a representation of contemporary Japanese society, illness, and character psychology.{{sfn|Prince|1991|p=89}}{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=94}}]]

Goodwin, Galbraith, and the film critic [[Mark Schilling]], each view the open sump as a representative of the desolate post–War world.{{sfn|Goodwin|1994|pp=61–62}}{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=94}}{{sfn|Schilling|2003|p=314}} Maxfield sees in the sump specifically the source of evil within post–War society.{{sfn|Maxfield|1993|p=23}} However, both Galbraith and Richie see in the sump an additional psychological dimension, viewing the characters' reflections on the murky water as an indication of their mentality, with Matsunaga throwing his carnation away as a symbol that he has discarded his life.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=94}}{{sfn|Richie|1970|p=50}} Yoshimoto agrees with this psychological assessment of the sump, commenting that its appearance structures the film and establishes a psychological profile of Matsunaga that is reflected by his eventual mental breakdown as his image appears split between a three-panel mirror when he fights Okada.{{sfn|Yoshimoto|2000|p=138}}

Richie additionally identifies the sump with a [[metaphysical]] condition as well as illness directly. Citing the scene where Matsunaga collapses after voluntarily returning to the clinic at night, because the camera movement from the clinic across the sump occurs after Matsunaga has declared his intent to reform himself, the movement implies a more ambiguous future.{{sfn|Richie|1970|p=50}} Prince links this sequence with a prior scene containing a similar series of dissolves that links Miyo to the sump, an image that constrains both her and Matsunaga to a decaying social space.{{sfn|Prince|1991|p=81}} He writes that the narrative and spatial confinement of much of the film close to the sump returns the film's action to sickness, posing the question of how recovery can emerge from a humane ethic under post–War conditions.{{sfn|Prince|1991|p=89}}

=== Intertextuality ===
[[David Desser]] points to ''Drunken Angel'' as an early example among Kurosawa's films of demonstrating how Western culture impacted Japanese society, i.e., that it represents an adaptation of different modes of thought from American gangster stories and the [[existentialist]] literature of [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]].{{sfn|Desser|1983|pp=5, 133}} Similarly, Goodwin writes on the intertextual qualities of the film and Kurosawa's references to different artistic mediums. He considers the final fight between Matsunaga and his rival among spilt paint to be a kind of "action painting" and also compares ''Drunken Angel''{{'}}s literary qualities to the novels of Dostoevsky.{{sfn|Goodwin|1994|pp=11, 58}} In particular, Goodwin focusses on a process of psychological doubling found in Dostoevsky's novels, wherein internal paradoxes and contrasting personalities—such as those of Matsunaga and Sanada—form a dialogue on suffering and human nature.{{sfn|Goodwin|1994|pp=59–62, 86}} In comparing characterisations, the film theorist [[Noël Burch]] compares Sanada and Matsunaga to [[Prince Mishkin]] and the characters of ''[[The Lower Depths]]'' for their "stubborn fantasising" amidst a series complex social obligations.{{sfn|Burch|1979|p=296}} To Conrad, Kurosawa's focus on illness in a world of yakuza and {{translit|ja|''[[panpan girls|panpan]]''}} girls, so employing the genre trappings of [[film noir]], served to criticise American governance via the aesthetics of American culture.{{sfn|Conrad|2022|pp=58–59}}

== Release ==
=== Theatrical ===

[[File:Toho Labor dispute 02.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|alt=Police stand outside the Toho studio.|[[Toho strikes]] (1948)]]

''Drunken Angel'' was released in Japanese cinemas on April 27, 1948.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=97}} Upon the film's completion, Kurosawa went to Akita to observe the memorial services of his father, but was recalled as the Toho union's strikes had escalated.{{sfn|Kurosawa|1983|p=164}} The new company president, {{ill|Tetsuzo Watanabe|ja|渡辺銕蔵}}, vetoed union-supported films and fired 1,200 employees. In response, the union occupied the building, halting production on new films. The strikers were placed under siege by police and the American military, the studio ended their pay, and shut down the filming lot on June 1. In need of money, Kurosawa directed two stage productions, one of [[Anton Chekhov]]{{'}}s ''[[A Marriage Proposal]]'', and the other an adaptation of ''Drunken Angel''.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=98}} Kurosawa soon left the studio, being both disillusioned by executives' attitudes to the union, and by the state of siege the occupying strikers were put under. In his memoir Kurosawa writes that the studio, "I had thought was my home actually belonged to strangers".{{sfn|Kurosawa|1983|pp=166-168}}

The film was one of only four productions that Toho released in 1948, reflecting the studio management's priorities amidst disruptive strike action.{{sfn|Hirano|1992|p=234}} Toho promoted the release of the film throughout the 1950s, with it premiering in the United States in January 1960 as part of a nine-film release licensed by [[Brandon Films]].{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=97}} The film was re-released in the United States in 2002 as part of the "Kurosawa & Mifune" film festival.{{sfn|Box Office Mojo}}

=== Home media ===
A [[VHS]] version of ''Drunken Angel'' was released by Home Vision Cinema.{{sfn|Richie|2005|p=263}} [[The Criterion Collection]] released a Blu-ray version of the film alongside other Kurosawa films in a 2009 [[box set]].{{sfn|Guerrasio|2009}}

== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
The re-release of ''Drunken Angel'' in 2002 as part of a multi-title film festival accrued $561,692 {{USDCY|561692|2002}} in total.{{sfn|Box Office Mojo}}

=== Critical response ===
==== Contemporary opinion ====

Upon release in Japan, the film received positive reviews.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=97}} However, there were some critics who did not believe the film went far enough in condemning the activities of its protagonist or the yakuza world at-large.{{sfn|Hirano|1992|p=282}} According to Kurosawa, critics referred to him as a journalistic filmmaker.{{sfn|Cardullo|2008|p=9}} Japanese audiences were surprised by Mifune's emotional performance, a form of expressiveness that was not generally seen in Japanese cinema of the time. Galbraith compares the impact of, and audiences' positive reaction to, Mifune's performance with [[Marlon Brando]]{{'}}s in ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 film)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' (1951).{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=95}} Japanese critics have pointed to ''Drunken Angel'' as embodying the post–War epoch in Japanese society, with comparisons made to ''[[Bicycle Thieves]]'' (1948) and ''[[Paisan]]'' (1946).{{sfn|Richie|1970|p=47}}

In a 1954 article for ''[[Sight and Sound]]'', prior to any wide international release, filmmaker [[Jay Leyda]] discussed ''Drunken Angel'' in the context of growing international interest in Japanese cinema, praising its range, cinematography, and fluid structure.{{sfn|Leyda|1954|pp=74–77}} Writing just prior to the American release, [[Bosley Crowther]]{{'}}s 1959 review for ''[[The New York Times]]'', cites the film's creation of an unpleasant atmosphere in his positive appraisal of its symbolic moral conflict. He also gives a positive account of the acting and Kurosawa's "forceful imagery", despite criticising some of the film's unoriginal [[Formalist film theory|formal]] methods and clichés.{{sfn|Crowther|1959}} A review in ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' magazine compared ''Drunken Angel'' to [[Italian neorealism|Italian neorealist cinema]] in its depiction of contemporary Japanese society; the review also praised the film's acting and pursuit of morality within the post–War devastation.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=97}} However, a negative review by [[Dwight Macdonald]] in ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'' negatively compared the film to the simultaneous American releases of ''[[Ikiru]]'' (1952) and ''[[The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail]]'' (1945), criticising the film as an "embarrassingly familiar gangster melodrama."{{sfn|Macdonald|1960|p=36}}

==== Retrospective opinion ====
On the [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], ''Drunken Angel'' has a 94% approval rating.{{sfn|Rotten Tomatoes}} A review in ''[[Slant Magazine]]'' gave the film three stars out of four, praising Kurosawa's dynamic cinematism.{{sfn|Croce|2007}} In a 2007 essay for ''[[The Criterion Collection]]'', East Asian scholar [[Ian Buruma]] writes on the changes taking place within Japanese society as seen in ''Drunken Angel''. He perceives the lack of Allied soldiers and {{translit|ja|panpan}} girls within a narrative where traditional 'feudal' loyalties to the state have been used to justify crime and immoral behaviour as an effective criticism of the pre– and post–War social orders.{{sfn|Buruma|2007}} Writing for ''[[New York Press]]'' in 2010, film critic [[Armond White]] praised the film's handling of the balance between remorse and grief. Although he considers some of its symbolism obvious, he writes appreciatingly of its deployment and favourably compares the film to later social and crime dramas.{{sfn|White|2010}}

=== Awards and accolades ===
{{Plain row headers}}
{| class="wikitable sortable plain-row-headers"
! scope="col" |Award
! scope="col" |Date
! scope="col" |Category
! scope="col" |Recipient(s)
! scope="col" |Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |{{refh}}
|-
! rowspan="3" scope="row" |[[Mainichi Film Awards]]
| rowspan="3" | {{dts|1948}}
|[[Mainichi Film Award for Best Film|Best Film]]
|''Drunken Angel''
| rowspan="3" {{won}}
| rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;" |{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=97}}{{sfn|Mainichi Shimbun}}
|-
|[[Mainichi Film Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
|{{ill|Takeo Ito (cinematographer)|lt=Takeo Ito|ja|伊藤武夫}}
|-
|[[Mainichi Film Award for Best Music|Best Music]]
|[[Fumio Hayasaka]]
|-
! scope="row" |[[Kinema Junpo Awards|Kinema Junpo]]
|{{dts|1948}}
|[[Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film of the Year|Best Film of the Year]]
|''Drunken Angel''
| {{won}}
| style="text-align:center;" | {{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=97}}
|}

== Legacy ==
''Drunken Angel'' is often considered Kurosawa's first major work.{{sfn|Galbraith|2002|p=91}}{{sfn|Richie|1970|p=47}} Leyda credits ''Drunken Angel'' as the precursor responsible for the entry of ''[[Rashomon]]'' (1950) into the [[1951 Venice Film Festival]], and thus exposing non-Japanese audiences to post–War Japanese cinema.{{sfn|Leyda|1954|p=74}} Kurosawa later reflected on the film's structural weakness which he mostly attributed to Mifune's intense screen-presence, one which overshadowed Shimura's role as the moral centre of the film.{{sfn|Prince|1991|p=88}} However, the director saw it as the first film where he began to think about the image's relationship to music, and remembered it happily as the first film that was his own, i.e., the first that was free from the interference of the studio, union, and wartime censorship.{{sfn|Kurosawa|1983|p=196}}{{sfn|Richie|1970|p=47}} In a 1960 interview with Donald Richie, Kurosawa considered the film's popularity at the time of its release to be due to it being the only film in cinemas that took an interest in its characters.{{sfn|Cardullo|2008|p=9}} Kurosawa later referred to ''Drunken Angel'' as the first of his films that used dynamic [[Composition (visual arts)|compositions]].{{sfn|Cardullo|2008|p=29}}

In [[Mark Schilling]]{{'}}s study on yakuza films, he cites ''Drunken Angel'' as the first to depict post–War yakuza. Schilling notes that the film does not follow many of the genre expectations within the genre, which he attributes to Kurosawa's humanism, examining how the world around the yakuza influences their actions.{{sfn|Schilling|2003|page=[https://archive.org/details/yakuzamoviebookg00schi/page/314 314]}} In a 2002 interview, actor [[Bunta Sugawara]] likewise referenced the film as the first post–War yakuza movie.{{sfn|Schilling|2003|p=132}} Conrad cites ''Drunken Angel'' as the first post–War film with a yakuza protagonist.{{sfn|Conrad|2022|p=56}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
==== Books and journals ====
{{refbegin|30em}}
* <!-- Burch 1979 --> {{Cite book |last=Burch |first=Noël |author-link=Noël Burch |title=To the Distant Observer: Form and meaning in the Japanese cinema |publisher=University of California Press |year=1979 |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |language=en |isbn=978-0-520-03877-6}}
* <!-- Cardullo 2008 --> {{Cite book |title=Akira Kurosawa: Interviews |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-57806-996-5 |editor-last=Cardullo |editor-first=Bert}}
* <!-- Conrad 2022 --> {{Cite book |last=Conrad |first=David A. |title=Akira Kurosawa and Modern Japan |publisher=McFarland & Co. |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-4766-8674-5}}
* <!-- Desser 1983 --> {{Cite book |last=Desser |first=David |author-link=David Desser |title=The Samurai Films of Akira Kurosawa |location=Ann Arbor |publisher=UMI Research Press |year=1983 |isbn=0-8357-1924-3}}
* <!-- Galbraith 1996 --> {{Cite book |last=Galbraith |first=Stuart IV |author-link=Stuart Galbraith IV |title=The Japanese Filmography: 1900 through 1994 |publisher=McFarland |date=1996 |isbn=0-7864-0032-3}}
* <!-- Galbraith 2002 --> {{Cite book |last=Galbraith |first=Stuart IV |title=The Emperor and the Wolf: The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune |publisher=Faber and Faber |year=2002 |isbn=0571199828 |location= New York |language=English}}
* <!-- Goodwin 1994 --> {{Cite book |last=Goodwin |first=James |title=Akira Kurosawa and Intertextual Cinema |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |year=1994 |isbn=0-8018-4661-7}}
* <!-- Harris 2013 --> {{Cite journal |last1=Harris |first1=Michael |title=Jazzing in the Tokyo slum: music, influence, and censorship in Akira Kurosawa's Drunken Angel |journal=Cinema Journal |date=2013 |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=52–74 |doi=10.1353/cj.2013.0067 |s2cid=193175605 }}
* <!-- Hirano 1992 --> {{Cite book |last=Hirano |first=Kyoko |title=Mr. Smith Goes to Tokyo: The Japanese Cinema Under the American Occupation |year=1992 |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] |isbn=1-56098-157-1}}
* <!-- Kurosawa 1983 --> {{Cite book |last=Kurosawa |first=Akira |title=Something Like an Autobiography |date=1983 |publisher=Vintage Books |isbn=978-0-394-71439-4 |edition=1st Vintage Books |location=New York |translator-last=Bock |translator-first=Audie E.}}
* <!-- Maxfield 1993 --> {{Cite journal |last=Maxfield |first=James |title=The Moral Ambiguity of Kurosawa's Early Thrillers |date=Fall 1993 |journal=Film Criticism |volume=18 |issue=1 |publisher=Allegheny College |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44075989 |url-access=subscription |pages=20–35 |jstor=44075989 }}
* <!-- Prince 1991 --> {{Cite book |last=Prince |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Prince |title=[[The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa]] |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-691-01046-5 |edition=Revised and Expanded |publication-date=1999}}
* <!-- Richie 1970 --> {{Cite book |last=Richie |first=Donald |author-link=Donald Richie |title=[[The Films of Akira Kurosawa]] |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=1970 |orig-year=1965 |isbn=0-520-01781-1 |edition=2nd |location=Berkeley}}
* <!-- Richie 2005 --> {{Cite book |last=Richie |first=Donald |author-link=Donald Richie |title=A Hundred Years of Japanese Film |year=2005 |orig-year=2001 |location=Tokyo |publisher=[[Kodansha International Ltd.]] |isbn=978-4-7700-2995-9 |edition=Revised}}
* <!-- Schilling 2003 --> {{Cite book |last1=Schilling |first1=Mark |title=The Yakuza Movie Book : A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films |url=https://archive.org/details/yakuzamoviebookg00schi |url-access=limited |publisher=[[Stone Bridge Press]] |year=2003 |isbn=1-880656-76-0}}
* <!-- Wild 2014 --> {{Cite book |last=Wild |first=Peter |title=Akira Kurosawa |publisher=Reaktion Books |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-78023-343-7 |location=London}}
* <!-- Yoshimoto 2000 --> {{Cite book |last=Yoshimoto |first=Mitsuhiro |title=Kurosawa: Film Studies and Japanese Cinema |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2000 |isbn=0-8223-2519-5}}
{{refend}}

==== News and magazines ====
{{refbegin|30em}}
* <!-- Crowther 1959 --> {{Cite news |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |date=31 December 1959 |title=The Screen: Japanese 'Drunken Angel'; Kurosawa Drama at Little Carnegie |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/12/31/archives/the-screen-japanese-drunken-angel-kurosawa-drama-at-little-carnegie.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009163602/https://www.nytimes.com/1959/12/31/archives/the-screen-japanese-drunken-angel-kurosawa-drama-at-little-carnegie.html |archive-date=9 October 2023 |access-date=21 August 2024 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |issn=0362-4331}}
* <!-- Leyda 1954 --> {{Cite magazine |last=Leyda |first=Jay |author-link=Jay Leyda |title=The Films of Kurosawa |date=October–December 1954 |magazine=Sight and Sound |location=London |publisher=The British Film Institute |volume=24 |issue=2 |issn=0037-4806}}
* <!-- Macdonald 1960 --> {{Cite news |last=Macdonald |first=Dwight |date=1 May 1960 |title=Films: A masterpiece—and some others |url=https://classic.esquire.com/article/1960/5/1/films |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412134246/https://classic.esquire.com/article/1960/5/1/films |archive-date=12 April 2020 |access-date=15 August 2025 |publisher=[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]] |issn=0960-5150}}
{{refend}}

==== Web ====
{{refbegin|30em}}
* <!-- Box Office Mojo --> {{Cite web |title=Drunken Angel |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0040979/?ref_=bo_se_r_1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250824053851/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0040979/?ref_=bo_se_r_1 |archive-date=24 August 2025 |access-date=24 August 2025 |website=Box Office Mojo |ref={{harvid|Box Office Mojo}}}}
* <!-- Buruma 2007 --> {{Cite web |last=Buruma |first=Ian |author-link=Ian Buruma |date=19 November 2007 |title=''Drunken Angel'': The Spoils of War |url=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/620-drunken-angel-the-spoils-of-war |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250215075925/https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/620-drunken-angel-the-spoils-of-war |archive-date=15 February 2025 |access-date=16 August 2025 |publisher=[[Criterion Collection]]}}
* <!-- Croce 2007 --> {{Cite web |last=Croce |first=Fernando F. |date=27 November 2007 |title=Review: ''Drunken Angel'' |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/drunken-angel/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210806103255/https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/drunken-angel/ |archive-date=6 August 2021 |access-date=16 August 2025 |website=[[Slant Magazine]]}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Guerrasio |first=Jason |date=16 September 2009 |title=Criterion Announces Kurosawa Box Set |url=https://filmmakermagazine.com/4369-criterion-announces-kurosawa-box-set/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240417115727/https://filmmakermagazine.com/4369-criterion-announces-kurosawa-box-set/ |archive-date=17 April 2024 |access-date=7 April 2025 |magazine=Filmmaker}}
* <!-- Mainichi Shimbun --> {{Cite web |script-title=ja:毎日映画コンクール 第3回（1948年） |trans-title=Mainichi Film Awards: 3rd Ceremony (1948) |url=http://mainichi.jp/mfa/history/003.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250124041228/http://mainichi.jp/mfa/history/003.html |archive-date=24 January 2025 |access-date=12 August 2025 |website=[[Mainichi Shimbun]] |language=ja |ref={{harvid|Mainichi Shimbun}}}}
* <!-- Rotten Tomatoes --> {{Cite web |title=Drunken Angel |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/drunken_angel |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250420173940/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/drunken_angel |archive-date=20 April 2025 |access-date=16 August 2025 |website=Rotten Tomatoes |ref={{harvid|Rotten Tomatoes}}}}
* <!-- White 2010 --> {{Cite web |title=AK 201: Kurosawa to the Rescue |last=White |first=Armond |author-link=Armond White |date=20 January 2010 |publisher=[[New York Press]] |url=https://www.nypress.com/article-20815-ak-201-kurosawa-to-the-rescue.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616233324/http://www.nypress.com:80/article-20815-ak-201-kurosawa-to-the-rescue.html |archive-date=16 June 2010 |access-date=18 August 2025}}
{{refend}}

== External links==
{{Commons category|Drunken Angel}}
* [https://archive.org/details/DrunkenAngel Drunken Angel - Japanese With English Subtitles], online video (1 hour, 38 minutes, 14 seconds), at Archive.org

{{Akira Kurosawa}}
{{Navboxes
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{{Mainichi Film Award for Best Film}}
{{Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film}}
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[[Category:1948 films]]
[[Category:1948 drama films]]
[[Category:Japanese drama films]]
[[Category:1940s Japanese-language films]]
[[Category:Japanese black-and-white films]]
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[[Category:Medical-themed films]]
[[Category:Best Film Kinema Junpo Award winners]]
[[Category:Toho films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Akira Kurosawa]]
[[Category:Films produced by Sōjirō Motoki]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Akira Kurosawa]]
[[Category:Films scored by Fumio Hayasaka]]
[[Category:Films about alcoholism]]
[[Category:Films about physicians]]
[[Category:Films about tuberculosis]]
[[Category:Japanese crime drama films]]
[[Category:Japanese psychological drama films]]