Hello all,

I've watched about a dozen of Kurosawa's works this summer, and I think I've just gotten to the point where I'm burnt out on them. I tried watching Ran earlier today and gave up after 45 minutes because I found it an interminable bore. I just can't tolerate how he takes 15 minutes per scene with intensely slow dialogue to dilute his themes.

You might remember that I made a topic several weeks ago complaining about how overly long and arduous High and Low was as well. In fact, I haven't actually enjoyed a Kurosawa film since 1960 (The Bad Sleep Well). I even found Yojimbo boring (haven't seen the sequel).

So my question is, should I bother with the three-hour long Red Beard?

My top three Kurosawa films are Drunken Angel, Rashomon, and Throne of Blood -- all of which I consider to be very focused works. I'm tempted to give Red Beard a shot because I've heard it compared to Drunken Angel, but I don't want to waste my time if it turns out to be like his supposed masterpieces Ran/High and Low.

I *LOVE* Red Beard but if you thought Ran was boring (!!!!) then I don't recommend it. It's nearly three hours long, and its a deeply heartfelt medical drama. It's slow-moving but not boring in my opinion. YMMV.

(As an aside, I loved High and Low up until the point it became a police procedural, whereupon I only ended up just liking it quite a bit. It's funny how Kurosawa was aping Dassin's conventions there. Regardless, I agree with you wholeheartedly about Yojimbo; I think Sanjuro is a superior film.)

i think Red Beard is my favorite Kurosawa (and i like a lot of 'em).

however, if Ran and Yojimbo were not for you, i can't really recommend any other Kurosawa movies to you safely.

It's interesting, I'm on kind of a Kurosawa kick myself. Thanks to your other thread, I just watched High and Low the other day and I think next to Seven Samurai, it's my favorite. Even though the first hour takes place solely in one room I thought the pacing was perfect. In fact it was a very quick 2 and a half hours.

I also thought Yojumbo was very good as well, if I recall it was less than two hours in length and it didn't feel overly long or too short. I thought Sanjuro was plotted about the same. I enjoy them both and consider them to be "Seven Samurai Lite"

I sort of share your thoughts on Kurosawa however on Kagemusha. I've tried watching it a couple times and just can't make it past the first 45 minutes or so. One of these days I'll make it all the way through.

The Bad Sleep Well and Ran are next on my list and I'll probably try watching Red Beard sometime in the future.

You've tried that many Kurosawa films, why not "Red Beard"? It's not like any of his epic-type films. It's almost like a soap opera, including the fact it's a story about doctors. I haven't seen it since college, and I don't remember the details that well. But it was part of a two-day seminar course in which we watched five different Kurosawa films, and I recall enjoying it the most of all of them.

GoldenJCJ:
The Bad Sleep Well feels like a rather intense Hitchcock film for about the first 75 minutes. It balks toward the end, highly disappointing ending that I have several problems with, but overall I found it rather solid, and I would give it a fairly strong recommendation. It's interesting to see Toshiro play the modern-man role there. His role and appearance in High and Low is very reminiscent of TBSW.

I'd highly recommend Red Beard (the last collaboration between Mifune & Kurosawa). The story focuses not on the senior doctor played by Mifune but on the young doctor fresh out of medical school.

If you found RAN a bit tedious due to the slow movement of the plot, you may find Red Beard more involving as the film is more episodic wherein several, different situations are placed for the main character's further development.

However, I would still implore you to finish RAN...it only starts slow as it shows the main characters, who they really are & the people around them, the schemes they try to pull on each other. But once all those schemes start taking place, you will find the film moving a lot faster (utterly into chaos).

If you found High and Low long and arduous, then I personally wouldn't recommend trying Red Beard (quite yet).

The connection with Drunken Angel has probably more to do with the theme than execution (plus, you could perhaps argue that Red Beard brings into a conclusion an investigation Kurosawa started in Drunken Angel and devoted most of his films on between the two).

Have you seen Stray Dog and/or Record of a Living Being (aka I Live in Fear)? Based on the Kurosawa films that you said you enjoyed, you might also like those.

I would also highly recommend Sanjuro. It is a very different movie from Yojimbo, and in terms of pacing and forward movement, perhaps the best constructed of Kurosawa's movies (or a close second to Throne of Blood). It is a pretty light movie too, works as a snack.

On the other hand, if you do venture into watching Red Beard, you are more than welcome to join us over at the Akira Kurosawa Online Film Club to discuss it -- we'll be discussing the film in October this year (we are currently discussing Yojimbo, and will turn to Stray Dog in August).

My favorite film of all time.