Popular reviews

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  Review by Karst ★★★★★ 2

  Just gonna come right out and say it...better than ‘Seven Samurai’. This had my attention from beginning to end. Everything about it was flawless, not to mention how moved I was by the end. It tackles the idea of death as well as mental health and the morals surrounding that (and much more), and I’m probably gonna remember what I learned from this film forever. I can’t believe I’m saying this about a 3 hour long black&white film from the 60s but I’m PROBABLY gonna watch it again soon. Loved it.

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  Review by Lise ★★★★½ 26

  This is not the best film I've ever seen. Yet.

  It's a very simple story about two doctors working in a medical clinic that caters to the poor. But this is just the glue that ties together a wonderful tapestry of short stories that ask the most fundamental question: why must we treat everyone with dignity? Why do some of us assume that certain people may be less worthy of it, including the dying, the poor and the insane?

  In one heartbreaking tableau, Kurosawa forces us to watch a dying man painfully try and take breaths. It takes him a long time to die, and we are forced to watch along with the young doctor. It is difficult to see.…

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  Review by Darren Carver-Balsiger ★★★★★ 9

  An incredible humanist masterwork. Red Beard is a humbling film of death and pain, but most importantly kindness. The lead character is young and selfish, in need of a wise and patient teacher. The titular character is stubborn and gruff, but a good and honest man. Through them comes an understanding of the power of conscientious care, mental health matters as much as the physical. People are not broken, they can be healed and loved, abuse can be left in the past. Everyone deserves kindness, and those able to be patient, caring, and loving, provide the world with more than enough.

  Red Beard philosophises on what makes someone a good doctor. It is not an ability to heal, but an…

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  Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★★★★ 9

  What appears on the surface to be a simple tale proves to be a rich tale about the complexities of the human condition!

  An arrogant self centered young man just out of medical school becomes even more selfish and obtuse when he ends up at a poor mans clinic when he thought he would be a dr. for the shoguns!

  He learns many lessons from Red Beard the head physician of the clinic and more importantly from the patients themselves!

  3 hours may seem like a long time but when the film is this high quality it leaves you wanting more!

  Toshirô Mifune's performance throughout the entire film was subtle yet masterful! (There was one scene however when he was anything but subtle in fact he kind of went postal and I loved it!)

  A magnificent film!

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  Review by Sally Jane Black 1

  I knew, somehow, that Kurosawa was capable of making a film I would like as much as I did Ikiru, but I certainly did not expect it.

  As I watched this film unfold, I worried. I worried that it would go off the rails, that it would turn bitter and cynical, that it would reveal the good doctor to be a fraud or a villain somehow, or that it somehow the world would let me down and defend the initial attitudes of the protagonist. After all, it's a 3 hour film. There has to be conflict, and it certainly seemed to set up that conflict between protagonist and Red Beard as the central one. So when that conflict seemingly resolved…

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  Review by Michael James ★★★★

  Whenever Kurosawa chose to explore humanitarian and existential themes, he always managed to strike the right chord, making it a powerful life affirming experience. Even though he deals with tragic and darkest of moments, the drama always stays hopeful, brimming with humanity and life. The performances from both Toshiro Mifune and Yuzo Kayama were effective and impactful. A highly recommended watch.

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  Review by Lara Pop ★★★★★ 37

  #madlad Mifune

  'The pain and loneliness of death frighten me. But Dr. Niide looks at it differently. He looks into their hearts as well as their bodies.'

  Red Beard is the movie that cures the heart with human kindness.

  Kurosawa composes an ode to humanism through a doctor whose mission is to help people who suffer physically and mentally. There is no honor or money in what he does: he treats the sick with the meager funds he receives from the government, and he remains gentle with those who slander him and reject his help. His dedication shines in his small acts: he repeatedly offers water to a physically abused little girl until she finally accepts instead of splashing it…

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  Review by Jake Cole ★★★★★

  I remain deeply suspicious of looking to art for moral instruction that extends any further than simple empathy, but if ever a movie showed us Life and How to Live It, it must be Red Beard. Kurosawa had already shown his affinity for the Russian masters, but here he really achieves the perfect blend of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky with a film as panoramic as the former (Kurosawa truly makes widescreen seem like it's taking in the whole of a society) and as intimately concerned with the simmering tensions of morality and existence as the latter. This is a work of opulent intimacy, of mostly talking set against a vast canvas that dwarfs but also magnifies the central players. This is…

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  Review by Edgar Cochran ✝️ ★★★★★ 6

  ***One of the best 150 films I have ever seen.***

  Akahige is, simply, one of a kind. Regardless of the motivations that the multiphacetic Japanese master had in mind, one thing that has remained clear even nowadays is that he aimed towards a different perspective. He required a perspective that exalted humankind at its highest and most moralistic point. The protagonists were no longer drawn into epic battle scenes; ambitious lords were no longer the main characters; samurais did not abound in the screen anymore. Kurosawa's masterpiece is about the perseverance of the human condition and ends up becoming an incredibly powerful learning experience. Toshirô Mifune is back assuming a different leading role, yet mirroring the past personalities he had…

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  Review by nick ★½ 14

  It's truly satisfying in a sick way for me to see Red Beard, one of the most lauded "classics" in history, getting a low 70s on Rotten Potatoes. Despite the fact that I'm by no means a Kurosawa fan, and that the only work I truly enjoy from him is High and Low, It's still disheartening that every time I've decided to give Kurosawa one more chance, it's yet another disappointment with another entry of his filmography. However, when it comes to Red Beard, it's simply one of the biggest insomnia-killers and one of the most excruciatingly joyless experiences I've had with motion pictures.

  Red Beard admittedly has great potentials on paper: a slow-burn story about two doctors bonding over…

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  Review by CinemaCl🎃wn ★★★★ 2

  Marking the conclusion of one of the greatest director-actor collaborations in cinema history, Red Beard is as heartfelt & life-affirming as it is tragic & heartbreaking. Crafted with genuine care, told with everlasting compassion, and led by compelling performances, the film presents an esteemed artist & his long-term protégé teaming up for the last time and is one of their most memorable works together.

  Directed by Akira Kurosawa, the story is driven by the teacher-disciple relationship that is allowed to simmer & develop at an undisturbed pace. Kurosawa's understanding of the human condition is next to none and it helps him greatly in sketching complex characters that viewers can relate to, invest in & empathise with. And as often is the case, he also maintains…

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  Review by Joshua Dysart ★★★★★ 4

  Masterful wide-screen poorhouse hospital melodrama. A sprawling, serialized novel in five short story acts. Painted in broad, audience pleasing, strokes. Kurosawa’s ethos is strong, his moral insistences comforting, the characters are uncomplicated, the weather an emotion, and the images often staggering. (The prayer bell motif throughout Sahachi's story is heart bursting.)

  But this also marks so many endings for the director. His last black and white film, his last time working with Mifune, the end of his great productive era, and the last of the Kurosawa hero... that gruff and hard natured man who is centered entirely on the betterment of all mankind.