Drunken Angel vs. Drunken Angel

Somewhat related to our film club film of the month: Drunken Angel vs. Dunken Angel. I didn’t know such a song existed.

I enjoy reading the comments posted on the video site, Vili. It’s always a delight when folks discover Kurosawa.

One of the things anybody who has played around with sound and images notes is how sound can dramatically impact the feeling/mood/meaning of the visuals. And, another thing-so much music will “work”. I’m not so surprised that the music in this worked-I am surprised how it made it seem as if Mifune’s character was the “drunken angel” .

Vili – I liked the video as well and agree with Coco‘s assessment is how so much music works with clips from a particular movie, TV series, or the like.

Although as Coco notes, the video gives the impression that Matsunaga is the drunken angel, in a sense he is; the movie makes him something of a shadowy double to Sanada as well as a contrast to him. Probably also the vidder found him more compelling for video clips; much of what’s attractive about Sanada lies in the dialogue, which can’t easily be replicated for a video.

Its a great video and yes – it shows just how powerful good music is with good images. The selection of images is great. It hadn’t occurred to me that the choice of images would give the impression that Mifune is the Drunken Angel, but yes, it does indeed. But no real harm there I think – Mifune is just a more ‘visual’ actor, so its inevitable that he is in so many stand out scenes. Among other things, this reminds me what a great little scene it is when he hangs that slipper up on the clothes horse.

Coco: One of the things anybody who has played around with sound and images notes is how sound can dramatically impact the feeling/mood/meaning of the visuals. And, another thing-so much music will “work”. I’m not so surprised that the music in this worked-I am surprised how it made it seem as if Mifune’s character was the “drunken angel” .

My thoughts exactly!

Then again, perhaps Mifune’s character (Matsunaga) is something of a drunken angel. Shimura’s Sanada may be the literal titular character, but there is certainly a case to be made that Matsunaga is just as intoxicated, and ultimately just as well-meaning character. In the end, Matsunaga even visually morphs into something like an angel, albeit one that hangs upside down and points downwards (one of the most striking visuals in any Kurosawa film, I would say).