MOVIE · 1965

Red Beard

Drama185 min

Fresh out of medical school in late Tokugawa-era Edo, Noboru Yasumoto arrives at a small clinic expecting a smoother path to a wealthy household and instead finds himself under the authority of Red Beard, its gruff chief physician. Yûzô Kayama's Yasumoto resists the assignment at every turn, while Toshirô Mifune is the doctor who keeps steering him toward patients living at the margins. Directed by Akira Kurosawa, the film follows their uneasy teacher-student relationship as the young intern is confronted with illness, poverty, and a young woman rescued from a local brothel who is placed in his care.