Red Beard

(1965) dir Akira Kurosawa w/Toshirô Mifune, Yûzô Kayama [185 min; 35mm]

In 19th century Edo, a young medical intern who hopes to be assigned to the royal court is instead sent to work at a public clinic. Frustrated and pompous, he clashes with the clinic’s head (Mifune), but soon discovers that he has much to learn about medicine – and about life and death as well.