Drunken Angel: The Criterion Collection

In this powerful early noir from the great Akira Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune bursts onto the screen as a volatile, tuberculosis-infected criminal who strikes up an unlikely, unhealthy relationship with Takashi Shimura's jaded physician. Set in and around the muddy swamps and back alleys of postwar Tokyo, Drunken Angel (Yoidore tenshi) is an evocative, moody snapshot of a troubled time and place, featuring one of the director's most memorably violent climaxes.