Drunken Angel Part 2
Gabby Browne: [00:00:00] This podcast is an association with Spotlight Studios, a family of podcasts driven to create unique, one of a kind content. If you have any interest in learning more, please visit spotlightstudiospodcast. com.
Welcome back, friends and foes. We are Stepping back into Drunken Angel, or should I say stumbling back into Drunken Angel. If you haven't already listened to part one, head on over, head on back, because you aren't gonna know what's going on. Go listen to part one, and then come on back.
Jonathan VanSickle: At this point, Matsunaga looks like he's finally coming around to the doctor's advice and his words of guidance. Three. He's shown up to his place, very drunk the night before, but he has his x rays with [00:01:00] him. He seems to be ready to start taking some steps to, uh, facing this disease and actually trying to do something
Aaron Couser: about it.
Two. This town is run by Matsunaga, a very prideful guy. The news and the reality of his tuberculosis has changed him and has forced him to make a hard decision. And we'll have to see what kind of decisions that he's willing to make. One.
Gabby Browne: Cause Okada is back out of prison now. The old boss. And he's not here for weakness.
He's here for strength. And the killer's anthem.
Doc is gonna write a referral now for Matsunaga. He's woken up from his drunken slumber and he's officially ready to start doing some things. Your strength is not gonna make a difference in this. You will be fighting this [00:02:00] the same way that 17 year old school girl is fighting this. It does not matter how big you are, how strong, or how tough.
It's gonna be hard no matter what. No drinking, no women. Literally two rules, that's it. No drinking, no women.
Aaron Couser: They're walking side by side with each other. They're together now, almost kind of like minded. They've come to this agreement. Matsunaga is going to seemingly attempt... To try to live the clean lifestyle.
Yeah,
Gabby Browne: and Doc's just listen off again, again, again, the same things. And he's like, Lord, you are repetitive. Same thing that the little girl said. Same thing, different infliction. You're so repetitive in a teaching sense of like, yes, he's being repetitive. So I have this crammed into my head. Matsunaga's like, you're being repetitive and annoying, dude.
He doesn't understand the importance of what he's telling him. This is your life, life or death situation now, dude. [00:03:00]
Aaron Couser: His steps of saying goodbye to these things, where he goes to his home and there's Nanene lounging around wondering where he's been, what he's been up to. He wasn't home last night. Where you been?
Maybe he's up to something bad.
Gabby Browne: Do you need to come over and I give you a Spanking? It's just like, Lord Almighty. She throws one of his shoes at him. He's like, okay, I'm gonna just hang this up. Time to go now. Bye bye,
Aaron Couser: Nanay. Matsunaga is saying, I'm going to say goodbye to my promiscuous ways. Put the shoe up and walk out the door, where maybe before he would have gone and allowed her to spank him.
It was also
Gabby Browne: Pfft. It was also, I think, a level of maturity. Once you recognize responsibility and the things that you have to do, the things that you need to do for yourself, for your livelihood, you're approached by someone saying, Were you bad last night? Do you need a spanking? No, actually, I [00:04:00] had a really prolific experience.
experience in my life is probably going to change now and you're patronizing me, Nanay.
Jonathan VanSickle: Well, not only that, she comments on his appearance. You look pale. Yeah. You've been losing a lot of weight. You look
Gabby Browne: bad. Like, I need a hot man. Sorry. He goes to the bar and Jin's in there and she's like, I haven't seen you in so long.
You've lost some weight. A lot of weight. Has somebody been loving you too hard? He looks at the whiskey bottle, and then he just walks out. He says no to
Aaron Couser: it. Say goodbye to women, say goodbye to alcohol. He's following the doctor's orders, finally.
Gabby Browne: It's also like, why did you go there in the first place? I mean, you're, I guess you're saying goodbye and maybe that can be a thing for you, but it's also just like, are you just going to see how tempted you are?
He didn't actually need to go to those places. He really did have a prolific experience the night before and he could be saying goodbye to those things. [00:05:00]
Aaron Couser: You still see him in the market. You still see the people with massive respect for him. Even to this point, even though he's starting to dwindle physically.
Picks the flowers up again. They still bow to him. Yes, this is still your land. I
Gabby Browne: love the flower thing for him. Him constantly trying to find a touch of beauty in this cesspool. That's his hope, is the flowers still. He's looking down at the swamp, it's gurgling, Shrek's about to pop out, and someone comes up behind him.
Aaron Couser: It's the big boss, Okada.
He's staring at the diseased cesspool with this beautiful flower in his hand. Yeah. Thinking he's gonna make the right decisions, he's gonna follow Sonata's orders and lead a better life.
Gabby Browne: And that dark shadow falls up behind him. Okada. O Okado. Okada. Sorry, Jesus Christ, [00:06:00] Okada! Okada, the the black shadow of Okada.
What's that look for? Like, he's surprised to see him. You know I got out a couple days ago. Uh, and he's Like, this is the first time Matsunaga is looking a little scared. Even tuberculosis can't scare him, but he's, he's a little scared by, by home guy. And he, he looks pretty anxious. I am so sorry I was not there to greet you at the doors of the jail.
He looks anxious as hell. Matsunaga is now the boss around here, but there's no way he would have been the boss without Okada. Gotta be kind of awkward. And he's kind of looking at him too, like, why the hell you have that flower right now? Like, you little priss. He tosses the flower into the puddle. Oh no.
Oh my god, it's symbolic. Oh my god, it's symbolic.
Jonathan VanSickle: Take me somewhere where you got some pull. He's like, let's go get a
Gabby Browne: drink. Yeah, let's
Aaron Couser: go out. Matsunaga follows him and leads him
Gabby Browne: to... Jin's place. The aesthetic is very Naruto ramen shop, which I enjoy. One [00:07:00] little counter. Yeah, just one little counter that you're sitting at.
They're serving you behind the counter. It's just like real tiny. I like it. It's, it's nice. They get out the whiskey and Jin's kind of like, Oh, I just told you you were looking skinny. I don't know why you're back here right now. And they pour out the whiskey. Matsunaga's like, I'm not gonna drink today.
Okada's like, you got gonorrhea? Is that what's wrong? I'm just not feeling good and he's like, wow, times really have changed and he's calling him out. He's trying to pressure him.
Aaron Couser: Exactly. This is how you treat my toast to our bond of honor? This is how you treat me? This is how you honor me? It's shameful behavior.
Shame
Gabby Browne: you. Yeah, you're, you're awful.
Aaron Couser: The new boss just showed up. He's got to act tough. He can't be a weak guy. He's got to be able to drink his drink and still hold his business.
Gabby Browne: Absolutely. He has to show this hardened man. He was picked for the leader of the region for a reason. So he [00:08:00] says. I'll just have one.
We all know what that means. Cut to the next scene and he's being carried out by three women. Also classic Matsunaga. Surrounded by the ladies. Just
Aaron Couser: a few quick moments. Based off of Kurosawa's Great Direction. Now with the alcohol, and now back with the women. Just drunk as a skunk. You see the whole gang follow him in.
The seedy Yakuzas.
Gabby Browne: His little homies from earlier that were with him initially at the beginning.
Aaron Couser: Some of the ladies. That hang out the cabaret. They see
Gabby Browne: Okada. They're gossiping. Yo, that new guy? He makes Matsunaga look like a little punk. Wow, that man's like, One of them warns you gotta be careful if He goes for you, he'll suck your bones dry.
And we finally find out why Okada was in prison. He had apparently taken some guy underneath a bridge and sliced his face up so badly that he almost died but didn't, and that's the only reason he was in prison for just [00:09:00] four years. Attempted murder should be a longer sentence than
Aaron Couser: four years. This basically implies that Okada is on the hunt for a lady.
Every
Gabby Browne: girl is a dish now.
Jonathan VanSickle: You see him and Nene making eyes at each other the whole time, like intense. Like he is watching her. And she's watching him. Yeah, she's dancing with someone else. But every chance she can, she's making sure she's catching that eye contact. That guy is
Gabby Browne: looking pretty crisp.
Aaron Couser: I thought, I thought Nene was with uh, Matsunaga though.
Gabby Browne: Nene's with whoever has the money, sir.
Aaron Couser: Oh my. I think so. That's uh, horrible.
Gabby Browne: A horrible person in this movie? I never would have thought.
Aaron Couser: Nene, you know, she's dancing with this other young man. They're going through the motions. But yeah, she sees Okada hunting her down. That little eyeball, you know, he's got propped up.
After the song's over, she comes [00:10:00] over, but doesn't really talk to Okada, but just kind of stands there and waves a fan. I don't know if it's kind of a mating
Gabby Browne: thing. The vibe. Saga is like shaken awake by one of the Bross and Matt Zag is like, oh O, this is Nene is blah. You guys can dance now. Treat. Treat her well.
Yeah, treat her
Aaron Couser: well. I mean, we know Na Nene is Matt saga's girlfriend, but. She must be just part of a lot
Gabby Browne: of girls. Yeah, I was kind of feeling it in the same vibes, like soprano vibes. They have their specific clubs that they always go to where there are certain women. They're not necessarily their girlfriends, but like Tony always has like a side girl.
Sometimes the side girls switch around every once in a while, you know. But she's the top girl. Oh yeah, definitely. I don't under I still don't I don't understand. Mio seemed great. I don't understand about Nene, but whatever. The song. Ready, Jonathan? The song. The jungle [00:11:00] song. Oh man. She's scream singing.
It's very like animalistic, very primal.
Jonathan VanSickle: Felt this was like just a call back to that mobster jazz era in the US. Yeah, absolutely. It felt very United States jazz. It's almost Blaxploitation with the She Panther kind of woman dressing up and singing that kind of, it was incredible. It was such a cool scene just to be accentuated by Tashira Mifune's dancing in it.
The dancing that he does in
Aaron Couser: that is, he's a star. Yeah.
Jonathan VanSickle: Yeah. And he just looks savage the whole time. It's
Aaron Couser: so fun to watch. And it's amazing to watch someone who's nearly dying. Does dance so well, um,
Jonathan VanSickle: pretty dance of death, man. He's spiraling with it at that point. It's so, it's so cool. He knows. And you can feel that in the film too.
It really does. It feels like I said,
Aaron Couser: like dire. Yeah. Frantic. Yeah. Just kind
Jonathan VanSickle: of flailing away at that point. Like he is as the character.
Gabby Browne: He's looking rough though. [00:12:00] He does not look well. No.
Aaron Couser: Well, he knows everything's slipping away. He doesn't know what to do about it. The Yakuza's. That's his culture. He knows he has to do something to protect his life by giving up that kind of culture.
Gabby Browne: Yeah, he's never known another life. He would be leaving this for uncertainty. I gave my life to them already. If I die, then I die. But it's like, he's truly stuck between a rock and a hard place because... With Okada back, there's no chance. He has to be there for him, or his life is just as much at risk.
Back to the doctor's office. You rake of booze, you dumb, you dumb, dumb, dummy. You
Aaron Couser: fool. He lays right into him. I mean, this is just so disappointing. I thought we had an understanding. I thought we had this moment of an epiphany. That we got somewhere. Yeah. All of a sudden, you're now, you're back even worse than ever.
It
Gabby Browne: literally was a day. One fucking [00:13:00] day, you couldn't stay away? You reek, dude. Get the hell
Aaron Couser: out of here. My patients don't need leashes tied around their necks. Sonata feels like now he has to tie him up to keep him from doing the horrible things that
Gabby Browne: are gonna kill him. Yeah, you literally can't control yourself enough.
No self control, yeah, exactly. He's like, get out of here. He starts throwing shit at him again. It throws so much. My god, the amount of medical tools you waste,
Aaron Couser: sir. Matsunaga walking off, he just randomly attacks
Gabby Browne: somebody. Yeah, just goes up and slaps that guy and he's like, Idiot! Doc rips something up. What was it that he rips up and throws into
Aaron Couser: the puddle?
I mean, you assume it's his x ray. I assume too, yeah. This is him basically saying, well... Kinda giving up on
Jonathan VanSickle: him. Screw you,
Gabby Browne: guy. That's it. You're done. No more. What kind of waste? I'm not going to stress myself over your ass. It's ridiculous. I put in so much effort and time, and I'm not going to stress over you anymore if you're not going to do the bare minimum.
Aaron Couser: So it seems like it's total darkness now, and really there's no hope. [00:14:00] Or Matsunaga. So he returns to... The cabaret? The cabaret. You see the band tuning up. They're getting ready for their big night. Ladies on the side, they're starting to make some bets. Ooh, Nene is going to pick for the big dance. The first dance of the night, right?
That's really who you're deciding to be with for that night. Who is Nene going to choose to be her man? The queen bee.
Jonathan VanSickle: Get another little brilliant bit of Kurosawa blocking on this where Nothing is really said, but you see the back and forth pull, the tension.
Gabby Browne: They both stand up at the exact same time.
She approaches them and is in the exact middle. Matsunaga thinks he's gonna be the guy and then she grabs Okada's hand and it's like, oof. I felt that, that hurt. That was right, that was a slice between the ribs right there. I could feel it. I thought
Aaron Couser: she was gonna pick, [00:15:00] uh, Matsunaga there. Everybody
Gabby Browne: did. I did.
I mean, I think everybody in the club was like, this is going to cause some problems.
Aaron Couser: That's basically with a change of the guard,
Gabby Browne: I think. Yep, truly was. That moment. And Matsunaga knew. I am a weak bitch.
Jonathan VanSickle: He
Aaron Couser: sits, defeated, and sick.
Gabby Browne: The later of the night, the freakier it comes. Yep, we are playing some gambling games.
Aaron Couser: It's almost like now we're in another layer of hell, you know, for Matsunaga. Now it's just like the deep, almost right at the core.
Gabby Browne: Okay, you lost your girl, you lost your doctor, now what? You're losing respect. Mm hmm. You ain't got any sleep.
street cred no more. What you doing?
Jonathan VanSickle: What about your money? Yeah. How about
Gabby Browne: we take that now? How does that sound? Uh, how much did he lose? He lost, he lost a hundred thousand right up front, like immediately. And then he's like, front me more. I need more.
Aaron Couser: He's so now he's borrowing money [00:16:00] from people that he's supposed to be the boss, the man, the top guy.
Yeah. Um, very embarrassing. And so they give him another 100, 000. Womp, womp, womp, womp. And that goes bye bye just like that. Right. Whoa. Zip. Right to Okinawa.
Gabby Browne: That man is looking smug as hell. I bet there were some prison cheating rules. I just bet. Neil, he was gonna win no matter what. In the fates of this movie, Matsunaga is done.
He's fully thrown in the towel. He's done.
Jonathan VanSickle: This is another one of those scenes, just the way it's shot, just completely side by side, and we have these two men, two staples of power in this culture, and just watching everybody's reaction in the audience. to what's happening in the roles, the women and the different men who are handling the money.
It's really, really fun to watch and something that I can't do justice over a podcast. to say go watch it for
Gabby Browne: yourself. It's a physical change of realization for everyone as they [00:17:00] realize the power dynamic is about to be different. Everyone's lives in this group is about to change and they're all realizing it as this is happening.
Aaron Couser: Yeah. Yeah. It's brilliant. Matsunaga basically just crumple over. Yeah, he's totally defeated. He's also
Gabby Browne: coughing up some shit, some blood. First time ever. This is bad news now. Yeah, it's a whole different level. Whole different level. Who knew? I mean, everyone was. seeing him and looking at him and physically thinking he did not look well, but no one else had the verbal confirmation that he had tuberculosis yet.
Now you're coughing up blood at the gambling event. Everyone is going to be talking about your tuberculosis diagnosis now. This is the hot goss, hundred percent.
Yeah, he's not doing well. We got to get him to doctor right now.[00:18:00]
Aaron Couser: I did feel like that was nice for his little hoodlum friends to send him there. They could've just threw him in the street, probably would've just died. I
Gabby Browne: think those two have at least a little bit of loyalty to him.
Jonathan VanSickle: They do, and I think in general the Yakuza, as they mention later, they do have some use for these type of people in the organization.
So maybe that could have something to do with it as well. They had a
Gabby Browne: plan for him.
Aaron Couser: Emergency patient is yelled as, uh, you know, they're banging on the old Sonata's door.
Gabby Browne: And he's like, oh, what idiot did what tonight? You know, you can't even possibly imagine like, oh no, some actual accident happened. Nope, it's somebody's fault somewhere.
I know that for a goddamn fact. Another, uh, hand in the door. I know, literally. Mio comes up and she's like, it's Matsunaga. He's, he's not doing good. He's coughing up blood. And he's like, okay, cool. I'm going back to bed. Screw you. I'm not doing that. And Mio literally just is like, nope, [00:19:00] I'm going to get all of your clothes out because I know who you are and you're going to be saying this and you're going to be talking shit as you get dressed and go downstairs to help your patient because you're a reliable person and you can't say no to a patient.
We're at Nene's house now, because that's where the boys had taken him after he passed out gambling, is Nene's house. And he's laying in Nene's bed and the doctor made that house call, basically, to him. During this scene is when the doctor says, This is a woman's house, where is she? And he's like, she got too spooked tonight.
Okay,
Aaron Couser: so my confusion was I thought they were bringing him to the doctor's office. That's
Gabby Browne: what I thought too at that moment, like when they said emergency patient, but he was making a house call over to, uh, to Nanay's house. Yeah, they were going to get the doctor and that's why he had to get dressed to go out is so he had to actually leave his house.
Gives him a shot of something. He's passed out. He's not doing good. Passed out on Nanay's bed. It is just as much her apartment as it is his. Like, he's [00:20:00] lived here. This is his space as well. Nanay's been his girl for a really long time now. It's just kind of ridiculous. He's passed out and the two henchmen guys are like, boop.
But don't put it up. Walking around and he's like, okay, we got to get you size. Something to do. You know, you go get water, you go get ice. And he's like, in the middle of the night. And he's like, you guys get whatever you want. The Yakuza ask and they receive. So yeah, go do it. That's pretty powerful. I know.
He literally calls him fat. So, and I'm like, Jesus Christ, dude, you do know these guys are in a gang, right?
Aaron Couser: He must, must just seem protected because he's the only guy that, around here, that is gonna get these, they're medically better. Exactly. So, he has a little bit of value
Gabby Browne: there. It's the honey badger again.
He don't care, he don't give a shit. Like, he's gonna just rile him up. As
Aaron Couser: Matsunaga sleeps in his bed, Sonata's looking in the mirror, looking around his life, his lifestyle, sees a music box and opens it up. There's a little [00:21:00] puppet toy that Sonata plays with, and through the light, you see the toy dancing with the music on the shadow.
Annette wakes up Matsunaga and looks back at Sonata and says, Sleep and dream about your childhood. Which means... In my opinion, you're fucked. Yeah,
Gabby Browne: because this is the part too where he says, It's a great thing that you started coughing up blood because now you can finally take a look at yourself and actually see.
Don't even try to speak because you're actually too weak to do that right now. Just go and dream about your
Aaron Couser: childhood. Because that's the only happiness you're probably going to find now in your life is through your dreams. Reality is. A nightmare.
Gabby Browne: Yeah, actual hell. When he's looking at the mirror, looking around this room, the doctor is also realizing he's taking a look at himself and seeing the position he's in and what he's doing for these men.
Also imagine yourself from a more vulnerable time. Time where you could trust, a time where you [00:22:00] could let go, release, where you didn't have to be in charge, where you could have someone help you dream about your childhood. Allowing yourself to put your life in someone else's hands. Matsunaga's never had that figure for him.
Aaron Couser: Things are starting to ramp up a little bit now that Oku is in the neighborhood. Mio says that she's definitely saw him at the market. She's not sure that he's seen her. She's pretty frightened that it's... Inevitable that Okada is going to be coming for her. Then
Gabby Browne: he says he saw her with a girl, at least.
Not good for the other girl, but good for Mio. Preoccupied at least, like maybe he's not looking for her. She knows he is. Tensions
Aaron Couser: starting to ramp up a little bit. And just being around him and seeing him probably brings all these horrible nightmares back.
Gabby Browne: Terrible feelings. Back to [00:23:00] Matsunaga, getting woken up by Nene, very not well, quietly packing.
Literally drops the thing of water, she's like shuffling around, she's being loud as hell, and he's like, What are you up to? Like, that's how he wakes up, that's his first ask, is what are you up to? She explains
Jonathan VanSickle: she's gonna leave. She's like, oh, I got, you know, I gotta get out of here. She literally says something's come up.
Yeah, it's complete bull. I was going to
Gabby Browne: take off work. I was going to take care of you. But like, I've got this really good, like, opportunity. And I think I, like, need to take it. I have my life, too. Don't you remember that? It's a lot more important than yours. Dude's literally on your bed as a deathbed currently.
And you're like, I'm just gonna get out of here, sorry.
Jonathan VanSickle: Give me a kiss goodbye then. He can see her intentions, and he, I think he's messing with her when he says this. He's like, yeah, [00:24:00] give me a kiss goodbye then. He literally
Gabby Browne: like forces her down onto the bed and kisses her, I believe. And then she gets up and just spits all over.
She spits on him, she's spitting everywhere. And he goes, thanks for looking after me, I'll never forget it. He's always got that one last one. I know, they both do. It's almost like, who's gonna get the last quip, you know? Who's gonna start attacking and then who's gonna get the last quip?
Aaron Couser: But he just wanted to feel a female one last time.
He just couldn't help himself, he just had to grab her. I
Gabby Browne: also think it was like, are you seriously gonna do me like that so badly that you won't have any type of conscious at all right now? Oh, okay, you got something else that's better than me right now? Well, how about I ruin that for you? Come on, give me a kiss.
Give me a kiss. Exactly. You know, you're so scared of me. You don't want to take care of me. Come on, get really close to me right
Aaron Couser: now. I want to make
Gabby Browne: you uncomfortable one last time. I want to make you as, like, as uncomfortable as you're making me feel abandoned.[00:25:00]
The two bros go over to the doctor's house. And nurse, we don't know her name yet. Just kidding. We find out in the scene. Okay, you guys need to do this ice, this food, this medicine. They're just, she's just giving some basic instructions and they're both just like, don't I know you from somewheres? She's just like, goodbye.
And she just turns around and goes back inside. Doc is walking up the stairs to Nanay's house. He sees the henchmen just. Sitting outside. What in the saying, hell are you guys doing out here? I, I told you to watch him. Well,
Aaron Couser: they went out to get some medicine and when they came back, he had disappeared. We
Gabby Browne: can't watch a patient that's not even in the room.
You know, he's gone. He's like, he. Gone. He
Aaron Couser: vanished. And then they just decided to eat some sandwiches instead of, you know, looking for him.
Gabby Browne: Nice. That's classic henchman behavior, for real. Doc runs into the apartment and it's just like [00:26:00] torn apart, truthfully. It's like flipped over and shit. Yeah, what is it?
We kind of don't know. Do you know what happened? No.
Aaron Couser: They don't. I thought maybe because they were so worried about the tuberculosis that they just wanted to like cleanse that whole place, maybe scrub it, get rid of everything.
Gabby Browne: I also kind of thought that this was his last like true burst of anger, you know, like he threw that towel so aggressively when he was talking to Nanay that he probably was just like, You know what?
Fuck you, and fuck your apartment. Flip that bed, like I'm gonna toss these shelves. You got this nice divider here. Smash! He didn't seem injured after that incident, cause I was thinking it could be Okada that came there and like fucked it up because He refused to leave, but it seemed like he left of his own free will and that he probably was the one to destroy the apartment right before he left.
Oh, I can't sleep in your bed? No one can. Right. Screw you, lady. The doctor does ask, uh, Nanay, you threw him out, didn't you? And she's like, this [00:27:00] is my place. I'll holler. If you're like trying to like intimidate me right now, I'm going to scream. And Okado comes in. He calls Nene a whore, and then Okada hears it, and he's like, I don't like that, my lady.
And he comes out. And he is really intimidating to the doctor and just like, physically tosses him out of the room. The doctor got the ol heave ho. So, there's a girl in your house that you're looking after. Who is that that you're taking care of? I didn't know that you were a ladies guy at all. I thought it was just you and granny out there.
Aaron Couser: There's so many that come through, through the door, and I can't keep track of all of the nurses or all the ladies that come by. Kind of hard to argue with that, that might be true, and, you know, shuffles his way out. Thirty
Gabby Browne: seconds after he says the name, both of the henchmen look at each other and like, Oh, yeah, [00:28:00] that's where we know the name, you know?
Mio, that face really Boop bo do do do do So, they know. They know. They all know now that the doctor has Mio. And that two dumb henchmen actually did one thing right in the movie.
He's leaning against a pole looking down at the puddle.
Jonathan VanSickle: Every time I see that scene, I'm like, how the hell did he not fall in? I
Gabby Browne: know, he's like full weight on that pole, like full weight. Like he's testing his limits there.
Aaron Couser: He's probably just wanting to fall in and just kill himself. I always
Jonathan VanSickle: interpret that as he's just like on the edge, just like
Gabby Browne: whatever.
He's so physically unwell that he can go in any time, you know? Exactly. Don't be mad at me. Don't be mad at me about this. And he's like, I actually understand. Sympathy? Oh my god. I didn't know he knew the word. We are almost done here and finally the doctor's like, Hey, I finally [00:29:00] get this. Like your girl is literally with your old boss from prison now.
She kicked you out of The house, where were you even supposed to go? Like it was a truly give up situation. This is where he does this beautiful comparison of the swamp to his lungs, and it's pointless. If it's only your lungs that need help, you have to break free from this life, this world, it is consuming you and there is no way that you can truly be a healthy person unless you escape the Yakuza too.
As he's being told this beautiful monologue, he's looking down at this doll face down in the muck, bubbling, gurgling, slowly sinking in. The dream sequence? Coffin washes up on the beach. I got this axe, might as well just chop chop chop open this coffin. Okada coming back from the dead to chase him down.
Right? I think it's him. No, it's [00:30:00] him. You think it is him? I thought it was Okada.
Jonathan VanSickle: In like super extreme
Aaron Couser: makeup. It's, it's like the dead him running himself down. The way I always interpreted
Jonathan VanSickle: this scene was, what he'd like to think of himself as is this elegant, healthy, I mean you see this guy, he's dressed better than he ever is in the movie.
He's got that white scarf. Yeah, that white scarf, that very nice suit, and he looks healthy, perfectly healthy. And then you see this dead, gangster, thuggish looking self, just ragged. He's Trying to break free of that.
Gabby Browne: It's reality chasing him down.
Jonathan VanSickle: Yeah, it's, it's what he actually is and what he's trying to get away from that I don't know if he's going to
Aaron Couser: be able to escape.
I think this is maybe the first time he actually sees himself for who he is at this moment. This decayed. physically withered man. You
Gabby Browne: can fake it as much as you want, but you can't escape that this is the truth right
Aaron Couser: now. And it's unfortunately too little too late. It catches up to him. It chases him down on the beach, [00:31:00] and the dream ends and the reality comes back.
Gabby Browne: He wakes up, he shoots up shocked, and Mio is praying in the corner. He wakes up to the sound of Okada downstairs interrogating the doctor about Mio, and Mio's literally in the corner of Matsunaga's room praying that Okada doesn't come upstairs and find her.
Aaron Couser: Good for Sanada. This guy could burn his house down.
This guy could destroy his business and he stands up and protects Mio, who he could easily just give up if he wants to protect himself, but he stands his ground. You see his moral equilibrium in who he is and protects Mio. He loves Mio, maybe not in a sexual way or even a relationship way, but he loves her as a human being.
And he knows if he gives up Mio, she's just gonna die.
Gabby Browne: Human life is the most [00:32:00] important thing to a doctor. It doesn't necessarily matter the life circumstances because everyone has those doors that can't open or close. It's just your ability to make a choice. What are you going to do? And I think the doctor, he sees that possibility in everyone, whether it is a very extremely pessimistic possibility.
He sees the human life is never going to be a waste, except probably Okada, because fuck him.
Aaron Couser: Asking to
Gabby Browne: die? Mio's not here, dude.
Aaron Couser: Okada's basically now threatening the life of the doctor. That's not how things
Jonathan VanSickle: go anymore, you know, like, this isn't the way it works. You're a feudalist.
Gabby Browne: He says feudalistic so many times during this part that I just had to Your feudalistic ways will not work anymore.
There's this whole thing that we like to call equality, and if Mio doesn't want to see you, she doesn't have to. Not that she's even [00:33:00] here. The ladies consent now, sir. I know you were in prison for a minute, but you probably need to remember that. There's
Aaron Couser: sickness and illness with the old ways. We are moving into a different direction.
You just can't take a woman that doesn't want to be with you. Doc
Gabby Browne: literally says, I've killed more people than
Aaron Couser: you. He is totally unafraid
Gabby Browne: of him. It's a full clash moment. Things are so hot that it seems like it might boil over. And then Matsunaga stumbles into the room, deathly ill, and Doc's like, get your butt back to bed, you dummy.
Matsunaga's like, please, I owe my entire life to this man. This man is currently in the process of saving me. So please, leave tonight and I will come speak with you later about him. Just right now, leave. They accept
Jonathan VanSickle: that. It is going back to that feudalistic way that coded the yakuza that it's like, all right, one of my own is telling me I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt this [00:34:00] time.
And they, they do.
Gabby Browne: This was the point where the doctor and Okada are blowing up this balloon together. It's getting larger and larger and larger. And they're realizing they're about to reach a point where the balloon is going to pop. And then Matsunaga comes in and just. psssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Helps deflate the balloon cause we were at an impasse there, you know? The balloon was either gonna pop and some shit was about to go down or somehow they were going to reach a point where everything was going to need to deflate. Thank you, Matsunaga, for doing that because I wasn't ready for the doctor to pop.
He's too good. He's too good, and he's protecting Mio! What would've happened to Mio in that situation? I'm here for her. She would've been taken. No! Not allowed! That's my girl.
Aaron Couser: Everything has kind of hit an impasse. They gotta have a plan here. Someone's gotta be a little
Gabby Browne: proactive here. Okada means a little bit more business.
This was like a [00:35:00] legitimate threat on his life. If he's not gonna stop harassing me or the woman that is living in my home, time to go to the police. It's time to switch.
Aaron Couser: Matsunaga does not like that idea. Well, he
Jonathan VanSickle: tells them, you know, it's basically going to create more problems. Listen, the way these things are handled, I cannot have you going to the cops right now.
If you do that, we completely lose face. This is going to turn into a bigger situation. Let me go talk to the big boss. I've got it. They're cool with me. We got a thing going. He'll understand. Let me see what I can do first. Guess
Gabby Browne: what? Sick men and babies don't have face. Get your ass back to bed. Doc is not here for it.
He's like, no, we have reached the point of impasse. We are going to the police. I am no longer being in this whole little fun thing now. I'm not a part of this anymore. My life was threatened. Police.
Aaron Couser: You kind of understand Matsunaga's reservations. He's been part of this Yakuza group for a long time. [00:36:00] Most rats are probably looked down upon, and he would be associated, as a rat, being associated with Sonata, as he is.
So he wants to go another route. He still believes in loyalty, even though his chips are way down, he has a deep loyalty with the boss. Yeah. They've had moments together.
Gabby Browne: He's so generous, and kind, to Mount Snoraga. He really thinks that their relationship, their tie, their bond, is more important than any money, or ploy, or face.
that Okada can bring in because he's been loyal, that's the most important thing, right?
Aaron Couser: Mio again is contemplating going back to Okada. Just to try
Gabby Browne: to save the doctor too, it's just really Okada that's just the problem. Men like that rely on this type of weakness. I'll just give in and both of them throughout the [00:37:00] entire movie show that specific type where the doctor's like rigid forcefulness, his backbone will not break.
He will not fall to these people. He will be a part of everyone else trying to stand up against them.
Aaron Couser: Before Matsunaga staring, contemplating about what He is about to
Gabby Browne: do. We already know what he's gonna do, that dumbass. Honest to God, has he made a right decision in this entire movie? Um...
Jonathan VanSickle: For like a day, half
Gabby Browne: a day.
Half a
Jonathan VanSickle: day! He's the classic example of one step forward, two steps back. Truthfully, yeah. You know, that's basically been the entire progression throughout the movie. As soon as you think maybe he's about to do the right thing, he immediately undoes it and makes it worse.
Aaron Couser: To be accepted. He'd rather be accepted by a dying society than do what's best for himself.
Gabby Browne: Right. Doc looks at Matsunaga. If you leave this bed, if you dare get out of this bed, I [00:38:00] am done with you. And then walks out. Like, every time you leave a room, leave with a threat. I mean, that might be the thing I learned from this movie. And Matsunaga gets up immediately, of course, but he's already dressed, he's ready to go, and it's like, What are you doing, dude?
Mio is just sitting there with her hands down, contemplating her life, and Okada coming to possibly kill the only man she's staying with. Mio is like, Go back to bed! Get your ass back in bed! And he pushes Mio into a closet and locks her in there. He's just locked in the pantry. He's protecting her too.
Yeah, exactly. It's a situation where he can't come after her, but it's also like, she probably shouldn't leave the house for a little bit. You know, they probably get eyes on the house. No, they can't go to the cops. A Yakuza never worries about himself. We are always worried about the team. We are always worried about each other.
He is about to do something that is going to ruin everyone, and I cannot let that happen.
Jonathan VanSickle: The [00:39:00] boss and Okada gambling.
And they're having a discussion about what's happened. Since Okada's been gone, he's asking the boss, how could you let this guy take control of our territory? How could you let this happen with Matsunaga? The boss, admittedly, is standing up for him. You don't understand, you don't get how it was. As Okada continues to push, Matsunaga's actually there.
Gabby Browne: Yeah, he's listening.
Jonathan VanSickle: Hearing all of this himself. The boss reveals... that once they have this condition, the condition being tuberculosis, they can become valuable to us in different ways. We can turn this into a positive if we just know how to spin it. Meaning that basically, you know, they have nothing else to live for.
So they can kind of turn into a kamikaze
Aaron Couser: of sorts. He's a boss for a reason. He plays the chess game. The game that no one else can see. That's why he's the top dog. He knows about this Kitajiman gang that are probably about to advance on their turf. What better than putting this [00:40:00] dying leader right in front to either block or maybe even sacrifice
Gabby Browne: himself to this cause, to their cause.
Aaron Couser: Hearing this, Matsunaga, it has to just be devastating. He's gone to hell and back with this boss. But
Gabby Browne: they're comparing it to saying this is The perfect way to go for a Yakuza. This is the way to go if you're one of the group. It's
Aaron Couser: true. It probably is more of an honorable way than just throwing up blood.
Dying. Dying
Gabby Browne: in a bed. I never know what Matsunaga's thinking because he just blatantly opens the door and just Stands in the doorway staring at everyone. It's like quiet and everyone's like, they all just look down and Oh God. It goes, boss, you got to knock some sense into this punk. Thinking that he can come in here and then stand behind the door, listening to us and then reveal himself in that way.
How dare he? He literally tosses money at Masunaga's feet and is literally like. Go buy yourself some [00:41:00] eggs. Yeah, you need to feel better. Apparently eggs are Get some food. Eggs, they're the pre Yeah, cause you look so goddamn skinny. Well, they could've
Aaron Couser: killed him right there. Yeah, they absolutely could've.
He runs out. He escapes. It's the end of the line, you would think.
Gabby Browne: He was literally eavesdropping on the boss. And it looks like some things are about to change up.
Aaron Couser: He's lost his loyalty now to his Yakuza. Dying. His health is at the end. His
Gabby Browne: boss thinks he's an absolute weenie. He is. the lowest he's ever been. So where do you turn when you are at your lowest? The market? The bottle! Yes, the market as well. But you turn to the bottle, so he runs off to the ye olde gin to get his fix because he needs something to drown out this tormented pain that he is feeling currently.
This lowest low. I just need one. Matsunaga runs into the bar. He's looking [00:42:00] like shit. Boss is furious. Everyone in the town knows that Matsunaga is a done deal. Like, he's gone. He's been cut off. He is no longer a part of the game. He's blacklisted. He eavesdropped on the boss, dude. You can't do that. All he wants is a little snooter, a little whiskey.
He just wants a little snifter. He just wants a little, a little sniff. And, uh, she says, no, you look like shit and you're not in the gang anymore. You can't drink here and then she still says okay fine and he takes just one little sip and he starts He's not doing good. He's like at the end right now You can tell jen has really always had a soft spot for this man.
She's tired of this lifestyle How could
Aaron Couser: you not be she wants to get out of here? She wants to go to the countryside I think maybe her mom or something someone in the family owns a house out in the country Come with me. Save yourself. I see the good in you. Come with me and start over and you'll be healthy.
You'll, you'll get better. He considers it. Yeah.
Gabby Browne: She finishes the [00:43:00] shot too, because she's like, I am overwhelmed. I can't believe I just asked you to do this. I just asked the black male Yakuza gang member to come run away in the country. And then. He only responds by asking for another shot. He almost seems
Aaron Couser: like he's considering it.
Gabby Browne: She says later this is the only time she ever felt like he was actually listening to her.
Aaron Couser: See, he was thinking about what that would be like. Mm
Gabby Browne: hmm. He won't have to struggle. Her father owns a ranch. They'd be fine in no time. And then bar manager boy comes in and he's like, he, Gaba said he's out. And she's like, well, I'm going to pay for everything, actually, asks him where he's staying and that she's going to come to the doctor's house later that night to finalize their details to run off to the country together.
Oh, wow. An idealistic thought in this movie. I'm sure that's going to turn out so well. I'm sure of it.
Aaron Couser: Matsunaga leaves. Feels, I don't know, a [00:44:00] brink of hope that maybe he is actually thinking about going to the country. Picks another flower out of the flower shop. But this time,
Gabby Browne: things are a little different.
You gotta pay for that, dude. You're not getting little bows anymore. It's all about the money. You gotta pay. Matsunaga does not like that, so he slams up to that flower shop boy. This is finally when someone says it out loud. This is Okada's turf. He runs this and he said you are the problem. You're done.
It's not the boss. You're out because of
Aaron Couser: Okada. We are ordered to ignore you. It's like almost maybe even a fate worse than death in a way. Yeah. Because you are just like a ghost walking around now. You're just a ghoul, like a skeleton. You... Or nobody. You see Okada
Gabby Browne: playing guitar. Yeah, he's playing the killer song.
And she's playing with that knife that he has. And she tosses it onto the bed. By the mirror?
Aaron Couser: Yeah. She's [00:45:00] caressing Okada. He is now the man. He is now the king of the castle. He's got his queen. The new reign is upon everybody. And then Matsunaga walks in.
Gabby Browne: Looks like he's on a mission now. A mission of true rage and anger and no thoughtfulness whatsoever.
And we only see it from the hallway after that. Natsunaga walking into Nene's apartment. It's all quiet. You don't know what's happening. You think you
Aaron Couser: hear screams and a scuffle, but it's pretty quiet. You see Matsunaga stand by the mirror, and there's like a three set mirror. Three images of himself, like, who are, who am I?
Very
Gabby Browne: identity driven thematic throughout this plot. And then they, it runs out. Ah, she's running out! And she trips over that paint.
Aaron Couser: Kurosawa, to say this, is Coming into his style, this is still an early movie for him. Oh, definitely. Some of the stuff is [00:46:00] kind of like kind of pushed onto you a little bit, you know, and it's not as subtle as later on and maybe his movies.
So, you know, kind of like with that dream, like that's just really in your face. Absolutely. It's a lot. And then the mirror's saying here about identity. I don't know if he sees himself three different ways or what, but, uh, you know, he's, he's kind of looking himself now in the mirror clearer. And he's about to kill the leader of the Yakuza.
The identity of what the Yakuza represents. He's
Jonathan VanSickle: facing the identity of himself and all these things coming to a head. Sickness and imminent death. His purpose for the Yakuza at this point was... To be this, to be a wild lone wolf killer. It just happened to kind of bite the hand that feeds in this scenario.
I mean, I think it's a lot of these different things kind of coming to a head. For one of the first times in this movie, it feels like he has purpose and a task at hand as opposed to To shying away from the responsibility of what the reality
Aaron Couser: of his situation was. Now, this isn't Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Nope.[00:47:00]
Gabby Browne: This is a little more, uh, drunk, sloshy.
Aaron Couser: When you watch Brawn, or like, even like Seven Samurai, like, there's some good fighting there. You're, yeah, pretty. Standard. Yeah,
Gabby Browne: this is like, let's just let him go for it. Let's see what these guys
Jonathan VanSickle: go and do about it. A sick guy versus an old drunk guy. How
Gabby Browne: would that look?
How's this gonna go? It's probably not too cool. It wasn't cool at all. And then finally at the end when they're covered in white, dripping in white paint. Okada finally gets him.
Right in the belly. One and done is all it needed to be.
Aaron Couser: Pretty beautiful death
Gabby Browne: scene. I really enjoyed it, him just like going out into the balcony and just falling and breaking the side and just laying out to Played for everyone to see the white paint
Jonathan VanSickle: against that
Aaron Couser: dark, dirty, nasty, and the white sheets that flailed above him
Gabby Browne: too.
This is his final release [00:48:00] here. Be throwing up the white flag and surrender. This is him finally giving up fully in every sense of the way, whether it's. To the Yakuza, to his disease, he's finally just given
Aaron Couser: up. Trying to destroy the Yakuza was an honorable way to go for him because he finally realized where the core of his illness came from.
Acknowledging that by trying to destroy it saved his soul at the end. I mean,
Jonathan VanSickle: obviously, throughout the whole movie, we get it beaten over our head, how much the Doctor is this drunken angel, but we end Matsunaga's story with this angelic moment as well of purity, and like you said, this release and this catharsis of all of his struggles coming to a head and him trying to do the right thing for once.
I love the way this scene ends and just the way his story ends with it, it's
Gabby Browne: perfect. It may have been the right thing, but Masunaga is never smart about a single thing. Like, my god, seriously dude, there's no way you could have won this fight. And he [00:49:00] knew that too. You'd rather go out trying than go out laying on a bed.
Poor doctor. He's at the pharmacy, he's just picking up some eggs. He's like, oh, they're for a patient. He's gonna be so pissed. He's just gonna be like, God, I told him one thing in my notes that I wrote in all caps! If you leave, if you get out of bed, I'm I'm done! I'm done! We don't even get to see that reaction.
There's been a time change. There's been a jump. A flash forward. Yeah, it's a jump. Time jump. Forward. And we see Jin. She's just looking down at the pond being really, really sad. And Doc is over there like, Don't drown yourself in that filthy stuff! Wow, thanks. You always come in with the perfect [00:50:00] timing, huh dude?
You always know what to say. You always know what to say. Like, the perfect thing to say. Her
Aaron Couser: real sadness in this is that she really felt like he was on the verge of fixing his problems. Like he was right there and he was just a few decisions away from making the great lifestyle change that would have protected his life.
That's the real sadness to her is the wasted opportunity because she saw the goodness in him. All the
Gabby Browne: potential that he had and for her life with
Aaron Couser: him. The Yakuza will always do the wrong thing in the end. That's why they're so pointless and so senseless coming from Sonata. He knows that that's a dying idea.
He knows it because he was in it like Matsunaga. He still had that affliction of alcoholism that he could never really shake. He still lived. And he still survived and lived a good life. And
Gabby Browne: he did things for the good of other people. He went from the path of wrong to the path of, of at least helping a little bit.
They say [00:51:00] too in that moment that the Yakuza would not. claim Matsunaga's body and so poor home girl had to go get him cremated with her own money. They're literally drowning in money and refuse to help her. And of course, doctor always has some fucking quip to say, you can never change anyone. You were blinded by love, and she says no, love made everything clear.
He was on the verge of breaking away from it all. She was ready, and she knew it was the only time he ever listened to her, or anyone probably outside of
Aaron Couser: himself. Sonata still refuses to forgive Matsunaga. He gave Matsunaga a chance to live and be better. Even though he might have died honorably in some aspect, he chose the wrong path.
And in that, he cannot forgive because of all the horrible things that transpired because of it. Jin[00:52:00]
Jonathan VanSickle: says, I'm, I'm going home. I'm getting out of here. I can't do this anymore. I can't stand it. Thank you for everything, doctor. But I'm leaving. That was originally the end of the movie. That was kind of the tone it was supposed to end on. But due to the time that this came out and all the kind of censorship and things that were happening in Japan and the westernization, this scene with the young girl was added on.
Much to Kurosawa's chagrin. Because he did not like the optimistic note that they forced him to end this on. Interesting. He wanted it to end as dark and as dirty as the rest of the movie was. That, you know, Jin left. Matsunaga's dead. Yeah, Matsunaga's dead. The Yakuza's still running things. Things are getting worse than ever now.
And that's it. The end.
Gabby Browne: I do like it though, because he's like, no, I don't forgive him. It's the duality that doctors need to have because you can't save every patient. There are going to be those little shit patients that you see that yourself in. You can't [00:53:00] save them because they give them no, yeah, no matter how much you give them because they refuse to help themselves.
And then there are the patients that choose to help themselves that do take the medicine that will go to their specified doctor's appointments and that will get better. There is that hope. If a doctor quit every time they lost someone, like Matsunaga, there would not be any doctors out there anymore.
You gotta keep truckin along. There's always gonna be the 17 year old schoolgirl who is gonna put in the work and is gonna get better and that's why he's a fucking doctor.
Aaron Couser: It's good to see the contrast. I see where... Kurosawa, as an artist, didn't want that last scene being paid for the bet. She's totally healed.
But it's good to see that the point of the story is doing what is reasonable and responsible over what feels good and is socially acceptable. Yeah,
Gabby Browne: it gets you that instant gratification versus the longevity. It's not always easy. It's a marathon, not a sprint. You gotta actually take your time and do the work.
[00:54:00] It honestly made it a little bit darker. Yeah, it ended on a positive note. He made a woman cry about the man that she cared about, and she's gonna go bury his ashes, and he's like, Hey, I'm gonna go get some sweets with this little girl, you wanna come with me? Like, that's honestly funny as hell too. Makes it a little darker even in my sense, where he's just like, yeah, I know that your life is terrible now, but I'm gonna go on my fucking job.
It's just a part of it.
Aaron Couser: We're done with the sadness. Yeah. And now we're going to do what's the right thing to do.
Jonathan VanSickle: Yeah, we're going to celebrate someone who did things the right way. Yeah, exactly. You can feel the shift as soon as it happens. Even in the movie, you're like, whoa,
Gabby Browne: shoot, okay. He's like, well, there are good patients out there, and that's why I still do my job.
Your filthy minds always imagine angels coming up looking like dance hall girls. [00:55:00] But they're like me.
All of our resources will be found in the show notes or on the website. Please check them out if you have any questions. Honest to God, if we're talking about angels, you're expecting it to come down looking like fucking Cameron Diaz and it's actually gonna be a lot more like an alcoholic doctor. Truly, the angels aren't, aren't the pretty, tempting, you know, sirens of the sea.
It's old alcoholic homeboy who's gonna pick your ass off the ground a hundred times in a row.
Aaron Couser: Glad I kept that on for that.