‘Stray Dog:’ Lost Guns and Lost Souls in Postwar Tokyo

Akira Kurosawa’s gritty film on the desperation and anxiety in post-war Tokyo.

Murakami (Toshiro Mifune) goes undercover, in “Stray Dog.” Toho

NR | 2h 2m | Drama, Mystery, Thriller | 1949

Before Akira Kurosawa’s name became shorthand for sweeping epics and stoic swordsmen, there was “Stray Dog,” a film that doesn’t stride into frame so much as sweat its way there. Made in the aftermath of World War II, “Stray Dog” unfolds in the defeated Japanese capital of Tokyo, pulsing with overwhelming heat, rampant hunger, and futile desperation. This isn’t the Japan of romantic nostalgia or mythic past; it’s one still healing its wounds.