Donzoko (1957)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Maxim Gorky (play)
Akira Kurosawa (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

1 October 1957 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Una coppia di gretti usurai gestisce uno squallido dormitorio, nei pressi di una discarica. Una folla...

Plot Keywords:

Deception | Poverty | Remake | Lower Class | Japan

Awards:

5 wins

Cast

Toshirô Mifune	...	Sutekichi the Thief
Isuzu Yamada	...	Osugi the Landlady
Kyôko Kagawa	...	Okayo, Osugi's Sister
Ganjiro Nakamura	...	Rokubei, Osugi's Husband
Minoru Chiaki	...	Former Samurai
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	The Actor
Akemi Negishi	...	Osen the Prostitute
Nijiko Kiyokawa	...	Otaki the Candy-Seller
Koji Mitsui	...	Yoshisaburo the Gambler
Eijirô Tôno	...	Tomekichi the Tinker
Haruo Tanaka	...	Tatsu
Eiko Miyoshi	...	Asa, Tomekichi's Wife
Bokuzen Hidari	...	Kahei the Pilgrim
Atsushi Watanabe	...	Kuna
Kichijiro Ueda	...	Shimazo the Police Agent
Yû Fujiki	...	Unokichi
Fujitayama	...	Tsugaru

Directed by
Akira Kurosawa

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Maxim Gorky		play "The Lower Depths"
Akira Kurosawa		writer
Hideo Oguni		writer

Produced by
Akira Kurosawa	....	producer
Sôjirô Motoki	....	associate producer
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Masaru Satô

Cinematography by
Kazuo Yamasaki

Film Editing by
Akira Kurosawa

Production Design by
Yoshirô Muraki

Costume Design by
Yoshiko Samejima

Makeup Department
Yoshiko Matsumoto	....	hair stylist
Junjiro Yamada	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Hiroshi Nezu	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Yoshimitsu Banno	....	assistant director (as Yoshimitsu Sakano)
Toshi Kaneko	....	assistant director
Yasuyoshi Tajitsu	....	assistant director

Art Department
Koichi Hamamura	....	property master
Jun Sakuma	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Ichirô Minawa	....	sound effects editor
Mimachi Norase	....	chief sound assistant
Fumio Yanoguchi	....	sound
Shoichi Yoshizawa	....	sound assistant

Camera and Electrical Department
Masao Fukuda	....	still photographer
Shigeru Mori	....	lighting technician
Katsumi Murakami	....	assistant lighting technician
Takao Saitô	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Chozo Kobata	....	negative cutter

Other crew
Mitsugu Narita	....	production assistant
Teruyo Nogami	....	script supervisor
Yuichi Yoshitake	....	acting office

Production Companies

• Toho Company

Distributors

• Brandon Films (US version)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Home Vision Cinema (USA) (VHS)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2007) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2007) (New Zealand) (all media)
• Toho Company (1962) (USA) (subtitled)
• Toho Company (Japan)

Other Companies

• Kyoto Costumes  costumes
• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

The Lower Depths (USA)

Runtime:

137 min | 125 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Toho Studios, Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

The gambler's second line during the final song is "Jigoku no sata mo, kane shidai" (Money buys your fate in hell), an ironic Buddhist proverb about the power of money in the world.

Movie Connections:

Version of Na dne (1978)

Very underrated Kurosawa masterpiece

LOWER DEPTHS perhaps isn't the place to start if you're completely unfamiliar with Kurosawa - but it still ranks as one of his great films, and definitely one of his most underrated.

Based on a Maxim Gorky play (an earlier Jean Renoir film draws upon the same source material), LOWER DEPTHS seems a bit stagey at first, but Kurosawa manages to enliven it considerably - the performances are all top-notch, and the combination of skillful editing (straight cuts only here, but the usual Kurosawa multi-camera shooting method) and inventive set design (with diagonals and angles trapping characters, heighetning the intensity of the dialogue and acting) making this an unforgettable film to watch - easily as accomplished as the better known THRONE OF BLOOD from a little earlier. One will definitely note how tightly constructed - in all ways - this film is.

This film does (along with IKIRU, RED BEARD and HIGH & LOW) illuminate some of Kurosawa's underlying philosophies, specifically a sense of social realism in cinema that can cast a critical gaze upon injustice, and in this film a sense of anger and frustration is articulated with an unusual degree of eloquence, testament to both Kurosawa's technical virtuosity, and his greater awareness of the world.

But for all of the cruelty on display here, there's an equal amount of humor, typically irreverent and loaded with sly social commentary, but also spontaneous: the two impromptu musical episodes, which blend Japanese theatrical conventions with a Chaplin-like sense of visual choreography to very striking effect.

Not as well known as SEVEN SAMURAI, THRONE OF BLOOD or YOJIMBO, but just as accomplished - filled with delight and insight.