Dodesukaden (1970)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Shinobu Hashimoto (writer)
Akira Kurosawa (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

9 June 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

Episodes from the lives of a group of Tokyo slum-dwellers: Rokkuchan, a retarded boy who brings meaning...

Plot Keywords:

Poverty | Artificial Flower | Garbage Dump | Alcohol | Ghetto

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins

Cast

Yoshitaka Zushi	...	Rokkuchan
Kin Sugai	...	Okuni, Rokkuchan's Mother
Toshiyuki Tonomura	...	Taro Sawagami
Shinsuke Minami	...	Ryotaro Sawagami
Yûko Kusunoki	...	Misao Sawagami
Junzaburo Ban	...	Yukichi Shima
Kiyoko Tange	...	Mrs. Shima
Michio Hino	...	Mr. Ikawa
Keiji Furuyama	...	Mr. Matsui
Tappei Shimokawa	...	Mr. Nomoto
Kunie Tanaka	...	Hatsutaro Kawaguchi
Jitsuko Yoshimura	...	Yoshie Kawaguchi
Hisashi Igawa	...	Masuo Masuda
Hideko Okiyama	...	Tatsu Masuda
Tatsuo Matsumura	...	Kyota Watanaka
Tomoko Yamazaki	...	Katsuko Watanaka
Masahiko Kametani	...	Okabe
Hiroshi Akutagawa	...	Hei
Noboru Mitani	...	Beggar
Hiroyuki Kawase	...	Beggar's Son
Imari Tsuji	...	Otane Watanaka
Akemi Negishi	...	Good-Looking Housewife
Kazuo Kato	...	Painter
Michiko Araki	...	Restaurant proprietress
Masakazu Kuwayama	...	Western-style restaurant owner
Tomoko Naraoka	...	Ocho (as Akiko Naraoka)
Koji Mitsui	...	Foodstand owner
Jerry Fujio	...	Yoshio Kumamba
Mashahiko Tanimura	...	Vegetable man Mr. So
Atsushi Watanabe	...	Tamba
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	Old Man
Sanji Kojima	...	Thief
Kayako Sono	...	Wife of Kuman-mine
Toshiko Sakurai	...	3rd Wife
Reiko Niimura	...	1st Wife
Kanji Ehata	...	2nd Man calling out
Masahiko Ichimura	...	3rd Man calling out
Masanari Nihei	...	4th Man calling out
Satoshi Hasegawa	...	Jiro Sawagami
Kumiko Ono	...	Hanako Sawagami
Tatsuhiko Yanahisa	...	Shiro Sawagami
Miika Oshida	...	Umeko Sawagami
Kiyotaka Ishii	...	Kumanbachi's first child
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hideaki Esumi	...	Detective (as Hideaki Ezumi)
Akira Hitomi	...	1st Man Calling Out
Shin Ibuki	...	5th Man Calling Out
Hiroshi Kiyama	...	Sushi Shop Proprietor
Yoshiko Maki	...	2nd Wife
Matsue Ono	...	4th Wife
Keiji Sakakida	...	Sake Shop Proprietor
Toki Shiozawa	...	Waitress
Toriko Takahara	...	5th Wife
Minoru Takashima	...	Policeman
Minoko Kaizuka	...	Kumanbachi's second child (uncredited)

Directed by
Akira Kurosawa

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Shinobu Hashimoto		writer
Akira Kurosawa		writer
Hideo Oguni		writer
Shugoro Yamamoto		novel "City Without Seasons"

Produced by
Kon Ichikawa	....	executive producer
Keisuke Kinoshita	....	executive producer
Masaki Kobayashi	....	executive producer
Akira Kurosawa	....	executive producer
Akira Kurosawa	....	producer
Yôichi Matsue	....	producer

Original Music by
Tôru Takemitsu

Cinematography by
Yasumichi Fukuzawa
Takao Saitô

Film Editing by
Reiko Kaneko

Art Direction by
Shinobu Muraki
Yoshirô Muraki

Costume Design by
Miyuki Suzuki

Makeup Department
Sakai Nakao	....	hair stylist
Shozo Takahashi	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Hiroshi Nezu	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Koji Hashimoto	....	assistant director
Yoshihiro Kawasaki	....	assistant director
Kenjiro Omori	....	assistant director
Nobumitsu Takizawa	....	assistant director

Art Department
Akio Nojima	....	property master
Tsuneo Shimura	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Ichirô Minawa	....	sound effects editor
Hiromitsu Mori	....	sound recordist
Mamoru Yamada	....	sound assistant
Fumio Yanoguchi	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Naomi Hashiyama	....	still photographer
Shinji Kojima	....	assistant lighting technician
Hiromitsu Mori	....	lighting technician
Daisaku Omura	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Reiko Kaneko	....	assistant editor

Transportation Department
Isamu Miwano	....	transportation

Other crew
Shoichi Koga	....	production assistant
Shôji Nakayama	....	production assistant
Teruyo Nogami	....	script supervisor
Etsuo Yamamoto	....	acting office

Production Companies

• Toho Company
• Yonki-no-Kai Productions

Distributors

• Toho Company (1970) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Toho Company (1971) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Les Films Molière (1974) (France) (theatrical)
• Janus Films (1974) (USA) (all media) (subtitled)
• Embassy Home Entertainment (1986) (USA) (VHS)
• Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI) (1972) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Continental Home Vídeo (Brazil) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (USA) (laserdisc)
• Sandrews (2004) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Tocantins (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)

Special Effects

• Toho Dabing

Other Companies

• Toho Recording Center  sound post-production
• Toho Sound Effects Group  sound effects
• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

Clickety-Clack (literal English title)
Dô desu ka den (Japan) (alternative transliteration)
Dodes'ka-den (Japan) (alternative transliteration)

Runtime:

140 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Sweden:15 | UK:A

Filming Locations:

Horie-cho, Edogawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Shooting began on April, 23rd, 1970, and was shot in about a month, which is an incredibly short period of time for a Kurosawa picture, given the facts that a) Kurosawa is a perfectionist and b) his prior film, Akahige (1965), took 2 years to go through all the phases involved in finishing a motion picture.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Music for the Movies: Tôru Takemitsu (1994)

No samurai, just great characters

This is a movie about the small scale. What could be more fitting for contemporary Japan?

It's too easy to give Kurosawa his laurels on the strength of the Toshiro Mifune films, his great panoramas of mist and rain, and Fuji, always, shrouded, revealed. Dodesukaden (Dodeska-Den in the US release from Janus) brings you right up into the characters, right into their faces, their homes, their hovels, their dreams. It's billed as Kurosawa's first color film. The composition is phenomenal, really. Each shot, no matter how it moves or how it doesn't, is as wonderfully framed as a painting, as balanced as a beautiful face. The color saturation is complete, and yet they seem to float above the screen rather than clobber you or intrude.

I am astounded by this film. I've never thought of Kurosawa as someone who would know how to handle squalor and the rude life of the bottom of the underclass. I was wrong. There isn't a false step in this picture, from the use of color to the editing to the choice of music and the times it's used. It's as moving a portrait of a community as I'll ever see. Dodesukaden belongs at the top of the canon of Kurosawaa's work, with Ran and The Hidden Fortress next to it.