Donzoko (The Lower Depths) (1957)
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80% of critics liked it
(5 reviews) -
81% of users liked it
(1,986 ratings)
Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa transferred the setting of Maxim Gorky's play The Lower Depths from Imperial Russia to his own country's Edo Period--which, like Gorky's 19th-century setting, was an era of great cultural advances, offset by the miseries of those who weren't in the… More Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa transferred the setting of Maxim Gorky's play The Lower Depths from Imperial Russia to his own country's Edo Period--which, like Gorky's 19th-century setting, was an era of great cultural advances, offset by the miseries of those who weren't in the aristocracy. Kurosawa's film concentrates on Toshiro Mifune, playing a crooked gambler who falls in love with the sister (Kyoko Kagawa) of his cruel landlady (Isuzu Yamada). Herself carrying a torch for Mifune, the landlady exacts a roundabout revenge by killing her own husband and pinning the blame on the gambler. As the landlady descends into madness, those whom she has treated wretchedly laugh at her plight. Originally titled Donzoko, The Lower Depths was renamed Les Bas-Fonds for its French release--the same title bestowed upon Jean Renoir's 1937 adaptation of the Gorky play. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Akira Kurosawa
- Written By
- Maxim Gorky, Akira Kurosawa
- Genres
- Art House & International, Drama
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 1957 Wide
- On DVD
- Aug 10, 2004
- Studio
- Criterion Collection
Critic Reviews
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Bosley Crowther, New York Times
This is the purpose of the picture, to make one suffer and sympathize with them. Kurosawa's darkly imagistic technique achieves this depressing aim.
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Louis Proyect, rec.arts.movies.reviews
Bleak comedy about a virtual flophouse in Edo-period Japan based on Gorky's play. Top-flight ensemble performance.
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Jake Euker, Filmcritic.com
For the first hour and fifteen minutes of the movie, we make only limited excursions out of the tenement, and it begins to feel as though we've moved in ourselves. Kurosawa may have intended this, but it doesn't make for very satisfying viewing.
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Cast
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Toshiro Mifune
as Sutekichi the thief
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Isuzu Yamada
as Osugi the Landlady
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Kyoko Kagawa
as Okayo her sister
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Bokuzen Hidari
as Kahei the priest
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Ganjiro Nakamura
as Rokubei her husband
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Minoru Chiaki
as The Ex-Samurai
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Kamatari Fujiwara
as The Actor
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Yu Fujiki
as Unokichi
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Nijiko Kiyokawa
as Otaki
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Koji Mitsui
as Yoshisaburo the gambler
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Eiko Miyoshi
as Asa his wife
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Akemi Negishi
as Osen the prostitute
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Haruo Tanaka
as Tatsu
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Eijirô Tono
as Tomekichi the tinker
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Kichijiro Ueda
as Police Agent
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Atsushi Watanabe
as Kuma
