Movielogr
Dodes'ka-den (1970)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Twitter Facebook Google+Overview
On a Tokyo dump’s shantytown edge, interwoven vignettes follow residents scraping by: a boy who “drives” an imaginary trolley, a homeless father and son designing a dream house, a young woman brutalized at home, drunks, schemers, and saints of small kindnesses. Kurosawa crafts a ragged mosaic of hardship, fantasy, and flickers of grace that keep people moving forward.
Length 140 minutes
Actors
Yoshitaka Zushi | Kin Sugai | Toshiyuki Tonomura | Shinsuke Minami | Yûko Kusunoki | Junzaburô Ban | Kiyoko Tange | Michio Hino | Keiji Furuyama | Tappei Shimokawa | Kunie Tanaka | Jitsuko Yoshimura | Hisashi Igawa | Hideko Okiyama | Tatsuo Matsumura | Imari Tsuji | Tomoko Yamazaki | Masahiko Kametani | Hiroshi Akutagawa | Tomoko Naraoka | Noboru Mitani | Hiroyuki Kawase | Akemi Negishi | Eimei Esumi | Minoru Takashima | Kazuo Katô | Michiko Araki | Toki Shiozawa | Masakazu Kuwayama | Hiroshi Kiyama | Kôji Mitsui | Jerry Fujio | Masahiko Tanimura | Atsushi Watanabe | Kamatari Fujiwara | Sanji Kojima | Kayako Sono | Yoshiko Maki | Toshiko Sakurai | Toriko Takahara | Matsue Ono | Reiko Niimura | Akira Hitomi | Shôji Ichimura | Shin Ibuki | Masaya Nihei | Takashi Ebata
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/22/2021 | Movie Screen | Film | Theater | 8 stars |
| (Average) 8 stars |
Viewing Notes
Was p cool that CU Boulder / International Film Series programmed my last unseen Kurosawa film in 35mm. Wasn’t gonna pass up the opportunity to see this. I knew very little going in but this is Kurosawa’s first color film and made during a dark period in his career (apparently he attempted suicide after this movie was released and poorly received). This is very much a companion piece to his LOWER DEPTHS dealing with a group of people living in the slums yet made do the best they can.
It has some humorous moments but this is generally a somber and occasionally sad story. Now having seen all of the AK’s films (I don’t count that early film he co-directed only films where he is the sole director) this is the one that shares a look & feel associated with Nobuhiko Obayashi; the bright colors and disorienting backgrounds esp. the actual Dodes’ka-den segments probably inspired Obayashi.
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