The Lower Depths (1957) Donzoko (original title)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Akira Kurosawa
Maxim Gorky (play)
(more)

Release Date:

1 October 1957 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In a Japanese slum, various residents play out their lives, dreaming of better things or settling for their lot. Among them is a man who pines for a young woman but is stymied by her deceptive family.

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
Ganjirô Nakamura	...	Rokubei, Osugi's Husband
Minoru Chiaki	...	Tonosama - the former Samurai
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	The Actor
Akemi Negishi	...	Osen the Prostitute
Nijiko Kiyokawa	...	Otaki the Candy-Seller
Kôji 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
Kichijirô 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
Hideo Oguni

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
Georges Goldfayn	....	french subtitles by (uncredited)
H.L. Govaers	....	french subtitles by (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Toho Company

Distributors

• Toho Company (1957) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Toho Company (1962) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Nouvelles Editions de Films (NEF) (1981) (France) (theatrical)
• Janus Films (1988) (worldwide) (all media)
• Sony Video Software Company (SVSC) Inc. (1988) (USA) (VHS)
• Sony Video Software Company (SVSC) Inc. (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Filmfrikki (2000) (Finland) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Krause & Schneider Multimedia (KSM) (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2007) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2007) (New Zealand) (all media)
• Mondo Home Entertainment (2008) (Italy) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Connaissance du Cinéma (????) (France) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Brandon Films (US version)
• Home Vision Cinema (USA) (VHS)
• L'Avant-Scène/Les Films de ma Vie (????) (France) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Kyoto Costumes  costumes
• TVS-Titra Film  French subtitles; original version with subtitles
• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

"Donzoko" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

137 min | 125 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M (2007) | West Germany:16 | Finland:K-3 (new rating: 2001) | Finland:S (until 2001) | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Toho Studios, Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Finnish censorship certificate # 87030 delivered on 6-2-1979.

Movie Connections:

Version of The Lower Depths (1936)

The positive functions of "useful lies"

Having watched Kurosawa's retelling of Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot" a couple weeks ago, and come away feeling that one viewing was already a bit too much, I was not expecting much from this. After all, Gorky is generally regarded as a notch or three below Dostoyevsky.

But whereas "The Idiot" did not begin to mesh with a Japanese idiom, "The Lower Depths" fits in very well indeed. Much of the film involves the hopes, dreams, schemes and machinations of a handful of characters, all fixated on escaping the tenement and its soul-numbing poverty.

An enigmatic old man who appears one day and spends some time in the hovel has a salutary effect on several of the residents, merely by dint of a level of kindness and sympathy that any of us would take for granted. When he leaves, the spark of compassion he has kindled dies quickly. Yet before he arrives and after he has left, there nonetheless remains a minimal spirit of camaraderie. I have not read Gorky's novel, but the "depths" here may (be taken to) refer to this bare-minimum level of feeling for one's fellow paupers.

Running through the script is the theme of lies and (self-)deceptiotn, and how they can ease the bitter reality that society's outcasts must face every day. This above all works well here, for the Japanese themselves have a utilitarian (so to speak) view of truth and falsehoods. The hoary Japanese adage "uso mo houben", often rendered "a white lie can be expedient", could have been a tagline for this movie; for the alcoholic ex-actor and several others have little other than self-delusion to help them get through another day.

Kurosawa manages to inject a measure of droll comedy while keeping the grim facts unprettified, showing us how the luckless souls at the very bottom of society grasp at the slimmest of hopes and somehow manage (...or don't manage) to keep on going. Superb.