Dodes'ka-den (1970) Dodesukaden (original title)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Akira Kurosawa (screenplay) &
Hideo Oguni (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

9 June 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Various tales in the lives of Tokyo slum dwellers, including a mentally deficient young man obsessed with driving his own commuter trolley.

Plot Keywords:

Slum | Poverty | Sleeping | Starvation | Starving Child

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins

Cast

Yoshitaka Zushi	...	Roku-chan
Kin Sugai	...	Okuni
Toshiyuki Tonomura	...	Taro Sawagami
Shinsuke Minami	...	Ryotaro Sawagami
Yûko Kusunoki	...	Misao Sawagami
Junzaburô 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
Imari Tsuji	...	Otane Watanaka
Tomoko Yamazaki	...	Katsuko Watanaka
Masahiko Kametani	...	Okabe
Hiroshi Akutagawa	...	Hei
Tomoko Naraoka	...	Ochô
Noboru Mitani	...	Beggar
Hiroyuki Kawase	...	Beggar's Son
Akemi Negishi	...	Good-Looking Housewife
Eimei Esumi	...	Detective
Minoru Takashima	...	Policeman
Kazuo Katô	...	Painter
Michiko Araki	...	Restaurant proprietress
Toki Shiozawa	...	Waitress
Masakazu Kuwayama	...	Western-style restaurant owner
Hiroshi Kiyama	...	Sushi Shop Proprietor
Kôji Mitsui	...	Foodstand owner
Jerry Fujio	...	Kichi the Carpenter Bee (as Jierî Fujio)
Masahiko Tanimura	...	Mr. Sô
Atsushi Watanabe	...	Mr. Tanba
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	Suicidal Old Man
Sanji Kojima	...	Thief
Kayako Sono	...	Kichi's Wife
Yoshiko Maki	...	2nd Wife
Toshiko Sakurai	...	3rd Wife
Toriko Takahara	...	5th Wife
Matsue Ono	...	4th Wife
Reiko Niimura	...	1st Wife
Akira Hitomi	...	1st Man Calling Out
Shôji Ichimura	...	3rd Man calling out
Shin Ibuki	...	5th Man Calling Out
Masanari Nihei	...	4th Man calling out
Takashi Ebata	...	2nd Man calling out (as Kanji Ebata)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Minoko Kaizuka	...	Kumanbachi's second child (uncredited)

Directed by
Akira Kurosawa

Writing credits
Akira Kurosawa		(screenplay) &
Hideo Oguni		(screenplay) &
Shinobu Hashimoto		(screenplay)
Shûgorô Yamamoto		(novel "Kisetsu no nai machi")

Produced by
Kon Ichikawa	....	planner
Keisuke Kinoshita	....	planner
Masaki Kobayashi	....	planner
Akira Kurosawa	....	planner
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
Kenjirô Ohmori	....	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)
• Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting (2011) (Japan) (TV)
• Sandrews (2004) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Tocantins (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• WoWow (2012) (Japan) (TV)

Special Effects

• Toho Dabing

Other Companies

• Schott Music  score published by
• Toho Recording Center  sound post-production
• Toho Sound Effects Group  sound effects
• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

"Dodesukaden" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

140 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Sweden:15 | UK:A | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:16 | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Horie-cho, Edogawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Akira Kurosawa's first color film and his last film with a final full-screen 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

Movie Connections:

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

Kurosawa's untypical masterpiece

This, and "Hidden fortress" are the Kurosawa's that are most dear to me. I don't hand out 10's like candy, but this certainly deserved it, if anything. Even though it's quite long (like all Kurosawa's pretty much are) it concurred the problem which bugs me with most of his films; the storyline is often too loose and slowly evolving, containing scenes that are unnecessary or just lenghtened too much without any real purpose to the storyline or the character description. Dodesukaden delivered to me the same experience that for example "Hidden fortress" did; despite its lenght, there wasn't a single minute I would cut out.

This is also a very unusual Kurosawa film in a way, it has no storyline, but many little independent stories which are based more to the character description than storyline, unlike any other Kurosawa-film I have seen so far. It also leans much on the dialogue, which he uses brilliantly (especially in the story between the father and the son planning their "new house").

Still the thing that makes this one a masterpiece is how the subject being so tragic as it is, is managed to be described so humanely and sympathetically, without pointing fingers at anybody at any point. From the beginning to the end it delivers the whole emotional scale from laughter to tears in perfect balance.