THE LOWER DEPTHS
(Japanese Title: Donzoko)(1957)
With Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Kyoko Kagawa, Bokuzen Hidari, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Black and White
Reviewed by JB
Not
one of Kurosawa's
more celebrated films, THE LOWER DEPTHS is an
entertaining and humorous adaptation of a Maxim Gorky
play (previously filmed several times, most notably by Jean Renoir in
1936) about a group of drifters,
dreamers, gamblers and drunks who live
out their lives in a rundown shack.
Unlike his complete re-imagining of Macbeth as THRONE OF BLOOD,
Kurosawa opted for a more straightforward adaptation of this play, with
fadeouts clearly marking the end of each act. Also unlike
THRONE OF BLOOD, THE LOWER DEPTHS has plenty of dialogue, most of it
presumably the author's rather than Kurosawa's. Kurosawa
never
lets the film get
too "stagy", even when he opts for some incredibly long
takes.
Painter that he was at
heart, Kurosawa knew how to arrange a frame so that even static shots
remained visually
intriguing.
The film is virtually
plotless, a
string of incidents in the lives of the
downtrodden, but the superb cast keeps things
from ever getting boring, even at two hours and five minutes.
Despite the notable lack of Takashi Shimura (and what's up with that?),
THE LOWER DEPTHS is the ultimate "Kurosawa Players" film, with many of
the director's favorite Toho stars working together in a superb
ensemble. I haven't seen many non-Kurosawa Japanese films
from
this period, but I am willing to bet no other director so consistently
used these same players, usually with the most memorable, if not
handsome, faces, and gave them so much to do.
Although
Toshiro Mifune gets star billing and is excellent as a thief who woos
both the landlady and her sister, for my money, it is the comically
ugly Bokuzen Hidari who
deserves the most praise. As a kind and wise old man who is
merely passing through the shack, Hidari shows that he had more to
offer then just the comic relief he provided
in IKIRU
and SEVEN
SAMURAI.
Kamatari Fujiwara also scores as the
drunken actor who cannot remember any of his famous speeches.
And
four of five relatively unheralded members of Kurosawa's stock
company steal the film near the end with a rhythmical nonsense
song
and dance celebrating their hopeless
situation. The film even ends on a hilarious punchline that,
if
it were in an American film, would have wound up on the AFI's 100
Years, 100 Quotes list.
If you
love Kurosawa and his hearty band of of homely, lovable actors, you
will love this film. 
-
JB
http://thestuffyougottawatch.com
Copyright © 2010 John V. Brennan, John Larrabee