Dodes'ka-Den [Criterion Collection]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Dodes'ka-Den (aka Dodesukaden) was Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's first project since Red Beard (1965), and his first ever in color. Kurosawa focuses this time on Tokyo slum life. We watch as a variety of unfortunates debase themselves to survive, yet, somehow, emerge with more innate dignity than the so-called "better" people. While it seems inconceivable that Dodes'ka-Den would fail at the box office, fail it did upon its original release. The Japanese distributors hastily pared down the film's 244 minutes to 140 (unfortunately destroying the original negative in the process), but this version also came a cropper. It was the negative reaction to Dodes'ka-Den, which allegedly prompted Kurosawa to attempt suicide. Happily, he survived to reclaim his industry stature with 1976's Dersu Uzala. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Screen: Color
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Subtitle: Eng
• Features:
  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer
  • Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful To Create, a 36-minute documentary, created as part o fthe Toho Masterworks series, about the making of Dodes'ka-den, including interviews with director Akira Kurosawa, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, actor Yoshitaka Zushi, and other members of the cast and crew
  • Theatrical trailer
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • Plus: a booklet featuring new essay by film historian Stephen Prince and a new interview with Nogami

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Nominated Best Foreign Language Film - 1971 (Akira Kurosawa)

• Venice International Film Festival

•     Film Presented - 1971 (Akira Kurosawa)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Yoshitaka Zushi - Rokkuchan
       Kin Sugai - Rokkuchan's Mother
       Toshiyuki Tonomura - Taro Sawagami
       Akemi Negishi - Girl

• Director:

  Akira Kurosawa

• Producer:

  Kon Ichikawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, Masaki Kobayashi, Akira Kurosawa

• Screenwriter:

  Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto

• Book Author:

  Shugoro Yamamoto

• Cinematographer:

  Takao Saito, Yasumichi Fukuzawa

• Composer (Music Score):

  Toru Takemitsu

• Production Designer:

  Shinobu Muraki, Yoshiro Muraki

• Art Director:

  Yoshiro Muraki

• Script Supervisor:

  Teruyo Nogami

REVIEW:

• Even if the only available version of Akira Kurosawa's underrated drama of life in a city slum is a truncated one, the film's episodic structure doesn't noticeably suffer from severe editing the way a tightly woven narrative would. If nothing else, Dodes'ka-Den would be important as the master's first film in color; for Kurosawa, the decision wasn't taken casually. To reflect the moods of his cast of struggling characters, he alters the colors of the sky which shelters them. The obvious link to a previous Kurosawa film is his 1957 version of Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths, if only for its portrayal of people at the lowest rung of society. But by the late '60s, Kurosawa was clearly in a more hopeful mood, infusing many of this film's potentially downbeat situations with elements of optimism. It's a bitter irony that negative public reaction to such a film resulted in Kurosawa's nearly ending his life. Had his career ended with this film, it would have concluded on a work of middle rank; even so, that places Dodes'ka-Den high above the entire output of most other filmmakers. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi