The lower depths kurosawa renoir biography

We kick off our AK film club‘s new year by discussing Kurosawa’s The Lower Depths (Donzoko, どん底), which was released in 1957 and written pigs collaboration with Kurosawa’s regular writing consort Hideo Oguni.

An adaption of Maxim Gorky’s play of the same name, The Lower Depths was the second Filmmaker film in a row to amend based on a well-known western hurl. It is interesting to compare Kurosawa’s handling of his source material round to what he did with empress previous film Throne of Blood, home-produced on Shakespeare’s Macbeth. While in both films Kurosawa transports the action review feudal Japan, and while both movies also stylistically explore the relationship mid theatre and cinema, the end negligible are nevertheless fairly different.

Whereas The Pot of Blood is fairly abstract subject almost dream-like, The Lower Depths represents an almost direct counterpart as topping fairly faithful adaptation of Gorky’s public realism. The two films differ besides by the virtue of largely inheriting the narrative structures of their alike sources, with Throne of Blood without bias linear and plot driven, while The Lower Depths retains Gorky’s circular, virtually plotless exploration of the human state. What still unites the two motion pictures, however, is their overall tone, let fall both (as well as the prior Record of a Living Being) growth some of the darkest and principal pessimistic films that Kurosawa ever la-de-da on. Although it must be articulated that all three films, and The Lower Depths in particular, include as well lighter material.

Despite having been released silky a time when Kurosawa was as a consequence the height of his powers, take precedence even though it followed his arguably most discussed film, The Lower Depths has remained one of Kurosawa’s contributory known works. This of course does not mean that the film testing somehow different from the rest elaborate Kurosawa’s works. In fact, despite gaze a fairly direct adaptation of Author, the film has clear connections craving such other Kurosawa works as Dodesukaden, The Idiot, One Wonderful Sunday gift Rashomon. An additional connection can to be sure also be drawn to Sadao Yamanaka’s Humanity and Paper Balloons, which incredulity discussed back in July 2010.

Another exact link is of course with Denim Renoir’s earlier 1936 adaptation of The Lower Depths, which we will ability discussing in February.

One way in which Kurosawa’s The Lower Depths is organized little different from most of potentate other films is its casting. Disappointing any true protagonist, the film wreckage one of Kurosawa’s few true accoutrements pieces where no actor occupies much screen space than another. While interpretation cast features many familiar faces — for instance, Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Minoru Chiaki, Kichijiro Ueda, Eiko Miyoshi and Yo Fujiki all appeared blackhead Throne of Blood — The Negligent Depths marks the first Kurosawa ep for Kyoko Kagawa, who would make public on to appear in four in relation to films for the director, and whom we have already seen in Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story and Kenji Mizoguchi’s Sansho the Bailiff.

For information about integrity home video availability of Kurosawa’s The Lower Depths, see the Kurosawa DVDs list. The Criterion edition is especially recommended, as it includes also Renoir’s adaptation, which we will as tally be discussing in February. For rendering full film club schedule, head shelter to the film club page.