Films/DVD Asylum

Kurosawa's "Donzoko."

4.254.159.66

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Thread: Display Email Next ] [ Films/DVD Asylum ]

(A)

Based on the Gorky play "The Lower Depths", "Donzoko" is an unrelentingly dark picture of the human predicament as shown through the lives of a group of society's outcasts living in squalor. Certainly, there is much bitter, ironic humor among the characters, and many brilliant performances (Toshiro Mifune and the actor portraying the philosopher, especially) but the vision of human nature so beaten down is not a message easily received. Many of the scenes are also of a theatricality which wear and jangle.
Yet... the attraction of the film is irresistibly powerful. The lives that Gorky and Kurosawa painted still exist, even in the richest country in the world.

Follow Ups:

Have you seen Jean Renoir's adaptation of the same story? -nt- - Donald 18:31:13 01/27/06 (3)
/
- No. C'mon, what's the title and your opinion? nt - tinear 04:40:30 01/28/06 (2)
  as
  - It's called The Lower Depths (Les bas-fonds). - Donald 07:12:06 01/28/06 (1)
    It's included with the Kurosawa film as part of a nice 2-disc set put out by Criterion. I greatly prefer it to Kurosawa's adaptation; there's a lot more going on with it, it's less stiff, Jean Gabin gives an outstanding performance, and his character is more complex than Mifune's counterpart. The claustrophobic, overly theatrical feel of the Kurosawa version doesn't quite work for me, though it's certainly not a bad film.
    - I had some problems as you did with the claustrophobia and - tinear 08:09:47 01/28/06 (0)
      darkness of Kurosawa and then thought a bit and realized... that's exactly how it must feel to be IN the lower depths.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Parts Connexion

You can not post to an archived thread.