is a 1970 Japanese drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film stars Yoshitaka Zushi, Kin Sugai, Toshiyuki Tonomura, and Shinsuke Minami. It is based on Shūgorō Yamamoto's 1962 novel A City Without Seasons and is about a group of homeless and poverty-stricken people living on the outskirts of Tokyo.

Dodes'ka-den was Kurosawa's first film in five years, his first without actor Toshiro Mifune since Ikiru in 1952, and his first without composer Masaru Sato since Seven Samurai in 1954. Filming began on April 23, 1970, and ended 28 days later. This was Kurosawa's first-ever color film and had a budget of only . In order to finance the film, Kurosawa mortgaged his house, but it failed at the box office, grossing less than its budget, leaving him with large debts and, at sixty-one years old, dim employment prospects. Kurosawa's disappointment culminated one year later on December 22, 1971, when he attempted suicide.

Plot

The film is an anthology of overlapping vignettes exploring the lives of a variety of characters who live in a suburban shantytown atop a rubbish dump. His mother is concerned that Roku-chan is genuinely mentally challenged. (Roku-chan has earned the label in several cinematographic writings.

Reception

Dodes'ka-den was Kurosawa's first film in color. Domestically, it was both a commercial and critical failure upon its initial release. Abroad, however, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 44th Academy Awards. Its Japanese reception, among other things, sent Kurosawa into a deep depression, and in 1971 he attempted suicide.

Despite continuing to draw mixed responses, Dodes'ka-den received votes from two artists – Sion Sono and the Dardenne brothers – in the British Film Institute's 2012 Sight & Sound polls of the world's greatest films.

Awards

The film won the Grand Prix of the Belgian Film Critics Association.

Documentary and home media

A significant short 36-minute documentary was made by Toho Masterworks concerning this film, Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create (Toho Masterworks, 2002). The film was released by the Criterion Collection on DVD in 2009, and it includes the documentary by Toho Masterworks.

See also

  • List of submissions to the 44th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
  • List of Japanese submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

Explanatory notes

References

Bibliography

  • Dodesukaden at the Japanese Movie Database