Various tales in the lives of Tokyo slum dwellers, including a mentally deficient young man obsessed with driving his own commuter trolley.
"Dodesukaden" was Kurosawa's first color film, and is notable for how well he transitioned. After the success of "Red Beard", it took Kurosawa five years before this film appeared. Very few of the actors from Kurosawa's stock company of the 1950s and 1960s were in it, and most of the cast were relatively unknown. "Dodesukaden" was unlike anything Kurosawa had made before. It gained an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film in the 44th Academy Awards.
Apparently it did not do well, though, and only added to Kurosawa's depression. The next film didn't come out for another five years, and his output in general greatly slowed down. This film is a prime example of an artist not recognized in his own time. Today Kurosawa is widely considered the greatest Japanese director (with the only real competition coming from Ozu), but apparently this acclaim came later, as he had trouble filling theater seats...
"Dodesukaden" was Kurosawa's first color film, and is notable for how well he transitioned. After the success of "Red Beard", it took Kurosawa five years before this film appeared. Very few of the actors from Kurosawa's stock company of the 1950s and 1960s were in it, and most of the cast were relatively unknown. "Dodesukaden" was unlike anything Kurosawa had made before. It gained an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film in the 44th Academy Awards.
Apparently it did not do well, though, and only added to Kurosawa's depression. The next film didn't come out for another five years, and his output in general greatly slowed down. This film is a prime example of an artist not recognized in his own time. Today Kurosawa is widely considered the greatest Japanese director (with the only real competition coming from Ozu), but apparently this acclaim came later, as he had trouble filling theater seats...