Having read a huge amount on Throne of Blood and The Hidden Fortress (1957 & 1958-both also reviewed) before seeing them, I became curious about the work Akira Kurosawa made between them, which does not get the same amount of attention as the other two films, leading to me exploring the lower depths.
View on the film:
Going in-depth on the production in the third edition of his book:The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Donald Eichie reveals that for the second title the film maker made in 1957, the cast and crew spent 40 days in rehearsals, (with the cameras running through empty,and the cast in full costume/make-up) and editor/ co-writer (with regular collaborator of this era, Hideo Oguni) / directing auteur Akira Kurosawa composes his second stage adaptation of the year,by teaming up for the first of two times with cinematographer Kazuo Yamazaki, and building on the long-lens gaze of Throne of Blood.
Filmed largely in sequence over 4 weeks, Kurosawa & Yamazaki descend to the lower depths with a beautiful 360 degree opening shot panning, which lands on a trimming of Kurosawa's distinctive screen-wipes, replaced here with delicate,long take panning shots across the confine location, drawing a intimate mood of witnessing an unfolding play, as the sound of heavy wind whistles in the background, until Kurosawa breaks it in the final scene, with rain (the use of weather being a major recurring motif in his works) lashing down on the drenched in somber slum.
Having 40 days to rehearse before cameras started rolling, the ensemble cast give excellent performances which perfectly compliment each-other, from a wiggling Toshiro Mifune as thief Sutekichi and Kyoko Kagawa screaming into the void as Okayo, to the harrowing turn by Kamatari Fujiwara as Danjuro, grasping in the dark for lines, he can no longer remember.
Differing from Kurosawa's earlier Shakespeare adaptation by containing large passages of Maxim Gorky's original text, the writers weave Gorky's play, with an exploration of those on the very outskirts of society holding dreams, (dreams being a major recurring theme in Kurosawa's works) which smash into a million pieces, on the harsh, fatalistic post-war landscape of Japan, as all the residence of the slum, sink into the lower depths.
View on the film:
Going in-depth on the production in the third edition of his book:The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Donald Eichie reveals that for the second title the film maker made in 1957, the cast and crew spent 40 days in rehearsals, (with the cameras running through empty,and the cast in full costume/make-up) and editor/ co-writer (with regular collaborator of this era, Hideo Oguni) / directing auteur Akira Kurosawa composes his second stage adaptation of the year,by teaming up for the first of two times with cinematographer Kazuo Yamazaki, and building on the long-lens gaze of Throne of Blood.
Filmed largely in sequence over 4 weeks, Kurosawa & Yamazaki descend to the lower depths with a beautiful 360 degree opening shot panning, which lands on a trimming of Kurosawa's distinctive screen-wipes, replaced here with delicate,long take panning shots across the confine location, drawing a intimate mood of witnessing an unfolding play, as the sound of heavy wind whistles in the background, until Kurosawa breaks it in the final scene, with rain (the use of weather being a major recurring motif in his works) lashing down on the drenched in somber slum.
Having 40 days to rehearse before cameras started rolling, the ensemble cast give excellent performances which perfectly compliment each-other, from a wiggling Toshiro Mifune as thief Sutekichi and Kyoko Kagawa screaming into the void as Okayo, to the harrowing turn by Kamatari Fujiwara as Danjuro, grasping in the dark for lines, he can no longer remember.
Differing from Kurosawa's earlier Shakespeare adaptation by containing large passages of Maxim Gorky's original text, the writers weave Gorky's play, with an exploration of those on the very outskirts of society holding dreams, (dreams being a major recurring theme in Kurosawa's works) which smash into a million pieces, on the harsh, fatalistic post-war landscape of Japan, as all the residence of the slum, sink into the lower depths.