Akira Kurosawa

Dodes’ka-den

Dodes’ka-den

By turns tragic and transcendent, Akira Kurosawa’s film follows the daily lives of a group of people barely scraping by in a slum on the outskirts of Tokyo. Yet as desperate as their circumstances are, each of them—the homeless father and son envisioning their dream house; the young woman abused by her uncle; the boy who imagines himself a trolley conductor—finds reasons to carry on. The unforgettable Dodes’ka-den was made at a tumultuous moment in Kurosawa's life. And all of his hopes, fears, and artistic passion are on fervent display in this, his gloriously shot first color film.

Film Info

  • Japan
  • 1970
  • 144 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.33:1
  • Japanese
  • Spine #465

Special Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer
  • Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create, a 36-minute documentary created as part of the Toho Masterworks series, about the making of Dodes’ka-den, including interviews with director Akira Kurosawa, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, actor Yoshitaka Zushi, and other members of the cast and crew
  • Theatrical trailer
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: A new essay by film historian Stephen Prince and a new interview with Nogami

    Cover painting by Akira Kurosawa

Purchase Options

Collector's Sets

Collector's Set

AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa

AK 100: 25 Films by Kurosawa

DVD Box Set

25 Discs

$319.00

Out Of Print

Special Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer
  • Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create, a 36-minute documentary created as part of the Toho Masterworks series, about the making of Dodes’ka-den, including interviews with director Akira Kurosawa, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, actor Yoshitaka Zushi, and other members of the cast and crew
  • Theatrical trailer
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: A new essay by film historian Stephen Prince and a new interview with Nogami

    Cover painting by Akira Kurosawa
Dodes’ka-den
Cast
Yoshitaka Zushi
Rokkuchan
Kin Sugai
Rokkuchan's mother
Junzaburo Ban
Shima
Kiyoko Tange
Shima’s wife
Hisashi Igawa
Masuda
Hideko Okiyama
Tatsu, Masuda’s wife
Kunie Tanaka
Kawaguchi
Jitsuko Yoshimura
Yoshiko, Kawaguchi’s wife
Shinsuke Minami
Ryo Sawagami
Yoko Kusunoki
Sawagami’s wife
Noboru Mitani
Beggar
Hiroyuki Kawase
Beggar’s son
Hiroshi Akutagawa
Hei
Credits
Director
Akira Kurosawa
Producer
Yoichi Matsue
Music
Toru Takemitsu
Cinematography
Takao Saito
Editing
Reiko Kaneko
Sound
Fumio Yanoguchi
Sound
Hiromitsu Mori
Script supervisor
Teruyo Nogami
Executive producers
Kon Ichikawa
Executive producers
Keisuke Kinoshita
Executive producers
Masaki Kobayashi
Executive producers
Akira Kurosawa

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Akira Kurosawa

Director

Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa

Arguably the most celebrated Japanese filmmaker of all time, Akira Kurosawa had a career that spanned from the Second World War to the early nineties and that stands as a monument of artistic, entertainment, and personal achievement. His best-known films remain his samurai epics Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, but his intimate dramas, such as Ikiru and High and Low, are just as searing. The first serious phase of Kurosawa’s career came during the postwar era, with Drunken Angel and Stray Dog, gritty dramas about people on the margins of society that featured the first notable appearances by Toshiro Mifune, the director’s longtime leading man. Kurosawa would subsequently gain international fame with Rashomon, a breakthrough in nonlinear narrative and sumptuous visuals. Following a personal breakdown in the late sixties, Kurosawa rebounded by expanding his dark brand of humanism into new stylistic territory, with films such as Kagemusha and Ran, visionary, color, epic ruminations on modern man and nature.