The Lower Depths

Having watched Kurosawa's retelling of Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot" a couple weeks ago, and come away feeling that one viewing was already a bit too much, I was not expecting much from this. After all, Gorky is generally regarded as a notch or three below Dostoyevsky.

But whereas "The Idiot" did not begin to mesh with a Japanese idiom, "The Lower Depths" fits in very well indeed. Much of the film involves the hopes, dreams, schemes and machinations of a handful of characters, all fixated on escaping the tenement and its soul-numbing poverty.

An enigmatic old man who appears one day and spends some time in the hovel has a salutary effect on several of the residents, merely by dint of a level of kindness and sympathy that any of us would take for granted. When he leaves, the spark of compassion he has kindled dies quickly. Yet before he arrives and after he has left, there nonetheless remains a minimal spirit of camaraderie. I have not read Gorky's novel, but the "depths" here may (be taken to) refer to this bare-minimum level of feeling for one's fellow paupers.

Running through the script is the theme of lies and (self-)deception, and how they can ease the bitter reality that society's outcasts must face every day. This above all works well here, for the Japanese themselves have a utilitarian (so to speak) view of truth and falsehoods. The hoary Japanese adage "uso mo houben", often rendered "a white lie can be expedient", could have been a tagline for this movie; for the alcoholic ex-actor and several others have little other than self-delusion to help them get through another day.

Kurosawa manages to inject a measure of droll comedy while keeping the grim facts unprettified, showing us how the luckless souls at the very bottom of society grasp at the slimmest of hopes and somehow manage (...or don't manage) to keep on going. Superb.

Kurosawa meant this to be a fairly straightforward filming of the Gorky play and it is. Like most filmed stage plays, it relies heavily on dialogue and a good translation for people who don't speak Japanese. Fortunately, the new Criterion DVD supplies this. You have to get some appreciation for the characters before this film comes alive, which it did for me about half way through. I watched it again and greatly enjoyed the entire film. Unlike the French version with Jean Gabin, Kurosawa does not single out any one character as the focus, which is not easy with Mifune in the picture. (He is not in the last quarter of the film). At first, we seem to have only a mob of quarrelsome boarders in a flophouse, but the personality of each one gradually emerges--the gambler, the actor, the barrel maker, the thief, the prostitute, the former samurai, the priest. Each one alternately harangues and supports the other boarders, while trying to maintain some shred of dignity to themselves. I would not recommend it as an introduction to Kurosawa (try Ikiru or Red Beard) but give it a try. 4 out of 5.

I enjoyed it. Everyone in the movie has very distinct character. I really enjoyed the superb performances of skilled actors who acted without going out from the dirty room and surrounding area.

After watching the movie, I read its original stage drama, "The Lower Depth" by Gorky. Most of the characters and the scripts are the same as the original drama. On Gorky's book, I could not help reading it with exact accent and gesture in the movie. Particularly, I can't imagine better way of speaking the pilgrimage Luke's scripts than Kahei acted by Hidari Bokuzen. I am sure the scripts of the movie are based on Nakamura Hakuyo's Japanese translation published from Iwanami. Even the Russian stage drama is adapted to completely different locale, you don't feel any awkwardness. This means perhaps, both the original drama and its adaptation are really great.

What only a movie could do is that you can enjoy subtle expression of countenance at close up. There are unforgettable performances by face, such as the moment of instant tension when the land owner, acted by Nakamura Ganjiro, and Sutekichi the thief, acted by Mifune Toshiro, stand together; or the moment the actor, acted by Fujiwara Kamatari, goes out of the house after gulping sake.

The scene of dancing with mouth instrumentation ('kuchi-syamisen in Japanese) is a great fun. Particularly I enjoyed the fat man Tsugaru dancing with sling; I found the actor is a professional sumo wrestler.

The most unforgettable personality is the old man Kahei. Can I become such a nice old man who can solace and encourage everyone around me? This movie can work out without Sutekichi the thief, but the old man. Therefore, the old man Kahei could be the lead character.

By the way, as a movie that describes the lower depth life with humor and music, I remember "Woman of Breakwater", by Philippine director Mario O'Hara. People in "Woman of Breakwater" came to live outside of the breakwater of Manila Bay. Everyone wants to flee from there, but can not. Just behind the breakwater is a park, and modern buildings. Describing the life of the poor out of the sight of the rich, it portrays mutual love among the people. "Donzoko" does not have such social viewpoint. Instead, it tries to show ugliness and kindness of everyone as a comedy.

The Criterion Collection offers two different film versions of "The Lower Depths": one made in 1936 by Jean Renoir and another one made in 1957 by Kurosawa. The two directors never worked together on either film. In fact, they only met once in their lives, many years later. Both films are based on Russian writer Maxim Gorky's 1902 play, which describes life in a miserable slum where most characters have lost all sense of hope. Renoir deals with this serious subject matter in a much more humorous and amusing way than Kurosawa, whose film is slower, decidedly somber and a lot more difficult to digest. While Renoir's work takes the viewer in and out of the slums, Kurosawa doesn't allow one to see beyond the wretchedness of the underworld. Both films are great, but it was probably Kurosawa's which left a more durable and deeper impression on me.

LOWER DEPTHS perhaps isn't the place to start if you're completely unfamiliar with Kurosawa - but it still ranks as one of his great films, and definitely one of his most underrated.

Based on a Maxim Gorky play (an earlier Jean Renoir film draws upon the same source material), LOWER DEPTHS seems a bit stagey at first, but Kurosawa manages to enliven it considerably - the performances are all top-notch, and the combination of skillful editing (straight cuts only here, but the usual Kurosawa multi-camera shooting method) and inventive set design (with diagonals and angles trapping characters, heighetning the intensity of the dialogue and acting) making this an unforgettable film to watch - easily as accomplished as the better known THRONE OF BLOOD from a little earlier. One will definitely note how tightly constructed - in all ways - this film is.

This film does (along with IKIRU, RED BEARD and HIGH & LOW) illuminate some of Kurosawa's underlying philosophies, specifically a sense of social realism in cinema that can cast a critical gaze upon injustice, and in this film a sense of anger and frustration is articulated with an unusual degree of eloquence, testament to both Kurosawa's technical virtuosity, and his greater awareness of the world.

But for all of the cruelty on display here, there's an equal amount of humor, typically irreverent and loaded with sly social commentary, but also spontaneous: the two impromptu musical episodes, which blend Japanese theatrical conventions with a Chaplin-like sense of visual choreography to very striking effect.

Not as well known as SEVEN SAMURAI, THRONE OF BLOOD or YOJIMBO, but just as accomplished - filled with delight and insight.