Reviews (8)

First colour film by Kurosawa is sadly underrated work
If I were living like any of the people of the Tokyo slums in Akira Kurosawa's first colour film, Dodes'ka-den, like them, I'd be living in illusion and imagination to counter the squalid conditions. Living for them, but in my case, it'd be drowning. That's the premise of this movie, a testament to the human spirit and how it keeps on going despite adversity.

There's no plot in this film, as it tells of the various people living in the slums, some in coloured tin corrugated roofs, others in dirty, dingy travesties of huts, and in the case of an oddball boy who pretends he's a streetcar conductor and spends all day shuffling to who knows where. He goes through the motions, putting on his cap, pushing the buttons, pulling levers, and muttering the words "Dodes'ka-den." Which leads to the title. It's a Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound a train makes on the tracks. Roughly translated, it's like clackety-clack. The smaller kids who see him throw pebbles at him and cry out "trolley crazy."

My favourite characters are the bedraggled derelict and his young son who live in a beaten up, wheelless VW bug. The son goes out at night and gets scraps from a friendly sushi shop man. During the day, the father discusses their dream house, and we see his designs, from the gate, fence, and house, come alive, with dramatic sounds and colour. He must have been an architect or designer, and he escapes his squalid condition by envisioning a dreamhouse. There's a vivid example of colour cinematography at work, when standing under glaring yellow sky, we see the eerie blue light cast on him and his son, ill from food poisoning.

The drunken buddies who swap wives are two of the most colourful, but there's an interesting theme. Both couples are colour coordinated, clothes, house, even wash basins. And at times, they swap wives. The yellow husband is so drunk, he stays at his buddy's red house and with his wife, while his buddy goes to his house. Wonder how many bottles of sake they drink after work. But the wifeswapping has dual meaning, an escape from the ordinary, but also a lack of symmetry that is restored when both yellow-coded husband and wife are reunited and the same with the red-coded couple.

Then there's Tamba, the druggist, a man in his seventies or early eighties who's a wise, sage, and compassionate character. The way he defuses a violent sword-wielding drunk is amazing! I won't get into specifics but he shames the drunk into going to bed. He also helps a man wanting to commit suicide a reason to go on living. He seems to represent the face of an older and uncomplicated Japan, experienced by the past, living as he can in the present.

Hei is the most haunting, and his eyes are that of a dead man. He never says a word in the movie, and it's clear that he has been deeply traumatized by something in his past, which we learn later. It's as if his soul has been drained. A character looks at a tree and wonders what kind of tree it is, before saying "it's no longer a tree when it's dead." Substitute man for tree and we get Hei. Oh, and me as well.

Shima is a salaryman who's nice enough, but he has a funny walk nearly like the Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks man and a facial tic that drives him into a brief fit, complete with snorting. The tic represents that there's more to a person than a mere flaw.

Some of the info we get from the gossiping circle of women who spend the day doing the laundry in the slum square, including a sensuous long-haired woman who seems to know it all, and witnessing the parade of life.

This was Kurosawa's first of seven colour films and its failure culminated in him attempting suicide. Understandable, as despite its being panned, it's actually a sober, at times depressing, but ultimately hopeful look at people. Very underrated film that's deeply in need of reappraisal.

the beauty inside
Dodeskaden portrays the beauty inside the struggle and pain of human existence.The images will never leave me. This and Itami's " Tampopo " are my all time Japanese cinema favorites.

and one fourth of a star.
Along with the Adventures of Baron Von Munchausen, this is one of my favorite "faith" movies of all time. Dont get me wrong, Im not even attempting to compare it to Baron...just to say they brought about similar changes in my teenage years, a time when I was contemplating suicide. Cant be that dramatic anymore.This and Mishima really helped just for that day...watching it at the library. Its too bad Mishima is so much money, but owning Dodes Ka-Den is enough. Do yourself a favor and buy it.

And now for something really different...
Kurosawa's first color film originally came in at 244 minutes and the studio executives were aghast. They quickly cut it to about 140 minutes and reportedly destroyed the original negative in so doing. This along with the lack of public and critical acceptance at the time drove the great genius to a suicide attempt. In it's original form it could well have been Kurosawa's great masterpiece. As it is, it's a little quixotic and hard to follow, but a stunning piece of movie making. The children's train drawings shown during the prayer scenes were collected by Kurosawa from children all over Japan for this film. It is pointless to recap the story, but I just say to you see it and you'll never forget it. Perhaps Criterion could find the orignal version when it comes out on DVD, let's hope so!

"Do-des-ka-den" Reverberates Through the Years
I saw this film more than 25 years ago and it still makes me smile when I ride a trolley or train. It takes very little imagination for me to convert the sounds of steel wheels on rails into the simple do-des-ka-den cadence. And with the conversion of sound comes an alteration of vision as through the trolley windows, I see Pittsburgh's urban humanity through the compassionate lens Kurosawa's uses to show his brave characters. This was my first experience with Kurosawa, and I always imagined this film as his version of "Cannery Row". ... Read more

Reviews (135)

This is "art"
Yes I hate saying that because everything is called art these days when its not but this is. Every Kurosawa film is beautifuly made but this one takes the prize. "Ran" is as Roger Ebert called it "A glorious achievement". "Ran" is Akira Kurosawa's version of William Shakespear's "King Lear". I should say its more loosely based on "King Lear" but the film is so great that one shouldn't bother with that. Tatsuya Nakadai does a peformance that will blow you away. He can bring the physical and emotion to the roll and does it as great as seeing any british shakespear actor like Ian Holm do the roll. Since times have changed since "Seven Samuari" Kurosawa can use more blood on the screen to bring the horror of war and betryal more to life. There is about a 30 minute war scene that is one of the most beautiful scenes I've seen in a film. Kurosawa like Stanley Kubrick does not settle for the lowest. Everything is perfection. The costumes, the sound, the picture, the acting etc.... The ending is breathtaking and will get you thinking about life. I reccomend reading "King Lear" before you see it, to see what he did with the text. It also shows how universial Shakespear is. This may be Kurosawa's best film.

Visually stunning, and proof that Shakespeare is universal
Some things are universal. Many worshippers of middle English literature say that about Shakespeare, and in a way they're right: what Shakespeare wrote about (the doubts of leaders, the avarice of merchant-barons, the laughability of petty concerns) is common to every culture throughout history. People are people.

In this case, Kurosawa has chosen "King Lear" as his template. The plot summary is simple: an aging benevolent king has decided to divide his kingdom amongst his sons. However, they are not all worthy of his trust, and are not content to take one third of his kingdom when each could have it all. And their treachery is the ruin of them all.

What sets "Ran" apart from other adaptations of "King Lear" is its stunning visual beauty. "Ran" is simply breathtaking. The colors are most intense than life itself, yet they fit the mood. The armies are casts of hundreds, if not thousands, and are beautifully choreographed (can a medieval battle be compared to a dance?). The actors are larger-than-life.

In fact, it is the presentation of the actors that prevent a five-star rating. The acting style is very much "over the top". This is in keeping with traditional Japanese kabuki theater, but most American audiences will find this style heavy-handed (dare we say, Shatner-esque? "My... sonsdon't... under...STAND me. Spock.") and it might interfere with an American audience's experience of the film. And, since despite my attempt to be "worldly" (whatever THAT means), I remain American, it matters.

At least, to me.

Nonetheless I recommend "Ran". It illustrates vividly what makes Kurosawa special, and its choice of Shakespeare is a bridge-building tool that can help someone new to Japanese film make the transition. If a viewer finds nothing else in this film but the flawless cinematography, that is more than enough. "Ran" is a masterpiece by a master filmmaker.

a sublime epic
The scope of this film is awesome..it has everything in large quantities. Gorgeous panoramas, a great looking cast, brilliant acting, war, intrigue, murder and revenge, all brought together by Kurosawa's magical vision. I've seen this film dozens of times and still find it captivating!

Kurosawa last masterpiece
Made at - for Japan - a staggering cost in 1985, Kurosawa's "Ran" comes closest to catching the director's decidedly black mood at the time (considering the derisive response in Japan to Dodeskaden [inspiring an attempted suicide], the grudging acceptance of Dersu Uzala, which had to be made in the Soviet Union if at all, and the passive response to Kagemusha - the Japanese critics' usual treatment of anyone so rash as to look for financing outside Japan [see Oshima's In the Realm of the Senses]), "Ran" was another of Kurosawa's long-cherished projects. That it made it to the screen relatively intact (Kurosawa even forced the otherwise independent composer Toru Takemitsu to accept his temperature-gauge and compose a pseudo-Mahlerian score) is one of those miracles of international film-production that arrives maybe once in a generation. That Kurosawa took Shakespeare's cue and painted a picture of medieval Japan (read: the modern world) that is uncompromisingly dark and pessimistic is perhaps not entirely surprising. The film feels like a last testament, even if Kurosawa would go on to make three more uncharacteristically tired films - Dreams, Rhapsody in August and Madadayo [Not Yet]. The darkest testimonial from a grizzled filmmaker at the height of his powers, "Ran" is indispensable to any serious study of Kurosawa's oeuvre.

Brilliant
After watching The Seven Samurai, I was enthralled by Kurosawa's incredible work, but I worried that I'd see his best already. I never would have expected Ran to take my breath away, but that's what happened. The film's dazzling colors against a stark landscape, the piercing music against long interludes of silence and the dizzying plots that weave together seamlessly and tragically very quickly hypnotized me. Overall, though, it was Tatsuya Nakadai's genius portrayal of the aged warlord Hidetora that made this a masterpiece. Here is a character whose very expression and stance allows one to see the depths of his soul. Brilliant. ... Read more