THE LOWER DEPTHS is another masterful tour de force from Akira Kurosawa
THE LOWER DEPTHS (DONZOKO) (Akira Kurosawa, 1957)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
July 8-10, $13, 11:00 am
Series continues through September 11
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
Loosely adapted from Maxim Gorky’s social realist play, The Lower Depths is yet another masterpiece from Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa. Set in an immensely dark and dingy ramshackle skid-row tenement during the Edo period, the claustrophobic film examines the rich and the poor, gambling and prostitution, life and death, and everything in between through the eyes of impoverished characters who have nothing. The motley crew includes the suspicious landlord, Rokubei (Ganjiro Nakamura), and his much younger wife, Osugi (Isuzu Yamada); Osugi’s sister, Okayo (Kyôko Kagawa); the thief Sutekichi (Toshirō Mifune), who gets involved in a love triangle with a noir murder angle; and Kahei (Bokuzen Hidari), an elderly newcomer who might be more than just a grandfatherly observer. Despite the brutal conditions they live in, the inhabitants soldier on, some dreaming of their better past, others still hoping for a promising future. Kurosawa infuses the gripping film with a wry sense of humor, not allowing anyone to wallow away in self-pity. A staggering achievement, The Lower Depths is screening July 8-10 at 11:00 am as part of the IFC Center’s Weekend Classics: Kurosawa series, which continues July 15-17 with Dersu Uzala and July 22-24 with Ran.