Kurosawa was a great admirer of Russian literature and The Lower Depths is another attempt to adapt a Russian literary classic to the big screen after his previous effort, Dostoevsky's The Idiot was butchered by the studio. Like Maxim Gorky's original play, The Lower Depths is an atmospheric examination of the lives of a group of slum dwellers, which this adaptation places in Shogunate-era Edo.The limited setting (we never leave the slum) and the lack of cinematic flourishes creates a somber mood that wonderfully hangs over the film like a fog. In many ways, The Lower Depths feels more like a filmed play rather than a traditional movie. The sets of the dingy slum are perfect, feeling decrepit enough without being exaggerated. The limited camera movement helps give the audience a sort of 'fly on the wall' perspective while keeping them from feeling too detached through Kurosawa's masterful use of editing and a few strategically placed camera movements and close-ups.Unfortunately, the plot can't quite live up to the wonderful setting. The main plot, concerning thief Sutekichi (played by the great Toshiro Mifune) and his relationship with the landlady Osugi (Isuzu Yamada, who had starred opposite Mifune earlier that year in Throne of Blood) feels a bit melodramatic for my tastes; particularly when it's revealed that Sutekichi is falling in love with Osugi's younger and more pleasant sister, Okayo (the prolific Kyoko Kagawa). While these elements are present in the original source material, Kurosawa seems torn between focusing on the love triangle or making the the film a full-on ensemble picture. As such, he focuses less on the love triangle than other adaptations, such as Jean Renoir's 1936 film. This works out to the detriment of the a main plot as it is quickly overshadowed by the various subplots which are more interesting and nuanced. Mifune also feels a bit miscast here and I feel someone like Masayuki Mori would have been a better fit for the role. Mifune is a great actor but his range was never the greatest and Sutekichi is more thoughtful and introspective than the kind of role he was typically cast in.The supporting cast is excellent however. As mentioned previously, it's much more entertaining to watch this collection of misfits than to worry about whatever the A-team is up to. Eijiro Tono as the tinker and Kamatari Fujiwara as the drunken actor are particularly good but they all moments where they shine. The various subplots involving this group are all interesting and engaging, with the only real weakness being that the narrative forces them to step out of the spotlight for the main plot every once in a while.Overall, The Lower Depths is an interesting experiment from Kurosawa with some excellent acting and a wonderful sense of atmosphere but I can't really place it among his best works due to its narrative flaws.

Viewed on DVD. Restoration = nine (9) stars. Humor, especially humor on film (which, of course, can not be modernized like a stage play), is often lost between generations. This is compounded when the transfer is attempted between cultures. Here we have a "poster-film" for this type of failure. Digging a bit deeper, more times than naught, Kurosawa's attempts at (or what he interprets as) humor come across as simply silly (if not plain ludicrous). The characters are varied, but the actors (you've seen most of them before and will see most of them again in other Kurosawa films) lack sufficient direction in this movie to enable them to elicit much in the way of empathy from the audience. Who cares what they do and what is done to them? (Hammy acting doesn't help matters.) The film is based on a classic stage play of the same name and, lacking much in the way of camera dynamics, looks like it was mostly shot on a performing stage (although it was not). Subtitles are a bit long and taxing. The film "score" is nonexistent. Not recommended without first ingesting a hefty dose of caffeine. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

I don't know what the budget of 'The Lower Depths' was but it certainly proves that a great film can made for very little. 'The Lower Depths' tells the story of a group of people living in a one room slum of various different occupations and reasons behind their predicament. I didn't really get when it is supposed to be set but its really irrelevant given the timelessness of the production. The first 10 - 20 minutes feel a bit like a theatre, rather than a cinema, production given that the set for nearly the entirety of the film is one room. Whether or not this changes is hard to say but I felt something quite strange about this in that, I didn't feel like I was an external being, I really felt like I was in the room with the actors laughing, singing and drinking with them and that was fantastic.Toshiro Mifune is probably the character that comes closest to a lead role and as always he is fantastic. However, I would say that Isuzu Yamada (who plays Osugi) is also brilliant in a nurse Ratchet like fashion, and the same is true for Bokuzen Hidari (who plays 'grandad'). Whilst those three, for me, were outstanding take nothing away from the rest of the cast they are all very, very good - even if the women's wailings are incessantly annoying.Whilst I wouldn't say that The Lower Depths is Kurosawa's best film by any means it does provide both entertainment and a message. There are both very amusing and very exciting bits but at the same time there's a constant air of thought provoking meaning that you can take what you want from. This isn't the best film ever but its an excellent one, go and see it!

Compared to 'Rashomon', 'Ikiru', 'The Seven Samurai', 'Yojimbo' or 'Ran' this movie is not a big deal. If you don't think too much about other movies made by director Akira Kurosawa, one of the greatest film makers of all time, this movie is actually very good. It works as a drama and probably even more as a comedy.May be story isn't that interesting. Some poor men and women, thieves and beggars, live together. The landlord's wife Osugi (Isuzu Yamada) and her sister Okayo (Kyôko Kagawa) love the same man, the thief Sutekichi. He is played by Kurosawa's favorite actor Toshirô Mifune. We see some parts of the other lives, most of them are very unhappy, and then an old man arrives. Although he doesn't bring happiness, he does bring some wisdom to the place.Like I said, really interesting it is not, but there are some good things here. The movie has some surprises, especially around the old man, and some dramatic events do happen. For me the comedy parts were great. When a lot of people are drunk, fighting and insulting, it is kind of hilarious. Well acted and directed this is not Kurosawa's greatest, but it is definitely a good movie.