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is a 1970 Japanese drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film stars Yoshitaka Zushi, Kin Sugai, Toshiyuki Tonomura, and Shinsuke Minami. It is based on Shūgorō Yamamoto's 1962 novel ''A City Without Seasons'' and is about a group of homeless people living in poverty on the outskirts of Tokyo. ''Dodes'ka-den'' was Kurosawa's first film in five years, his first without actor
Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and '' ...
since ''
Ikiru is a 1952 Japanese drama film directed and co-written (with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni) by Akira Kurosawa. The film examines the struggles of a terminally ill Tokyo bureaucrat (played by Takashi Shimura) and his final quest for meaning. Th ...
'' in 1952, and his first without composer Masaru Sato since ''
Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai drama film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The story takes place in 1586 during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. It follows the story of a village of desperate farmers who hire seven ...
'' in 1954. Filming began on April 23, 1970, and ended 28 days later. This was Kurosawa's first-ever color film and had a budget of only . In order to finance the film, Kurosawa mortgaged his house, but it failed at the box office, grossing less than its budget, leaving him with large debts and, at sixty-one years old, dim employment prospects. Kurosawa's disappointment culminated one year later on December 22, 1971, when he attempted suicide by slashing his wrists and neck with a razor.


Plot

The film is an anthology of overlapping vignettes exploring the lives of a variety of characters who live in a suburban shantytown atop a rubbish dump. The first to be introduced is the boy Rokuchan, who lives in a fantasy world in which he is a
trolley Trolley may refer to: Vehicles and components * Tram, or trolley or streetcar, a rail vehicle that runs on tramway tracks * Trolleybus, or trolley, an electric bus drawing power from overhead wires using trolley poles ** Trolleytruck, a trolleyb ...
driver. In his fantasy world, he drives his tram along a set route and schedule through the dump, reciting the refrain "Dodeska-den", "clickety-clack", mimicking the sound of his vehicle. His dedication to the fantasy is fanatical. Rokuchan is called "trolley fool" (''densha baka'') by locals and by children who are outsiders. His mother is shown as being concerned that Rokuchan is genuinely mentally-challenged. (Rokuchan has earned the label in several cinematographic writings.) Ryotaro, a hairbrush maker by trade, is saddled with supporting many children whom his unfaithful wife Misao has conceived in different adulterous affairs, but is wholeheartedly devoted to them. There also appear a pair of drunken day laborers (Masuda and Kawaguchi) who engage in
wife-swapping Swinging, sometimes called wife-swapping, husband-swapping, or partner-swapping, is a sexual activity in which both singles and partners in a committed relationship sexually engage with others for recreational purposes. Swinging is a form of non-m ...
, only to return to their own wives the next day as though nothing has happened. A stoic, bleak man named Hei is frequented by Ocho who appears to be his ex-wife, and he watches emotionless as she takes care of his domestic chores. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Shima. Shima, a man with a tic, is always defending his outwardly unpleasant and bullying wife, and flies into a rage when friends criticize her. A beggar and his son live in a derelict car, a Citroen 2CV. While the father is preoccupied with daydreams of owning a magnificent home, the boy dies tragically of food poisoning. A girl (Katsuko) is raped by her alcoholic uncle and becomes pregnant, and in a fit of irrationality stabs a boy at the liquor shop who has tender feelings for her not having any other way to vent her emotional turmoil. When her uncle is confronted as a suspect for this abusive act, he decides to gather his meager belongings and flee from the town barely one step ahead of the investigation. Tanba the chasework silversmith is a sage figure, who disarms a youth swinging a katana sword, and allows a burglar to rob him of his money. After exploring the set-backs and anguish which surrounds many of the families in this indigent community, along with the dreams of escape which many of them support to maintain at least a superficial level of calm, the film comes full circle returning to Rokuchan. As the film ends Rokuchan is again seen preparing to board his imaginary train tram and serve his community of passengers as best he can.


Cast

*
Yoshitaka Zushi Yoshitaka is a masculine Japanese given name and a Japanese surname. Possible writings Yoshitaka can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *義孝, "justice, filial piety" *義隆, "justice, ...
as Rokuchan * Kin Sugai as Okuni, Rokuchan's mother *
Toshiyuki Tonomura Toshiyuki is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Toshiyuki can be written using different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *敏幸, "agile, happiness" *敏行, "agile, go" *敏之, "agile, of" *敏志, "a ...
as Taro *
Shinsuke Minami Shinsuke (written: , , , , , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese actor *, Japanese samurai *, Japanese basketball player *, Japanese swimmer *, Japanese actor *, Japanese professi ...
as Ryotaro Sawagami *
Yuko Kusunoki is a Japanese actress. She appeared in more than twenty films since 1959. Selected filmography External links * 1933 births Living people Japanese film actresses {{Japan-film-actor-stub ...
as Misao, Sawagami's wife *
Junzaburō Ban was a Japanese comedian and actor. His real name was . Filmography * ''Ukare Gitsune Senbon Zakura'' (1954) * ''A Fugitive from the Past'' (1965) * ''Dodes'ka-den'' (1970) * '' Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2: She-Cat Gambler'' (1972) * ''Proof of ...
as Yukichi Shima *
Kiyoko Tange is a feminine Japanese given name. Possible writings Kiyoko can be written many ways using different kanji characters. Some versions of the name are: * , meaning "pure child" * , meaning "rejoice-child" * , meaning "rejoice, gift child" * , mean ...
as Shima's wife *
Michio Hino Michio (written: 道夫, 道雄, 道郎, 通夫 or 三知男) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese shogi player *, Japanese dancer and choreographer * Michio Kaku (born 1947), American theoretical p ...
as Ikawa, Shima's guest * Keiji Furuyama as Matsui, Shima's guest * Tappei Shimokawa as Nomoto, Shima's guest * Kunie Tanaka as Hatsutaro Kawaguchi *
Jitsuko Yoshimura is a Japanese film and television actress. She was discovered by Shōhei Imamura as a newcomer and cast in the film ''Pigs and Battleships''. She went on to appear in films like Imamura's ''The Insect Woman'', Kaneto Shindō's '' Onibaba'', for w ...
as Yoshie, Kawaguchi's wife * Hisashi Igawa as Masuo Masuda *
Hideko Okiyama Hideko (written: , , or ) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese writer *, Japanese table tennis player *, Japanese swimmer *, Japanese swimmer *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese fencer *, Japanese ...
as Tatsu, Masuda's wife *
Hiroshi Akutagawa is a common masculine Japanese given name. It can also be transliterated as Hirosi. Possible writings Hiroshi can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *浩, "meaning" *汎 *弘, *宏, *寛, *洋, *博, *博一, *博司, ...
as Hei * Tomoko Naraoka as Ocho * Atsushi Watanabe as Tanba * Kamatari Fujiwara as Suicidal Old Man


Production

Five years had elapsed since the release of Akira Kurosawa's last film, '' Red Beard'' (1965). The Japanese film industry was collapsing as the major studios were slashing their production schedules or shutting down entirely due to television stealing the movie audience. When Kurosawa was let go from the American film ''
Tora! Tora! Tora! ''Tora! Tora! Tora!'' ( ja, トラ・トラ・トラ!) is a 1970 epic film, epic war film that dramatizes the Empire of Japan, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The film was produced by Elmo Williams and directed by Richard Fleischer, T ...
'' by Twentieth Century Fox in 1969, it was rumored that the Japanese director's mental health was deteriorating. Teruyo Nogami, Kurosawa's frequent script supervisor, believes the director needed to make a good film to put that rumor to rest. ''Dodes'ka-den'' was made possible by Kurosawa forming the Club of the Four Knights production company with three other Japanese directors;
Keisuke Kinoshita was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.Ronald Berganbr>"A satirical eye on Japan: Keisuke Kinoshita" ''The Guardian'', 5 January 1999. While lesser-known internationally than contemporaries such as Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasu ...
, Masaki Kobayashi, and Kon Ichikawa. It was their first and only production. It marks a stylistic departure from Kurosawa's previous works. It has no central story and no protagonist. Instead it weaves together the stories of a group of characters living in a slum as a series of anecdotes. It was his first color film, and he had only ever worked with a few of the actors previously; Kamatari Fujiwara, Atsushi Watanabe, Kunie Tanaka, and Yoshitaka Zushi. It marks the first time Kurosawa had used Takao Saito as principal cinematographer, and Saito became his "cinematographer of choice" for the rest of his career. Nogami said that Kurosawa told the crew that this time he wanted to make a film that is "sunny, light, and endearing." She speculated that ''Dodes'ka-den'' was his rebuttal to what went wrong on ''Tora! Tora! Tora!''. The script supervisor of the film opined that the director was still recuperating from the shock of what happened on that Hollywood film, and was not operating at full strength. Nogami said that she gets choked up whenever she watches the scene where Rokuchan is called "trolley crazy" by children, because she imagines Kurosawa as the boy, with people yelling "Movie-crazy" at him. Kurosawa said that he wanted to show younger filmmakers that it did not need to cost a lot of money to make a movie. David A. Conrad wrote that an influence of the surging Japanese New Wave can be felt in this impulse and in the decision to focus on outcasts in contemporary society.


Filming

In contrast to ''Red Beard'', which was in production for two years, filming for ''Dodes'ka-den'' began on April 23, 1970, and was finished in only 27 days, two months ahead of schedule. According to
Stephen Prince Stephen Robert Prince (September 13, 1955 – December 30, 2020) was an American film critic, historian and theorist. He was a Professor of Communication Studies and was a Professor of Cinema at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University ( ...
, it was shot for standard-ratio
35 mm movie film 35 mm film is a film gauge used in filmmaking, and the film standard. In motion pictures that record on film, 35 mm is the most commonly used gauge. The name of the gauge is not a direct measurement, and refers to the nominal width o ...
rather than the
anamorphic widescreen Anamorphic widescreen (also called Full height anamorphic or FHA) is a process by which a comparatively wide widescreen image is horizontally compressed to fit into a storage medium (photographic film or MPEG-2 standard-definition frame, for exam ...
that Kurosawa had used since ''
The Hidden Fortress is a 1958 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' adventure film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It tells the story of two peasants who agree to escort a man and a woman across enemy lines in return for gold without knowing that he is a general and the woman is a pri ...
'' (1958). Prince writes that this was because the director did not like how anamorphic lenses handled color information. As a result, it marks a return to the 1.33:1 aspect ratio he used regularly in the 1940s and early 1950s. Prince also states that ''Dodes'ka-den'' marks the first time the director used zoom lenses; a sign of the "speed and economy" with which he made the film. Nogami stated that she had never seen Kurosawa as "quiet and undemanding" on set as he was for ''Dodes'ka-den''. As an example, she explained how during a nine-minute scene that had to be shot in one take,
Junzaburō Ban was a Japanese comedian and actor. His real name was . Filmography * ''Ukare Gitsune Senbon Zakura'' (1954) * ''A Fugitive from the Past'' (1965) * ''Dodes'ka-den'' (1970) * '' Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2: She-Cat Gambler'' (1972) * ''Proof of ...
had trouble memorizing all of his dialogue and caused numerous retakes. Nogami said "the old Kurosawa" would have lost his temper and started yelling, but instead he just gently said "let's try it again." and eventually praised Ban when the shot was finally completed. Nogami also related how Fujiwara was well-known for not being able to memorize his lines. While filming an eight-minute scene with Watanabe, Kurosawa finally had had enough and had Nogami give Fujiwara verbal prompts. Nogami said her voice was hard to remove from the final tape. The drawings that cover the walls of Rokuchan's house were initially drawn by Kurosawa at home. But he decided they were too "grown-up", and had schoolchildren draw them instead.


Title

The film's title "''Dodeska-den''" are the playacting "words" uttered by the boy character to mimic the sound of his imaginary trolley car in motion. It is not a commonly used
onomatopoeic Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...
word in the Japanese vocabulary, but was invented by author Shūgorō Yamamoto in ' (''A City Without Seasons''), the original novel on which the film was based. In standard Japanese language, this sound would be described as ''gatan goton'', equivalent to "clickity-clack" in English.


Reception

''Dodes'ka-den'' was Kurosawa's first film in color. Domestically, it was both a commercial and critical failure upon its initial release. Abroad, however, the film gained an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film in the
44th Academy Awards The 44th Academy Awards were presented April 10, 1972, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. The ceremonies were presided over by Helen Hayes, Alan King, Sammy Davis Jr., and Jack Lemmon. One of the highlights of the evening was the ...
. Its Japanese reception, among other things, sent Kurosawa into a deep depression, and in 1971 he attempted suicide. Despite continuing to draw mixed responses, ''Dodes'ka-den'' received votes from two artists – Sion Sono and the
Dardenne brothers Brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne (; born 21 April 1951) and Luc Dardenne (born 10 March 1954), collectively referred to as the Dardenne brothers, are a Belgian filmmaking duo. They write, produce, and direct their films together. The Dardennes b ...
– in the British Film Institute's 2012 '' Sight & Sound'' polls of the world's greatest films.


Awards

The film won the
Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...
of the Belgian Film Critics Association.


Documentary

A significant short 36-minute documentary was made by Toho Masterworks concerning this film by Kurosawa: *''Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create'' (Toho Masterworks, 2002)


See also

*
List of submissions to the 44th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
* List of Japanese submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film


Explanatory notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * *


External links

* *
Dodesukaden
' at the Japanese Movie Database {{Authority control 1970 films 1970 drama films Japanese drama films 1970s Japanese-language films Japanese anthology films Rail transport films Films based on Japanese novels Films directed by Akira Kurosawa Films with screenplays by Shinobu Hashimoto Films with screenplays by Akira Kurosawa Films with screenplays by Hideo Oguni Films scored by Toru Takemitsu Toho films Films about intellectual disability Films about poverty Films about homelessness 1970s Japanese films