Dodes'ka-den

Conceived and produced during one of the most turbulent periods of Akira Kurosawa's legendary career, Dodes'ka-den (1970) was the Japanese master's first film in color. Set in a rundown slum created on a garbage dump, the episodic film highlights Kurosawa's sympathy for poor, outcast members of Japanese society, loosely interweaving the stories of a large number of characters, all of whom combat harsh reality through varying degrees of fantasy. Dodes'ka-den's rambling structure—in striking contrast to the exciting action or potent drama of Kurosawa's previous black-and-white masterpieces—resulted in the film's failure at the box-office (in the following year, he attempted suicide), but as a pivotal work in Kurosawa's creative life, it's a fascinating, visionary piece. Shooting the film in just 28 days, the great director was attempting to disprove rumors of his mental instability, while also reaffirming his artistic validity after being fired as director of the Japanese sequences of 20th Century Fox's Pearl Harbor epic Tora! Tora! Tora! While not one of Kurosawa's classics, Dodes'ka-den remains a vital entry in the director's filmography. Like several other Criterion Collection DVDs of Kurosawa's films, this one includes a 36-minute episode of Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create (here devoted to Dodes'ka-den) from Japanese TV's Toho Masterworks series about Kurosawa's life and career. An accompanying booklet features an essay by film historian Stephen Prince and an interview with script supervisor Teruyo Nogami. Recommended. (J. Shannon)