The Lower Depths

The third, longest and most intense version of Maxim Gorky's claustrophobic play about slum dwellers is here transposed by Akira Kurosawa from Moscow to Edo, towards the end of the Tokugawa period. The action is confined to just two sets and the magnificent ensemble playing (he rehearsed for six weeks before the quick shoot) creates an unsentimental portrait of transitory lives, without hope. The ending is abrupt, when during a boisterous drinking session an announcement is made about the suicide of one of the group. A close-up, characteristic of the film's style, and another man says, "A pity just when the party was getting started". End credits.