Dodes’ka-den follows the daily lives of a group of people scraping by in a slum near Tokyo. Each of them—the homeless father and son envisioning their dream house; the young woman abused by her uncle; the boy who imagines himself a trolley conductor—finds reasons to carry on.

With his first film made in color and without his regular troupe of performers, Akira Kurosawa creates something entirely unexpected: a deceptively stylized and symbolic—sometimes comedic, yet ultimately tragic—social drama set in an impoverished area outside contemporary Tokyo. Striking & sublime!