Tragically known as the failure that caused the great Kurosawa to attempt suicide, this oddball absurdist comedy-drama about Tokyo slum-dwellers doesn’t stand up with the great director’s better known works, but it is still an intriguing, if only semi-successful, experiment that suggests his willingess to expand his palette during troubled times. It is also notable for being the first of Kurosawa’s color films, and he uses vibrant hues with great abstract and symbolic vigor, which results in a film that is undeniably beautiful, although the intensity of the colors sometimes feels at odds with the drab subject matter and detracts from the potential for emotional power. (DVD)