Details

Release year: 1970

Storyline

Various tales in the lives of Tokyo slum dwellers, including a mentally deficient young man obsessed with driving his own commuter trolley.

Top credits

Directors

Akira Kurosawa

Writers

Cast

Yoshitaka Zushi — Roku-chan
Kin Sugai — Okuni
Toshiyuki Tonomura — Taro Sawagami
Shinsuke Minami — Ryotaro Sawagami

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Awards

0 wins & 1 nomination

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Did you know

• The movie was made as the first feature of the Committee of the Four Knights, a group founded by four of Japan's greatest directors: Akira Kurosawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, Masaki Kobayashi and Kon Ichikawa. According to a interview with Ichikawa, they wanted their first picture to be a hit. When this film told a story deemed too depressing and was subsequently a failure with audiences, the group disbanded and never made another film. The movie's failure also contributed to Kurosawa's suicide attempt one year later.

• The title is an onomatopoeic sound that a train makes as it travels over the tracks. Rokku-chan makes this sound as he drives his imaginary trolley through the slum neighborhood.

• The artwork used as the cover of the region-one Criterion Collection DVD is Akira Kurosawa's original artwork for the film.