In a slum flophouse, a collection of beggars and thieves bewail their lot in life, and Osugi, the landlady, fights with her sister, Okayo, over the man they both desire, the thief Sutekichi.
2 things really stood out to me in this Kurosawa film. The first was the opening scene, the bang of the drum, Kurosawa panning around the top of this hill while the shack where the residents live is in basically a pit. The first characters of the film come by and throw leaves into it with no regard for the people down there. That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the film. Secondly, watching this movie reminded me of Hitchcock's ROPE. Both ROPE and THE LOWER DEPTHS were able to accomplish difficult feats because most of their movies took place in 1 room. Actors would come in and out but most of the action was taking place in the same room, which is difficult to pull off without other sets/scenary but both men were wizards with a camera and it's not surprising for me to see that both gentlemen pulled it off beautifully.
