Sing me to sleep

OK, I am now pretty sure I will never reach the sublime heights of movie (or shall I say film) appreciation. Based on this review on DVDTalk I excitedly put a hold on the Lower Depths. It had a few things going for it. 1) it's Kurosawa. 2) It's a Criterion Collection. Sure they have some movies that have a place just for some historical value, but usually it's a winner. 3) It was a DVD Talk Collector's pick. That site is worth a look but be careful about the adult flick reviews.

I should have known that a movie based on a Maxim Gorky play about the extremely destitute would be BORING. And man was it. One of the least appealing characters, a fallen petit bourgeois, the bete noir of all good socialists, spends the first 30 minutes scrapping a pot while his wife slowly dies. People gamble or beg for money for some booze, although we don't see the boozing, because like a play, there are only two sets and the actors come and go. Now the acting appeared to be good, but if I wanted to see people in their cups, I could just go down to the Sandy Hut. I suppose at some point it was shocking to learn what happens in the lower depths, but now it is just boring.