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Plot:
Kameda, who has been in an asylum on Okinawa, travels to Hokkaido. There he becomes involved with two women, Taeko and Ayako. Taeko comes to love Kameda, but is loved in turn by Akama. When Akama real...( read more 
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:November 16, 2008Some contrasting emotions about this film: At the beggining I was thinking it was a film with not so much new to offer me. Since the moment Kameda and Akama look at the Taeko's portait this idea was quickly vanished. Then, the film started to get very interesting and emotional, but by the half of the second part it was already melodramatic and long (and I didn't saw the 4 hour version). Though, it arrived the most thrilling part of the film and endend perfectly. So I enjoyed it.
Una historia de personajes muy intensos que requieren actuaciones del mismo tipo, una historia laaarga pero con momentos muy emocionantes. La tercer película que veo de Kurosawa y mi favorita hasta el momento (aunque Sueños y Los Siete Samuráis las vi hace mucho) por la magnifica coreografía y estética que imprimió a esta historia tan enternecedora. Para verse con calma y sin prisas, porque me desesperó en algunos momentos, pero al final me mantuvo sentado hasta el final. -
MCT:October 24, 2008Hara is the sheer benevolence of the film.You do await the breaking point just like the novel's mystical eccentricities.Kurosawa guides the dramatic community to far beyond limits and stretching a bleak,ominous,malevolent environment.A perfect cinematography and I will give it 6 stars after I grab the 5-hour edition I'm still searching for.....
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MCT:October 1, 2008
Personally, even though this was a butchered version, it is still a masterpiece of performance and where every twitch and nerve matches the sound and the smell and the image as we as the audience see it. I was bewildered to the end and wanted more and I hope and pray the extended version is found. I must also say that I have yet to read the novel so I hope to be able to compare it soon if it is better.
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MCT:May 25, 2008
even though this is one of kurosawa's more criticized films, i really liked it quite a bit. the acting and incoherence of the plot are the things most often criticized, and while i agree the love story lost its focus a few times, i actually found the acting to be very engaging. as with most kurosawa films, the script was the strongest point, with diologue that was complete and poetic at times. i do feel that they could have cut another 20 minutes off the film, but this final product is an already much trimmed down version, from the original 4 1/2 hour film kurosawa intended to this 2hr and 46 minute final product. overall, another beautiful film by the master of directors.
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MCT:May 23, 2008Akira Kurosawa's spin on Dostoyevsky sees a man traumatised by his war time experiences resulting in a new appreciation for life. His openness and honesty acts as a reflection of the hypocrisy and selfishness of those around him, some deriding him as an idiot and others hating him for exposing the faults in themselves. These qualities inspire romantic feelings in two women however and the resulting love triangles lead to tragedy. Kurosawa's eye for beautiful cinematography is in evidence as always, particularly during the scenes by candlelight during Toshiro Mifune's descent into madness. There is also some great social commentary; the female characters for me were the most interesting and characterful, playing off Kameda's naivety really well. Unfortunately the idea of Masayaki Mori's stiff, awkward and wide-eyed idealist inspiring such devotion in two beautiful and worldly women didn't really ring true for me, and as a whole it too often reminded me of period romantic melodrama, not exactly my favourite of genres. This combined with it's near 3 hour length left me struggling to stay awake. Some great moments, but I felt the story didn't flow very well so it left me a little cold.
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MCT:March 15, 2008HAKUCHI (1951)
directed by Akira Kurosawa
starring Masayuki Mori, Toshirô Mifune, Yoshiko KugaThis nearly 3-hour long black and white subtitled Japanese film is Akira Kurosawa's audacious adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's famous novel The Idiot, instead of being set in St-Petersburg its set somewhere in Japan.Russian novels are always complex and Kurosawa stayed quite faithful to the source material making his film complex. Its a bit hard to follow at first cause there are many names mentionned without ever seeing the characters and we dont really know what is going on. When everything is cleared up though, the film gets very enjoyable.
It works pretty much like a play with the usual themes: love, betrayal, forgiveness, greed. The Idiot keeps the Dostoyevsky but Kurosawa adds his own sensibility and it works. I found myself very invovled with those characters, more than I expected.
Is about a love pentagon, well, three men and two ladies but it ends up with a simple love triangle involving the two ladies and the idiot from the title, a simple mind, very naive, very kind, a man who cant lie.
There are a very few touches of humor as usual with Kurosawa and his usual partners show up like Toshiro Mifune, in a great performance and Takashi Shimura also pretty good. Masayuki Mori as the idiot is quite desorientating with almost no facial expression and yet with understand all his feelings. Its a long film but its good, if you are a fan of Kurosawa.
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MCT:February 23, 2008
This is considered Akira Kurosawa's failure? Gosh, I liked it even more than some of the other Kurosawa's I've seen...AND I LOVE KUROSAWA!
Okay, I will start off by saying this movie is flawed. This five-stars is completely subjective because I was so enthralled by the movie and the performances. But it's obvious that the studio took some of his control away because the movie really isn't done in many ways. Much of the story has to be summarized because they couldn't film it all...
...but the parts that are filmed are fantastic. I'd love to know what Kurosawa did and what the studio tried to do to this movie. These are really rich performances. Now, I'll admit (for an English major no less!), that I've never read the original Russian epic. I now really want to because this story is just absolutely perfect. Yes, it's got quite a bit of melodrama to it, but I have to say that I really like that. This is a darned powerful movie.
Again, I feel like I have to point out the strong performance by Toshiro Mifune. While Kameda was a strong character, the real emotion comes out of Mifune's character. There is savagery in his eyes. He's a man who loses sense of reality. While Kameda may be the crazy one, the people around him are the ones who seem to be losing their sanity.
One thing that I've never really noticed too much in Kurosawa films is the use of snow. I know that he's adapting a Russian epic for Japan, but the use of the weather is extremely powerful in this movie. The world is cold around them and it seems unnatural for people to want to live in this harsh environment all that time. The white in this monochromatic film is striking and really creates a very cool atmosphere for the film. Sure, I'm starting to sound overly-scholarly, but I just feel like I can't say enough good about this film. I really enjoyed it and wished that Kurosawa got complete control over this movie. -
MCT:August 16, 2007
Kurosawa attempts an adaptation of his favorite novel. Unfortunately, the original 4 hour cut no longer exists. Still, what remains has some tremendously powerful moments with engaging characters.
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MCT:July 15, 2007
A stunning work and probably one of the best film adaptations of a 'heavy' novel ever made. Enigmatic, mysterious and very, very beautiful, this is a masterpiece and i would say one of Kurosawas best.
But this is no dull, identikit paint-by-numbers adaptation that the British seem to excel in particularly. Kurosawa uses the basic characters and plot at the centre of the novel but transforms them utterly yet, somehow manages to capture the essence of Dostoyevsky's novel absolutely.
Toshiro Mifune was born to play Rogozhin, even if all he does in many scenes is impersonate a ball of about-to-be released fury, he does it better than anyone else imaginable. All the cast are nigh-on perfect in their roles actually and its a joy to watch from start to finish.
EXCEPT of course, for the disconcerting narrative jumps and inter-title changes which were forced upon Kurosawa. Still, much better that than nothing.
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