Hakuchi (The Idiot) (1951)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Lucas M

  
  Uma obra prima do mestre Kurosawa

• danny d

  
  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.… More
  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.

• xGary X

  
  Akira 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… More
  Akira 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.

• Gevvy S

  
  Having read Dostoevsky's novels, it would be very difficult for me to even imagine how to adapt one of them into a film and still have the essence of Dostoevsky's writing. Kurosawa's film, cut against his wishes, has a very gothic element which remains in memory long… More
  Having read Dostoevsky's novels, it would be very difficult for me to even imagine how to adapt one of them into a film and still have the essence of Dostoevsky's writing. Kurosawa's film, cut against his wishes, has a very gothic element which remains in memory long after having seen it. The acting style is very different from all of his other films. It is very restrained, which allows the sudden and unexpected outbursts to have effect. There is an overall sombre, gloomy, and ominous atmosphere which definitely establishes that 'gothic' feeling I got from the film. The cold winter and abundant snow provide the perfect setting for a film which intends to show how cold and dark the human world has become. This film is an achievement in style and cinematography, containing a lot of magnificent shots and is a further testament to Kurosawa's continued grasp of his craft in that point of his career. It is a shame that Kurosawa's original 4-hour cut does not exist, but this film has it's great moments which make me so angry at the studios who cut his films (and at studios in general, whose money-hungry producers cut quantity, in favour of pleasing feeble-minded audiences, and do away with quality as well in that process. Would you cut Wagner's operas to appease time limits? Would you cut Faulkner's Sound and Fury because it is too long? However, this is a topic for another time and place). Unfortunately, as the film is, it is difficult to sit through and frankly unbearable at some parts. The film was too focused on a love story and I have a feeling (from watching his other films) that Kurosawa's version would have been more about just that and presented it much more realistically and complexly. The relationship between Akama and Taeko seemed to be confusing and contrived, which is something that should have been built up a little instead of forcing it. A number of relationships in the film were unclear and seemed 'put together' or arranged, not organic at all. This again is just a guess, but Kurosawa's original would have been a lot more different. It was particularly the ending of the film that seemed to carry no weight whatsoever and felt contrived to me. Kurosawa's 4-hour version might have been considered one of his masterpieces along with the film that he made after it (Rashomon) and the film that came after that (Ikiru). It would've added yet more glory to the works of Kurosawa as a whole and might've been the best Dostoevsky adaptation ever made. Things did not turn out this way, and we are forced to dream of what this film might have been.

• Dimitris S

  
  Hara 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… More
  Hara 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.....