The Idiot
This is one of the most singularly impressive films I've ever watched. Akira Kurosawa has done a masterful job of transplanting Dostoevsky's characters into a Japanese setting, as incongruous as the notion might initially seem. Be warned: this 2 hour 46 min long film is extremely slow-paced. But it's been made with very close attention being paid to detail, and as such should be viewed from the same patient perspective.
Hats off to Toshiro Mifune (who plays the role of Akama, or Rogozhin in the original Russian novel) for his stellar acting. I couldn't take my eyes off him whenever he appeared. In fact, I'm amazed by the uniformly excellent acting of the entire cast. Not only did Kurosawa make the right choices, but he evidently brought out the best in them as well.
The Idiot is a very difficult novel to bring to life by way of cinema. As such, the film does seem to simplify the storyline to a great extent, and that is perhaps its single shortcoming, as inevitable as such a simplification is. But for fans of Kurosawa and anyone interested in high-quality art films, this, in my opinion, is very unlikely to disappoint.
Hats off to Toshiro Mifune (who plays the role of Akama, or Rogozhin in the original Russian novel) for his stellar acting. I couldn't take my eyes off him whenever he appeared. In fact, I'm amazed by the uniformly excellent acting of the entire cast. Not only did Kurosawa make the right choices, but he evidently brought out the best in them as well.
The Idiot is a very difficult novel to bring to life by way of cinema. As such, the film does seem to simplify the storyline to a great extent, and that is perhaps its single shortcoming, as inevitable as such a simplification is. But for fans of Kurosawa and anyone interested in high-quality art films, this, in my opinion, is very unlikely to disappoint.
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Comments
oh any film by kurosawa has potential so i will definitely look for this the next time i'm at the store.
odd, that: when i lived in tokyo, i actually bought and listened to dostoevsky's "the idiot" and every morning on the train i listened to about an hour of it. it lasted months and the sight of the tamagawa river (which i would pass every morning) still makes me think of that novel...
Love,
E.L.