- Jubilee offer: spend £10 or more on any product sold by Amazon.co.uk on or before June 6 and you can buy The Diamond Jubilee A Classical Celebration Album for just £2.50 Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
DVD Description
Akira Kurosawa's The Idiot, his only adaptation of a Fyodor Dostoevsky novel, was a cherished project on which it is claimed he expended more effort than on any other film. A darkly ambitious exploration of the depths of human emotion, it combines the talents of two of the greatest Japanese actors of their generation — Toshiro Mifune (Seven Samurai, Yojimbo) and Setsuko Hara (Tokyo Story, Late Spring). The Idiot is perhaps the most contemplative of all Kurosawa's works, a tone which is heightened by the unusual, trance-like performances. Kurosawa's electrifying dramatisation uproots the novel's Russian Summer setting to a memorable, snowbound Hokkaido — the northern-most island of Japan, closest to Russia in climate and custom. War criminal Kameda (Masayuki Mori), reprieved from a death sentence, is fresh out of the asylum, mentally fragile, and prone to epileptic fits. In turn, his emotional involvement with two women (Setsuko Hara and Yoshiko Kuga) and his new, increasingly volatile friend Akama (Toshiro Mifune) leads further into madness and gross tragedy.
Special Features
• Newly restored transfer • Optional English subtitles • Production stills gallery • 32-page booklet with a new essay by Daryl Chin, and a reprint of the section on The Idiot from KUROSAWA: Film Studies and Japanese Cinema by Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto. • Plus more!
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
After reading 'The Idiot' by Dostoyevsky, which is a fantastic book by the way, I wouldn't say his best but extremely thought provoking, I realised that Kurosawa filmed an adaptation to the novel.
Being a great fan of Dostoyevsky and Kurosawa, I knew I had to watch it after reading the book.
The movie had to be cut by 120 minutes or so (don't know exact time cut) and is apparently lost forever which is unfortunate.
After watching the movie, I certainly felt that Kurosawa did do a fantastic job in portraying the emotions and mental states of the characters.
But after reading the book, you'll realise that there is a lot that is missing in the story.
Its sad that the missing scenes are lost, and I have no doubt the movie would of been a lot better given that they were available to the audiences today.
Kurosawa has done a good job with the film. I can say that Kurosawa has been faithful to Dostoyevsky and depicts the novel extremely well.
I'm just annoyed that there are parts missing in the film.
I would recommend this movie only for Kurosawa fans and also Dostoyevsky fans too.
If you are a regular person interested in Kurosawa's works, don't start off with this one.
Being a great fan of Dostoyevsky and Kurosawa, I knew I had to watch it after reading the book.
The movie had to be cut by 120 minutes or so (don't know exact time cut) and is apparently lost forever which is unfortunate.
After watching the movie, I certainly felt that Kurosawa did do a fantastic job in portraying the emotions and mental states of the characters.
But after reading the book, you'll realise that there is a lot that is missing in the story.
Its sad that the missing scenes are lost, and I have no doubt the movie would of been a lot better given that they were available to the audiences today.
Kurosawa has done a good job with the film. I can say that Kurosawa has been faithful to Dostoyevsky and depicts the novel extremely well.
I'm just annoyed that there are parts missing in the film.
I would recommend this movie only for Kurosawa fans and also Dostoyevsky fans too.
If you are a regular person interested in Kurosawa's works, don't start off with this one.
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a very different film from most of Kurosawa's work. The thing I noticed first was how long each of the scenes were, sometimes more than ten minutes can pass in a single conversation between two people. I liked this because it let me get to know the characters better and gave the actor's a chance to shine. Toshiro Mifune once again is brilliant but his role is more secondary although he is given some excellent scenes. The best part of the film is the performance of Masayuki Mori who plays the main character - The Idiot - his performance is extraordinary. His character is a total contrast to nearly everyone else who at different times display selfishness and a meanness that he simply doesn't posses.
Of those long scenes there are some which are just fantastic to watch, especially when the normally quiet title character opens up to let someone or some people know what and how he feels. You cant help but feel for him and it's these moment's that make the film so good.
In films such as "I live In Fear" and "Stray Dog" Kurosawa creates a fantastic atmosphere of heat, through the characters you can feel how hot it is and that feeling sticks with you throughout the movie. With The Idiot it is a little different, the whole movie has a feeling of cold, freezing even. In that way it stand's out from many of his other film's. This was filmed in the very North of Japan with the closest climate to that of Russia where the novel the film is adapted from was based.
The film has been dramatically cut from 266 minutes down to 166 minutes, unfortunately this was done before the film was released by the studio and it is really evident in some scenes. References made to events that we do not see somewhat take you out of the picture and it's a shame that Kurosawa was never able to find the missing segments. What the Master's of Cinema release provides is the longest existing version of the film in very good quality. The audio as with many of the earlier Kurosawa films isn't the best but the film is never unwatchable it's just noticeable that there is often background noise that you would rather not be there.
Perhaps a slightly under appreciated film but very much recommended and a must for anyone who has a Kurosawa collection.
Of those long scenes there are some which are just fantastic to watch, especially when the normally quiet title character opens up to let someone or some people know what and how he feels. You cant help but feel for him and it's these moment's that make the film so good.
In films such as "I live In Fear" and "Stray Dog" Kurosawa creates a fantastic atmosphere of heat, through the characters you can feel how hot it is and that feeling sticks with you throughout the movie. With The Idiot it is a little different, the whole movie has a feeling of cold, freezing even. In that way it stand's out from many of his other film's. This was filmed in the very North of Japan with the closest climate to that of Russia where the novel the film is adapted from was based.
The film has been dramatically cut from 266 minutes down to 166 minutes, unfortunately this was done before the film was released by the studio and it is really evident in some scenes. References made to events that we do not see somewhat take you out of the picture and it's a shame that Kurosawa was never able to find the missing segments. What the Master's of Cinema release provides is the longest existing version of the film in very good quality. The audio as with many of the earlier Kurosawa films isn't the best but the film is never unwatchable it's just noticeable that there is often background noise that you would rather not be there.
Perhaps a slightly under appreciated film but very much recommended and a must for anyone who has a Kurosawa collection.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is quite good, faithful to the original story (although the setting is moved from Russia to Japan).
Unfortunately 1 hour of footage is considered lost, so I wonder what the director's cut would have been like? At well over two hours I guess its long enough anyway for most people's attention spans...
Unfortunately 1 hour of footage is considered lost, so I wonder what the director's cut would have been like? At well over two hours I guess its long enough anyway for most people's attention spans...
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
