The Idiot
1951, Drama, 2h 46m
10 Reviews 1,000+ RatingsYou might also like
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The Idiot Photos
Movie Info
Cast & Crew
Kinji Kameda
Denkichi Akama
Taeko Nasu
Ayako
Ono
Satoko
Critic Reviews for The Idiot
All Critics (10) | Fresh (7) | Rotten (3)
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In The Idiot, Kurosawa exhibits none of that cinematic originality and virtuosity that delighted us in his other films of the same time. The photography is routine when it is not actually amateurish.
August 12, 2019 | Full Review… -
Difficult but rewarding drama with outstanding events and location photography of Hokkaido.
December 3, 2016 | Full Review… -
Motivation switches on a dime, and the story takes the long way around to get anywhere it's going.
August 16, 2011 | Rating: 60/100 | Full Review… -
Hobbled mostly by the original material, a Dostoevsky novel, as well as an 80 minute cut imposed by the studio bosses, it is still worth seeing, especially for Kurosawa fans--this means everybody obviously.
June 11, 2010 | Full Review… -
Kurosawa's passion comes through in his creative solution to the challenge of long dialogue scenes... and in the gentle beauty of the snow-covered location footage...
March 25, 2010 | Full Review… -
There's a dreamlike quality to the story and the actors take on a trance-like state that fits the up-and-down emotional states of the volatile characters.
June 12, 2006 | Rating: B | Full Review…
Audience Reviews for The Idiot
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Nov 18, 2011Having 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.G S Super Reviewer
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Sep 12, 2011Kurosawa masterfully orchestrates an idealistic approach to Dostoyevsky's bewildering novel with extraordinary visuals of unusual depth (unusual by the time, that is) and a perpetrating and sometimes disturbing environment, and all thanks to a character traumatized by circumstances beyond his reach and the irreversible emotional effects he magically executes around him. A great, early cast brings along excellent performances in the director's most terribly underrated film. Now it seems I have two movies to ask God to lend me in their full versions when I go to Heaven. 99/100Edgar C Super Reviewer
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Jun 09, 2011Full Review Coming Soon!Chris B Super Reviewer
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May 05, 2011A terrific masterpiece by Kurosawa.Lucas M Super Reviewer
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