Akira Kurosawa's 1974 Russian film about man and nature has been sitting on my shelf for years and I finally got around to watching it.
The story, told in flashback of a Russian Captain's encounters with a Monoglian hunter named Dersu Uzala as he makes several mapping trips into Siberia.
This is a very good film. I would like to report that its a great film but its not. I enjoyed it but to me the story was lacking, I wanted to know more. I also had problems with the second half of the film which seemed to be straining to go into a man made direction instead of one that flowed naturally.
The first half flows. I was just going to take a peak at the film only to find that 45 minutes had passed as if in a blink of an eye. The second half of the film is less natural, it moves in fits toward a conclusion we know from the outset of the film, but which is arrived at via a journey that doesn't seem natural. (the events are fine, its the foreshadowing and thrust to the end that doesn't work.) Technically this is a beautiful film... The march across the ice under a red setting sun is now one of my favorite images..
Don't get me wrong, I like the movie but I don't love it.
If you get a chance to see it please do so its a wonderful film, that simply disappointed me in the second half.
The story, told in flashback of a Russian Captain's encounters with a Monoglian hunter named Dersu Uzala as he makes several mapping trips into Siberia.
This is a very good film. I would like to report that its a great film but its not. I enjoyed it but to me the story was lacking, I wanted to know more. I also had problems with the second half of the film which seemed to be straining to go into a man made direction instead of one that flowed naturally.
The first half flows. I was just going to take a peak at the film only to find that 45 minutes had passed as if in a blink of an eye. The second half of the film is less natural, it moves in fits toward a conclusion we know from the outset of the film, but which is arrived at via a journey that doesn't seem natural. (the events are fine, its the foreshadowing and thrust to the end that doesn't work.) Technically this is a beautiful film... The march across the ice under a red setting sun is now one of my favorite images..
Don't get me wrong, I like the movie but I don't love it.
If you get a chance to see it please do so its a wonderful film, that simply disappointed me in the second half.