Not having read the novel, I am not encumber by the fact that 100 minutes of this film was left on the cutting room floor. I am a Kurosawa fan and love Toshirô Mifune, so I approach the film from that angle.
The setting on a Japanese mountaintop fits right in with the fact it is based on a Russian novel. It was so cold that I had to put a coat on to watch it.
Kameda (Masayuki Mori) arrives in town after being released from a mental institution. He is "The Idiot," a simple man who is so Christ-like in his manner that people are put off guard. he runs into Akama (Toshirô Mifune), a rich man who has come back to claim his sweetheart, who has been a mistress to another wealthy man since she was 14. Both Kameda and Akama are in love with Taeko (Setsuko Hara), who is promised to a third man. This makes for a fascinating story as the men joust for position, with Taeko playing everyone against each other.
There are many other characters that float in and out of this drama, and it makes for some interesting and funny dialog. As mush as I like Kurosawa's samurai epics, his dramas are even better.
In the end, there were two idiots.
The setting on a Japanese mountaintop fits right in with the fact it is based on a Russian novel. It was so cold that I had to put a coat on to watch it.
Kameda (Masayuki Mori) arrives in town after being released from a mental institution. He is "The Idiot," a simple man who is so Christ-like in his manner that people are put off guard. he runs into Akama (Toshirô Mifune), a rich man who has come back to claim his sweetheart, who has been a mistress to another wealthy man since she was 14. Both Kameda and Akama are in love with Taeko (Setsuko Hara), who is promised to a third man. This makes for a fascinating story as the men joust for position, with Taeko playing everyone against each other.
There are many other characters that float in and out of this drama, and it makes for some interesting and funny dialog. As mush as I like Kurosawa's samurai epics, his dramas are even better.
In the end, there were two idiots.