The Idiot

One of the rare failures in director Akira Kurosawa's long and illustrious career, The Idiot is his attempt to transport Dostoyevsky's classic novel into a contemporary Japanese setting. To what extent Kurosawa may have succeeded we may never know, since the producers forced him to cut his 245 minute film down to its present 166 minutes--a substantial chop. Even in its reduced, nearly three hour version, The Idiot is often confusing, and takes some time getting the story straight. The tragicomic character of the fool Prince Myshkin becomes Kinji Kameda, a shell-shocked soldier who still has epileptic fits. Kameda, "the idiot," is drawn by the sorrowful eyes of kept woman Taeko Nasu (Setsuko Hara, who bears a strong resemblance to Joan Crawford both physically and in her penchant for overacting), who is being offered for marriage along with a handsome dowry. Akama (Toshiro Mifune), a wealthy and violent "businessman," also has eyes for Taeko, and eventually she goes to live, unhappily, with Akama. Meanwhile, Kameda, for some reason, falls in love with another woman, Ayako (Yoshiko Kuga), and in one of the film's more ridiculous scenes Taeko and Ayako confront each other over who deserves Kameda, while Kameda stands in the background wide-eyed, sucking his mittens, and looking like the world's greatest wimp. (No wonder Toshiro Mifune throws a gasket and nearly kills them all.) To be fair, The Idiot does have some absolutely radiant moments, and Mori is usually convincing in his role of the childlike Kameda. Still, this will confuse most audiences, especially anyone unfamiliar with Dostoyevsky's novel, and will be of interest to Kurosawa students only. Not recommended. (R. Pitman)