Hakuchi (1951) [Masters of Cinema #16] [Re-UP]

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Hakuchi (1951) [Masters of Cinema #16] [Re-UP]

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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.

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Hakuchi (1951) [Masters of Cinema #16] [Re-UP]

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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.

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Hakuchi (1951) [Masters of Cinema #16] [Re-UP]

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Filmed between Rashomon and Ikiru, Kurosawa poured himself into faithfully capturing the essence of his favourite author’s work — only to see it butchered by the studio. Never at all released in its original 266-minute form, the original Kurosawa edit was only ever shown once at the Japanese premiere and then re-edited by the studio prior to the official Japanese release the following week. In spite of Kurosawa’s own efforts to locate the original version in the studio’s vaults forty years later, his cut is now sadly considered lost. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the longest extant version of this rarely seen film: the original 166-minute domestic release, as presented to the Japanese public in 1951.

Masters of Cinema

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Hakuchi (1951) [Masters of Cinema #16] [Re-UP]

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Of all my films, people wrote to me most about this one… …I had wanted to make The Idiot long before Rashomon. Since I was little I’ve liked Russian literature, but I find that I like Dostoevsky the best and had long thought that this book would make a wonderful film. He is still my favourite author, and he is the one - I still think - who writes most honestly about human existence.

Akira Kurosawa

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Hakuchi (1951) [Masters of Cinema #16] [Re-UP]

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Currently clocking in at a mere 2.75 hours – following the lopping off of 100 minutes from Kurosawa's (unreleased) original version – this barely scratches the surface of the plot of Dostoevsky's tremendous novel. Kurosawa modernizes the story and moves it from Russia in summer to Hokkaido in winter. The great Russian director Grigori Kozintsev thought this film captured the spirit of the novel remarkably well – and who am I to disagree. I seriously wonder whether someone unfamiliar with the novel could follow this film, in its currently disjointed state – but for those who know and love Dostoevsky's story (and characters), this film is a delight and a revelation.

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By and large, the actors do a remarkable job of capturing the essence of Dostoevsky's cast. I simply cannot imagine a more suitable Rogozhin (Akama in the film) than Toshiro Mifune – especially when watching him "merely" standing in the background looking like a bomb ready to explode. Next most convincing was Chieko Higashiyama as Satoko, Ayako's mother not Takeko's as IMDB incorrectly records (Elizaveta Prokofyevna Yepanchin in the novel). This "Edith Bunker as Russian noblewoman" character has always been one of my favorite Dostoevsky creations – and CH gets every aspect of the character right. Setsuko Hara as Taeko (Natalia Fillipovna) and Yoshiko Kuga as Ayako (Aglaya Ivanovna) are wonderful, as is Takashi Shimura as Ono, Ayako's father (General Yepanchin). Masayuki Mori as Kameda (Prince Myshkin, the eponymous hero of the tale) is hard to assess – as the "idiot" role is hard to envision. I am not certain that he is the perfect Myshkin, but he is certainly a touching one.

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Interlinked with the extraordinarily fine acting, is Kurosawa's tremendous direction here (or what's left of it). I recently also saw an otherwise fine Russian version of "Crime and Punishment", which failed to capture the richness of tone of the novel, missing every trace of any sort of humor (an essential element of the book). Kurosawa, on the other hand, managed to ricochet from melodrama to humor to tragedy without missing a beat – sometimes within the bounds of a single shot. Frankly, I never would have thought this possible. Another interesting facet of the direction here – this often looked more like a silent film from the 20s or 30s than a film of the 50s.

IMDB Reviewer

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Hakuchi (1951) [Masters of Cinema #16] [Re-UP]

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Special Features:
- Newly restored transfer
- Alex Cox introduction (7:47)
- Optional English subtitles
- Production stills gallery

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Hakuchi (1951) [Masters of Cinema #16] [Re-UP]

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