A rare failure from Kurosawa, whose devotion to the Dostoyevski novel
The Idiot spelled doom for this project. By cramming a Russian cultural sensibility unchanged into a Japanese context (the two cultures are diametrically opposed), Kurosawa drains the material of any relevance and
confuses its direction and purpose. Mori stars as a soldier who returns to Okinawa from a recent war, only to find himself considered mentally ill due to epilepsy. There he meets Mifune, a wealthy man, and they both fall in love with Hara. Seeing the problem, Mori also falls into an affair with
another woman, Kuga, who returns his affection. Realizing that he really only loves Ha...
Released:
1951
Rated:
NR
Length:
165 mins