Dersu Uzala

Starring:Maksim Munzuk, Yuri Solomin, Svetlana Danilchenko, Dmitri Korshikov, Suimenkul Chokmorov, Vladimir Kremena, Aleksandr Pyatkov, Nikolai Volkov, Sovetbek Dzhumadylov, B. Khorulev, Mikhail Bychkov
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Studio: Kino Video
Product Type: DVD

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During an unusual chapter in the career of director Akira Kurosawa (Rashomon), the filmmaker went to Russia because he found working in his native Japan to be too difficult. The result was this striking 1975 near-epic based on the turn-of-the-century autobiographical novels of a military explorer (Yuri Solomin) who met and befriended a Goldi man in Russia's unmapped forests. Kurosawa traces the evolution of a deep and abiding bond between the two men, one civilized in the usual sense, the other at home in the sub-zero Siberian woods. There's no question that Dersu Uzala (the film is named for the Goldi character, played by Maxim Munzuk) has the muscular, imaginative look of a large-canvas Soviet Mosfilm from the 1970s. But in its energy and insight it is absolutely Kurosawa, from its implicit fascination with the meeting of opposite worlds to certain moments of tranquility and visual splendor. But nothing looks like Kurosawa more than a magnificent action sequence in which the co-heroes fight against time and exhaustion to stay alive in a wicked snowstorm. For fans of the late legend, this is a Kurosawa not to be missed. --Tom Keogh

Description

Against a backdrop of the treacherous mountains, rivers and icy plains of the Siberian wilderness, acclaimed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (The Seven Samurai, Rashomon) stages an extraordinary adventure of comradeship and survival. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Customer Reviews:

Dersu Uzala.......2007-07-03

After a roughly ten-year decline in popularity and output (during which time Kurosawa attempted suicide), the master rose again in this stunning Russian-language film, co-produced by the Soviets. Based on a real-life adventurer's autobiographical journals and enhanced by the grizzled Munzak's poignant portrayal of the title character, this story of unlikely friendship and the passing of a way of life has a subtle beauty and near-mythic power. As always, Kurosawa's versatile talents are on full display in "Uzala," which won the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 1975.

DERSU UZALA - A Kurosawa unlike none you have seen before.......2007-07-01

Fans weaned on the "usual set of masterpieces" by Akira Kurosawa will no doubt be taken by surprise to see one without a samurai theme and without his favorite leading man Toshiro Mifune, and certainly the themes that have pervaded the themes of most films.

Dersu Uzala, a Russian production filmed entirely in Siberia was Kurosawa's comeback film (and what a comeback, with a 1975 Best Foreign film Oscar) after a low period that saw him even attempt suicide.

Dersu Uzala is a Goldi (Mongolian) jungle gypsy with a heightened sense of jungle survival knowledge who befriends an army captain on a Siberian mapping expedition and saves them from possible extinction without his help. In return, Dersu the jungle man is taken to the city to live with the Captain - a place where his survival instincts are worthless against a civilization that lives by modern technology and use of the gun.

In the ultimate analysis, its an essay on the nature of man Vs the context of modern civilization - how pristine survival instincts programmed since the dawn of human civilization is being progressively degraded and lost by the cocoon that creature comforts of modern civilization have spun created around us. There is definite sense of despair and nostalgia about this in the message of this film.

A must watch film with a serious message about humanity and most of all, about friendship and gratitude.

PS: Stay tuned for my next review of a '70s hit comedy that has an uncanny solidarity to the theme of Dersu Uzala. Yes, that one caught me by surprise too !.

Dersu Uzala - Collection Edition

Excellent Movie, TERRIBLE Transfer.......2007-06-27

The movie, while more conventional that Kurosawa's greatest films, is still excellent. The plot, Russian Captain meets a wise old nomad and they become friends, is simple, but beautifully told.
However, this is a review of the DVD which is TERRIBLE! Scratches, lines, pops, hairs, dust, etc mars almost every scene. I wouldn't expect a perfect transfer from an older movie, but this is so bad that it distracts from the movie as a whole. This is a film begging for a new transfer. Would we treat other Academy Award-winning movies so badly?

I love it.......2007-05-27

Of all Kurosawa's movies, I have to admit this is the one I'm most inclined to watch again and again, which is so odd because it's his "Russian exile" movie and not at all Japanese.

I particularly think the RUSCICO version produced by the Russian government is great, even though it suffers from the same flaw that others have mentioned with the Criterion version -- the print needs to be painstakingly restored to fix the spots where the colors have degraded over the course of time. It's worth it.

The Russian version has three (very good) dubbed languages and about 14 subtitled languages, but in the end the important thing is just to be able to hear the actors in Russian and understand them.

The story itself is slower than a lazy river, which is great for me but somebody who's waiting for things to blow up won't last long enough for Dersu to appear a few minutes into the movie. This is basically a buddy movie where all the buddies do is hike around through the woods and survey the lay of the land while trying not to let nature kill them (although there are brushes with a couple of criminal elements). It's a great movie for nature lovers and people who want to believe in a more humane era for Russia.

One of my favorite Kurosawa films..........2007-05-26

This is one of my favorite Kurosawa films, and one that is part of a very select phenomenon. Kurosawa couldn't find financing in Japan during this time period, so he turned to the USSR for financing of this film, one of only two films (the other being Dodeskaden) that Kurosawa made in the 1970's. The film is so quinessentially Russian, both in its language, themes, and character. You'd swear it was directed by a Russian, but Kurosawa is obviously not Russian. Only a few filmmakers (Kubrick for A Clockwork Orange, Tarkovsky for The Sacrifice, and most recently, Eastwood for Letters from Iwo Jima) have managed to submerge themselves in a foreign culture and make a film worthy of it. I originally saw this film in a pan and scan version, and it had absolutely no impact. Seeing it widescreen on DVD is so much better. It's a completely different film, and a great one at that. Another great thing about this film is the subtitles. Dersu Uzala, the main character, speaks broken Russian, and the subtitles are translated in broken English (even though you understand them). Dersu is not stupid, just not educated. Educated people can be quite stupid at times, so having a degree doesn't mean you're smart. Some have complained about the poor quality of the transfer. The film was shot in 70mm Sovcolor. Soviet film stock was notoriously inconsistent. Many films shot in the former Soviet Union had many problems with out of date film stock, or film stock that had already deteriorated, but due to bureacracy, a lot of times directors would shoot with the bad footage and later learn it was defective (Tarkovsky had this experience on the film Stalker, and it forced him to start over from scratch after shooting a large part of the film). The film itself is magnificent, with some incredible widescreen photography and wonderful vistas of Siberia (contrary to popular belief, some of Siberia is lush forest land, it's not all tundra and ice). It's one of my favorite Kurosawa films, and it's a good illustration of his later style (longer takes, slower pace, more meditative), which I like more than his earlier work.

Average customer rating:

Dersu Uzala - Collection Edition

Manufacturer: Ruscico
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Dersu Uzala
Dersu the Trapper (Recovered Classics) (Recovered Classics)
Akira Kurosawa's: The Quiet Duel
Kagemusha - Criterion Collection
Red Beard - Criterion Collection

ASIN: B00070DEN8

Product Description

2 DVD Set. Mosfilm, 1975, 72+72 min. LANGUAGES (AUDIO): RUSSIAN, ENGLISH, FRENCH. SUBTITLES: RUSSIAN, ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, DUTCH, SPANISH, ITALIAN, PORTUGESE, JAPANESE, HERBEW, SWEDISH, CHINESE, ARABIC. This Akira Kurosawa film is based on the books by Vladimir Arsenyev, a prominent Russian scientist and explorer of the late 19th-early 20th centuries. It is the story of the writers long-standing friendship with a taiga trapper named Dersu Uzala. In the course of their travels, a real-life character, Dersu, was revealing to his friend, in the course of their travels, the secrets of the Ussuri taiga, the animals special ways, the traditions and beliefs of the indigenous people. This motion picture teaches us to approach Nature with loving care, to open up our hearts to man and beast, to bird and flower... Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film in USA, 1976; Golden Prize and FIPRESCI Prize at the Moscow IFF, 1975; David Donatello Prize for Best Foreign-Language Film in Italy, 1977. Director: Akira Kurosawa. Script: Akira Kurosawa, Yuri Naghibin. Cast: Yuri Solomin, Maxim Munzuk, Vladimir Kremena, Alexander Pyatkov, Svetlana Danilchenko, Dima Korshikov, Suimenkul Chokmorov, Mikhail Bychkov, Nikolai Volkov Sr., Sovetbek Dzhumadylov. Bonus material: Interview with actor Yuri Solomin, Behind the scenes, Biography of writer V.K. Arsenyev, Cast and Crew Filmographies, Photo Album, Coming soon on DVD.

Average customer rating:

Dersu Uzala
Starring: Maksim Munzuk , Yuri Solomin , Svetlana Danilchenko , Dmitri Korshikov , and Suimenkul Chokmorov
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Manufacturer: Divisa Red
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

Spain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. Languages: o English (subtitles) o Portugese (subtitles) o Spanish (subtitles) o Russian (Dolby Digital 5.1) o Spanish (Mono) Synopsis: A Russian army explorer who is rescued in Siberia by a rugged Asiatic hunter renews his friendship with the woodsman years later when he returns at the head of a larger expedition. The hunter finds that all his nature lore is of no help when he accompanies the explorer back to civilisation. - A few months after his notorious suicide attempt, Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa was regenerated by the notion of helming the first Russian/Japanese co-production. Co-scripted and directed by Kurosawa, Dersu Uzala is the story of an elderly guide and Goldi hunter (Maxim Munzuk), who, at the turn of the century, agrees to shepherd a Russian explorer (Yuri Solomin) and a troop of soldiers through the most treacherous passages of the Far East. The guide has been "one" with the land almost from birth, and is thus able to save his party from perishing. Four years in the making, Dersu Uzala won the 1976 Best Foreign Film Oscar and restored the flagging Akira Kurosawa to the top ranks of the Japanese film industry. Special Features: o Behind the scenes footage o Cast/Crew Interview(s) o Documentary o Featurette o Filmographies o Interactive Menu o Photo Gallery o Scene Access

Average customer rating:

Dersu Uzala
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Manufacturer: Kino International
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( D ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0000C2IS4
Release Date: 2003-09-02

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