Hacker Cinema
Dersu Uzala
Дерсу Узала
1975 · Film · 141 min
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
A military explorer meets and befriends a Goldi man in Russia’s unmapped forests. A deep and abiding bond evolves between the two men, one civilized in the usual sense, the other at home in the glacial Siberian woods.
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12 comments on Hacker News
Reading the post title, the film Dersu Uzala by Akira Kurosawa comes to mind.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dersu_Uzala_(1975_film)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Kurosawa
The story evoked a memory of the movie Dersu Uzala by Akira Kurosawa.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dersu_Uzala_(1975_film)
I had read about the film several years ago. Not seen it.
The part that stayed with me the most was when Dersu expresses his surprise to Arsenyev that people in cities actually have to pay for water.
That reminded me of this Akira Kurosawa movie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dersu_Uzala_(1975_film)
The movie "Dersu Uzala" from Kurosawa speaks of harsh winters. You do need a real roof, and to stop providing details about family etc. that could be compromising later.
Babette's Feast is also Danish, one of the most well-known and highly regarded Danish films of all time. The other 2 are Dreyer films—I've only seen Ordet so far, and I thought it was just amazing. Johannes is an unforgettable character.
It's a pretty great list, far as I can tell. Dersu Uzala (1975, not 1978) must be in my all-time top 5.[0] I loved Bicycle Thieves—The Bicycle Thief is a bad translation. Yes, it's important to the story!—but much preferred Umberto D. Liked On the Waterfront but vastly preferred A Face in the Crowd.
[0] It's my pet theory that Yoda in Star Wars is based on Dersu. There are many similarities. Seems very obvious to me but I've never heard or read anyone else mention the connection. The plot of the original Star Wars was after all based on that of another Kurosawa movie, Hidden Fortress. See e.g. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20160104-the-film-star-wars-stole-from
You're wrong.
For me, Ikiru and Dersu Uzala are the best, but the usual ones mentioned are great too. Some I didn't see mentioned on this page yet that I also really like: One Wonderful Sunday (1947), Red Beard (1965), Dodesukaden (Clickety-Clack, 1970). First one I saw was The Hidden Fortress (1958), remade in the west as Star Wars – and Yoda, it seems to me, is Dersu Uzala.
I think his movies seem so good because everything about them is good. Screenplay, camera angles, editing, actors, music..etc.
There's a whole bunch of his films I'd put squarely in my all-time list. Ikiru, Ran, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, High and Low, Dersu Uzala, Rashomon. It's one masterpiece after another. Try watching Seven Samurai and Ikiru back to back to really appreciate the genius of Takeshi Shimura as an actor.
superhero movies are generally liked by capitalist types as it tick boxes the right things. good wins over bad, you work hard you succeed, and when you succeed you get all the good things. + very poor treatment of death, failure and loss. revelation and surprise are indeed missing. there are many movies that i cherish for just one scene eg., the survival scene in dersu uzala, senate hearing scene in scorsese's aviator when hughes says 'thats what i do'. these moments make me pause the movie and contemplate and play it back again etc which is easier to do on the smaller screen at home though ;)
i disagree that all movies are for the big screen. star wars yes, a jane austen drama? come on. superhero movies work well on the big screen or as he puts it audio-visual entertainment especially without audience interaction. a game would work on super small screens but not a movie. although people are putting up with anything on long commutes.
Also, I've never read mention of this, but Yoda seems to me in many ways like Dersu Uzala from...Kurosawa's Dersu Uzala! (I think my favourite K movie) - e.g. forest-dwelling, short, benevolent, wise, and they speak similarly.
I believe Lucas helped with the financing of several of K's later films.
Die Wand (The Wall, 2012, Austria) - A woman on holiday in the mountains is suddenly trapped behind an invisible wall, with only animals as companions... The movie goes deep into human nature, how we live with nature and other life forms, and is comparably profound with the best writing on those subjects. Incredible.
The Sea That Thinks (2000, Netherlands) - About the self, self-reference, meta-(meta-meta-)narrative, consciousness, illusion.. Wonderfully well-constructed.
2 of Kurosawa's: Dersu Uzala (1974), the story of the friendship of a Russian military map-maker and a Siberian hunter. Fascinating encounter of city man and nomadic hunter, two incompatible modes of living. (I think Yoda is based on Dersu, as Star Wars was based on Hidden Fortress) ..and Ikiru (1952), about a boring goverment office worker who learns he's dying and wants to do something meaningful with his life at last.
Series: My favourites are from France (Engrenages, Les hommes de l’ombre, Le Bureau des Légendes, Un Village Français) and Denmark (Borgen, Arvingerne, Herrens veje/Ride Upon the Storm). Maybe Un Village Français gets my top vote, the epic (7 seasons) story of a French village under Nazi occupation - the politicians, Resistance, communists, militia, Nazis, collaborators, Jews, businessmen etc. Unforgettably touching.
Sure. <Intrepidly goes off-topic> .. Into The Wild was just the guy being a spoiled ignorant delusional dick, I thought, really not impressive. Jungle was far better. You almost persuaded me the guy in 127 Hours ate his arm off the first time I read that haha. (Um he didn't, did he?!) Am writing this in case you didn't see Dersu Uzala (the Kurosawa version), one of my very favourite movies. The world before cities was a different world, like you say. <Totally off topic> Incidentally, it's my theory that Yoda is taken from Dersu. (As Star Wars is a remake of Hidden Fortress)
Absolutely.
The minimal editing, the close-ups to the camera when technical decisions happen and his absolute selfless-ness give it a very pure tone. You can tell he knows what he is doing, and has done research, but this is just you witnessing a hobby that needs not to be sold or advertised — just enjoyed.
If you liked those, try to get your hands on Dersu Uzala: it’s a Soviet-Japanese movie from 1975 (I know…) that has hours of forest scenes with the same peacefulness and purpose.