Poll

What's your favorite film by Kenji Mizoguchi?

Osaka Elegy
0 (0%)
Sisters of the Gion
0 (0%)
The Straits of Love and Hate
0 (0%)
The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums
3 (9.4%)
The 47 Ronin
0 (0%)
Utamaro and his Five Women
0 (0%)
The Love of Sumako the Actress
0 (0%)
Women of the Night
0 (0%)
My Love Has Been Burning
1 (3.1%)
Portrait of Madame Yuki
0 (0%)
Miss Oyu
0 (0%)
The Lady of Musashino
0 (0%)
The Life of Oharu
0 (0%)
Ugetsu
7 (21.9%)
A Geisha
0 (0%)
Sansho the Bailiff
12 (37.5%)
The Woman in the Rumor (The Crucified Woman)
1 (3.1%)
The Crucified Lovers
0 (0%)
Princess Yang Kwei-fei
0 (0%)
Tales of the Taira Clan
0 (0%)
Street of Shame
0 (0%)
haven't seen any
8 (25%)
don't like any
0 (0%)
other
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 31

Author Topic: Mizoguchi, Kenji  (Read 5029 times)

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #10 on: November 23, 2010, 12:03:01 PM »
Don't think I have seen any, although several of the titles seem familiar.

Totoro

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #11 on: February 13, 2011, 02:14:30 PM »
1. Sansho the Bailiff - A+
2. Ugetsu - A-

lol

sdedalus

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #12 on: February 13, 2011, 02:19:36 PM »
I'm curious who the one person who didn't vote Ugetsu, Sansho or Haven't Seen Any is.
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Verite

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #13 on: February 13, 2011, 03:22:40 PM »
I'm curious who the one person who didn't vote Ugetsu, Sansho

*Raises hand*

I voted for Chrysanthemums.  It's excellent, and I find its aesthetic more interesting than Ugetsu and Sansho.  There isn't much of what Bordwell praises about Mizoguchi's staging (specifically the bodies being in the mid ground or further back in long shots; the use of apertures; and the more complex blocking) in Ugetsu and Sansho.  It's there in Chrysanthemums in spades.  Great story, too.
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sdedalus

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #14 on: February 13, 2011, 03:30:38 PM »
I love it too, it's my #3.  I just think it's weird that everyone else chose one of only three options.
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Verite

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #15 on: February 13, 2011, 03:48:50 PM »
I'm not knocking anyone but it's merely an observation from what films get written about here: most opt for the Criterion line over the Eclipse.  But probably it's more due to Ugetsu and Sansho being Mizoguchi's most mentioned titles.  And outside of the giant Kurosawa, most Asian films that get written about are from the 80s and beyond.  

Which reminds me....anyone that liked or loved Another Year should absolutely watch Tokyo Story.
« Last Edit: February 14, 2011, 08:56:30 PM by Ver Schmer »
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sdedalus

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #16 on: February 13, 2011, 05:49:55 PM »
And anyone that likes Tokyo Story should see Make Way for Tomorrow.
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #17 on: January 20, 2013, 10:46:22 PM »
Sansho the Bailiff (1954)

I went in expecting a samurai movie for some reason. Sometimes going blind into a film comes back to bite me. Instead, it's a dark, depressing story about a couple of kids who are sold into slavery. The film doesn't come into its own until it jumps into the children's adulthood and we see how the years of slavery have changed them. The catalyst for the final arc is haunting and beautiful, and the film peaks at that point. Everything afterwards is simply a formality. So on both ends, the film flounders to gain any really footing, the middle is great, but everything else is passable at best.

worm@work

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #18 on: February 03, 2013, 04:57:46 PM »
Utamaro and his Five Women | Mizoguchi | 1947

Gosh, this film is amazing. So gorgeous for one thing and right off the bat too with that utterly beautiful opening tracking shot with the cherry blossoms and the parasols. And it continues along that vein and is pretty much just scene of scene of stunning long takes that are just exquisitely composed. And just something about the way the indoor scenes are lit (when Utamaro is painting these women) just adds such a sense of melancholy / solemnity to them.

But there's also so much else going on here. It's such an unusual film in some ways. Firstly, Utamaro himself is such an enigmatic character and we mostly just learn about him from the people surrounding him - the women that serve as his muse and how he stands in contrast to his student/assistant Seinosuke. The film pretty much lacks a protagonist and given the almost complete avoidance of close-ups, there isn't really a character we can easily identify with or root for. And yet, every one of the five women is distinct. There's so much here about the relationship between an artist and their art, the relationship an artist and the women that inspire him, art as a romantic pursuit or a replacement for the same and art as a compulsive uncontrollable urge to create.
« Last Edit: February 24, 2020, 08:19:02 PM by 1SO »

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Mizoguchi Kenji
« Reply #19 on: February 27, 2013, 04:37:25 PM »
1. Sansho the Bailiff
2. The Life of Oharu
3. The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums

4. Ugetsu
5. Princess Yang Kwei Fei
6. Street of Shame
7. The Crucified Lovers
8. The 47 Ronin
9. Sisters of the Gion
10. Utamaro and his Five Women
11. Taira Clan Saga
« Last Edit: February 28, 2021, 03:53:13 PM by 1SO »