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 5031 times)

1SO

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #20 on: March 14, 2013, 10:32:43 PM »
The 47 Ronin
* *

There are moments in Mizoguchi's surprisingly inert 4-hour presentation of this classic Japanese tale that remind you you're watching the work of a master. Not just a great director, but one who can produce moments you will always remember. When sdedalus wrote about Kurosawa's The Lower Depths he said...

Quote
"He pulls off a trick I've only ever seen done as successfully in films by Hou Hsiao-hsien, where a shot of a few figures talking will be held for quite awhile before you realize exactly how many characters there are on-screen: the shock of recognition after looking at a shot for three minutes and realizing there's actually a character sitting in the bottom left corner is fun..."

I recall a similar moment in DePalma's Dressed to Kill when we learn a little late that the killer has been on screen for a long time, right in the center of the frame, watching their next victim. Like sdedalus says, it's a great trick, almost impossible to pull off and emotionally very effective if used correctly.

In this film it occurs after the leader of 50 masterless samurai requests the others to follow his play no matter what. In the room they agree out of loyalty, but when the leader steps outside he finds one of his men committing suicide, believing the honorable move is also the wrong one. He cradles the dying man and reveals his true intent. Only after that body collapses dead did I notice another person in the background has also killed himself. In the frame, dying alone the entire time.

The samurai become Ronin after their Lord inexplicably tries to kill a court official named Kira. In his failure, he is forced to commit ritual suicide and his land is taken. Kira never has to answer to anything. I don't know why he would, but apparently it's a major insult that Kira never has to answer for why he was attacked. The Lord is simply painted as a crazy killer, though his entire staff knows him to be a wise and honorable guy. They all love him.

For all the discussion that goes on, the ronin don't know why their Lord committed this attack. They must decide whether to defend the honor of their former master without any explanation. Another masterful choice, this one of storytelling instead of camerawork. Part I ends on a key decision that sets the final decision into motion. Part II opens by rewinding the clock a bit and explaining how that decision ended up happening. (Another moment of brilliance.)

A thing that I loved, though admittedly it's a cheap shortcut is that everyone talks about Kira, who is very arrogant and pretty well despised. After the initial attack where he's mostly in shadow, we don't see him again for a really long time. Then when he reappears, this is the guy...


He looks like something out of a horror film. This is matched with a walk of arrogance that's exactly like The Leo strut. He's on camera for less than a minute, but every frame just seeps of creepy, ugly evil. It's visual profiling, but very effective profiling, matching every bad vibe we hear about him.

As I said at the top, the film is very talky. Similar in many ways to Lincoln, it's about word not deed. I have to say I'm very disappointed that we never see the big attack scene. It's told to us via a message. Much more like a play than a kinetic samurai film, I understand Mizoguchi taking this approach and focusing on the codes of honor, but I think he could have thrown in some of the fighting without taking away from his main thrust. I plan on watching a couple of different versions of this tale, and while I like some of the core elements, this can't be the best adaptation. Even for a master like Mizoguchi, it's too static.

Antares

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #21 on: February 27, 2014, 07:04:00 PM »
The Life of Oharu (1952) 89/100 - There's a moment in Kurosawa's Shichinin no samurai, when a coolie who's sharing the barn with the farmers proclaims..."I'd rather be dead than live a farmer's life". Well, after watching The Life of Oharu, I can say that I'd rather be dead than live the life of a woman in feudal Japan. Objectified, subservient and without any rights of property, a woman's life in medieval Japan was no better than a dog's. Kinuyo Tanaka gives a memorable performance, but probably should have shared the leading role with a younger, teenage actress for the early scenes in Kyoto and Edo. As great an actress as she was, she really can't pull off 15 - 18 years old, when she herself, just passed 40 years of age. As with other Mizoguchi films, the cinematography is gorgeous and his use of a 'floating camera' style, gives the film a haunting sadness and beauty at the same time. I would have loved to give it a higher rating, but the transitions between certain parts in Oharu's life are not smooth, making the film seem a bit episodic. I was also a bit unmoved by the ending of the film. Through the breadth of this film, Oharu goes from lady-in-waiting, to courtesan, to concubine, to prostitute and finally beggar nun. In a society where disgrace and losing face are treated just as horrifically as murder or treason, Oharu accepts these injustices as fate. I would have loved to have seen her race past her son's retainers and proclaim to him that she was the woman who gave him life, and in keeping with the film's theme, having him disavow himself of her. Thus, finally broken by this last indignity, she takes her life in the garden of her son's palace. The last thought in her mind being that she is now free to join Katsunosuke in eternal love in the afterlife.
Masterpiece (100-91) | Classic (90-80) | Entertaining (79-69) | Mediocre (68-58) | Cinemuck (57-21) | Crap (20-0)

Antares

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #22 on: February 27, 2014, 07:14:09 PM »
Sansho the Bailiff
Ugetsu


The Life of Oharu

Street of Shame
Masterpiece (100-91) | Classic (90-80) | Entertaining (79-69) | Mediocre (68-58) | Cinemuck (57-21) | Crap (20-0)

MartinTeller

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #23 on: April 24, 2014, 09:01:51 PM »

The Famous Sword Bijomaru - Kiyone Sakurai (Shôtarô Hanayagi) has forged a sword for his benefactor, Kozaemon Onoda (Ichijirô Oya), who took care of Kiyone since he was orphaned.  Onoda carries the sword on a visit to the emperor, but when his group is attacked by ronin, the sword breaks.  As punishment for not doing his part to quell the attackers, Onoda is sentenced to house arrest.  Overcome by shame, Kiyone attempts seppuku, but Onoda's daughter Sasae (Isuzu Yamada, long before her memorable turns in Kurosawa's Throne of Blood and Yojimbo) stops him.  A respected samurai named Naito offers to put in a good word for Onoda... in exchange for Sasae's hand in marriage.  Onoda refuses, and the insulted Naito murders him.  Now Sasae wants vengeance, and she asks Kiyone to craft an appropriate sword to carry out the deed.  Kiyone turns to his master Kiyohide (Eijirô Yanagi) and fellow apprentice Kiyotsugu (Kan Ishii) for help in forging a sword fit for an emperor.

This is my 22rd film by Kenji Mizoguchi.  The man made over 90 films, but most of his pre-war pictures are lost.  I've seen everything that could be called a "major" work by Mizoguchi, and most of the "minor" work too, which leaves scraping the bottom of the barrel.  Not that this is a bad movie... there's a little shoddy workmanship here and there (most likely due to wartime budget restrictions) but the story is told well enough.  You can even see a little of the Mizoguchi flair in a couple of elegant tracking shots.  And there's a particularly unusual touch late in the film where Kiyone, trying to forge on his own after Kiyotsugu passes out, is visited and "assisted" by the spiritual presence of a ghostly Sasae.  But the story is pretty routine and predictable, very little depth or nuance.  Kaneto Shindô, once an associate of Mizoguchi's, implies that it was done as work for hire, and it shows.  The performances are nothing to write home about, either, although I liked Hanayagi and Ishii in the forging scenes, and Yanagi's over-the-top intensity is something to see.

As in Mizoguchi's adaptation of The 47 Ronin, there are signs of wartime influence.  We're treated to an oddly shoehorned-in speech about the glory of Japan, and there's a lot of talk about loyalty to the emperor.  And really, the whole film could be seen as a rallying cry to arms manufacturers: this is important stuff, fellas, so put some heart into it!  The movie itself could use a little heart, too, although it does end on a more humanist note, as the sword is sheathed and attention turns to more amorous affairs.  Rating: Fair (63)

jascook

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #24 on: June 30, 2014, 05:32:08 AM »
Sansho the Bailiff: 9/10
Osaka Elegy: 6/10
Women of the Night: 5/10
« Last Edit: October 11, 2015, 12:17:03 PM by jascook »
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roujin

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #25 on: October 19, 2014, 01:45:41 PM »
1. Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
2. Ugetsu (1953)

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji - Director's Best
« Reply #26 on: May 14, 2015, 02:05:15 PM »
Sansho the Bailiff
Ugetsu

The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums

DarkeningHumour

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji
« Reply #27 on: March 24, 2017, 01:43:43 PM »
There is an upcoming Mizoguchi retrospective. Ugetsu and Sansho seem to be the must-watch movies. Are there others?
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DarkeningHumour

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji
« Reply #28 on: May 22, 2017, 05:32:47 AM »
After the first half of the Mizoguchi retrospective.

The Woman in the Rumour
The Crucified Lovers
Ugetsu


How come Ugetsu is known under its Japanese name but not the other ones?
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DarkeningHumour

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Re: Mizoguchi Kenji
« Reply #29 on: May 22, 2017, 08:51:21 AM »
Ugetsu
Kenji Mizoguchi (1953)


Ugetsu Monogatari is perhaps Mizoguchi's best known film, his most acclaimed one, and of the ones I have seen to date, doubtlessly the weirdest one. It is not ambiguous so much about what happens, although I will come back to that, as it about why it happens and what we are supposed to make of it. The film is set in a topsy-turvy down the rabbit hole world that blends the very dark realities of war and poverty with fairy tale realism and children's stories logic.

That this is a story about greed is plain from the beginning, but the whole thing is madness. The two male characters are criticised for their ambitions despite one of them acting like a reasonable entrepreneur at first while the other one is a bit of a maniac. Then they both abandon their families without a second thought in the most absurd manner. The samurai is surprised when he finds out his wife had to find a way to survive in his absence and they both reunite in the end, after some talk of her shame - and very little condemnation of his actions.

The potter only leaves his new mistress when he finds out about her being a ghost. Meanwhile his wife got murdered, even though I had to wait until the last scenes to be sure that that was indeed what had happened (I was a bit confused during their reunion).

The movie concludes on a bittersweet happy ending and everything is fine and dandy for the two male characters, which is what really matters, and we'll just ignore what had to happen to their spouses for them to get to that place.

Ugetsu walks a tight rope but the rope is not stable, it is swinging wildly this way and that. It is written like a morality tale with little to no morality. It alternates between the logical realism of a bleak movie about war and the aloof fantasy of an old folk tale. Its characters are abhorrent but never get their comeuppance, they are justified by supernatural elements, or not even that much, and it is the innocents who suffer. It is a baffling film.

4/10
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