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Mizoguchi Masterpieces

Kenji Mizoguchi (1898-1956) is recognized as one of the 20th century's greatest filmmakers. As a child, he witnessed the sale of his older sister into the life of a geisha, an event that was to have a profound influence on his work in film. After studying painting, he took his first film job in 1922 as an assistant to Osamu Wakayama at Nikkatsu Studios, quickly progressing to directing finely crafted period pieces centered on downtrodden and love-bound women—geishas, barmaids and mistreated housewives—compelled to make tragic decisions in the face of wrenching choices between tradition and modern opportunity. Wanting to achieve a cinema that was "so real that the audience could smell the body odor of the people portrayed" he made films that combined exquisite pictorial beauty with keen attention to psychological detail and relied on simplicity rather than technical flash to achieve their perfection. During the 1940s and 50s a string of masterpieces—among them UTAMARO AND HIS FIVE WOMEN. UGETSU, THE LIFE OF OHARU, STREET OF SHAME, and SANSHO THE BALIFF—earned their place among the most beautiful films ever made and his place among cinema's masters.

Fri, May 11, 2007 at 7 PM Sun, May 13, 2007 at 5:30 PM	SISTERS OF THE GION DIRECTOR: KENJI MIZOGUCHI JAPAN Because of its realism and uniquely balanced point of view, many critics consider this masterpiece to be Japan's best pre-war sound film. The flavor of life in the famed Gion district is sampled through the story of two geisha sisters, one faithful to traditional values, the other more modern in her outlook. Mizoguchi objectively etches the good and bad in each of the women's respective choices, leaving the larger implications for a culture, torn between old and new, for the viewer to come to terms with. A landmark in the development of realism in the Japanese cinema, the film won the Kinema Jumpo Award, Japan's top film prize, for Best Film. ( 70 min ) ^ Top
Fri, May 11, 2007 at 8:30 PM Sat, May 12, 2007 at 9:30 PM	THE STORY OF THE LAST CHRYSANTHEMUM DIRECTOR: KENJI MIZOGUCHI JAPAN Set during the Meiji era, Mizoguchi's tale of a Kabuki actor's difficult rise to fame is at once a bittersweet exploration of the Japanese family hierarchy and an inside look at the traditions of Japanese theater. Kikunosuke, an actor who often plays the part of women, falls in love with his father's nursemaid, Otoku, whose lowly origins the father disapproves of. Rather than separate as convention would dictate, the two travel the country, he performing in theater troupes before peasant audiences, Otoku supporting him by taking on odd jobs. Beneath the surface of Mizoguchi's beautiful costume drama is a tragic tale of love and family. "Bristling with passion, the film is a true find: a heartbreaker to end them all. . . Justif[ies] its reputation as the peak of Mizoguchi 's filmmaking."—TIME OUT. ( 115 min ) ^ Top
Sun, May 13, 2007 at 7 PM	UTAMARO AND HIS FIVE WOMEN DIRECTOR: KENJI MIZOGUCHI JAPAN Utamaro, the master of ukiyo-e (the Japanese art of woodcut printmaking), lived during the Edo period (1603-1868). An artist who symbolized rebellion against the feudal system, Utamaro was a non-traditionalist in whom director Mizoguchi found a kindred spirit. His film provides "an extraordinary feel for the rhythms of daily life in the market place, back alleys and geisha parlors of imperial Tokyo. On one level, this is the story of Utamaro as a popular 'democratic' artist, a painter of 'common women' and a rebel against the reactionary academic schools of printmaking. The film also tells the story of several of the women Utamaro painted, the courtesans and commoners who inspired his blasphemous masterworks."—PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE. ( 95 min ) ^ Top
Thu, May 17, 2007 at 7 PM	UGETSU DIRECTOR: KENJI MIZOGUCHI JAPAN In war-torn 16th century Japan, two peasant families leave their homes in search of fortune. The husbands abandon their wives and children along the journey, one bewitched by the ghost of a beautiful princess and the other seeking personal glory as a samurai warrior. Mizoguchi's exquisite sense of a time past and the world of the supernatural enable him to portray how war leads to restlessness and greed, and how human ambition is illusory. Hauntingly beautiful and spellbindingly told, UGETSU is "one of the most perfect movies in the history of Japanese cinema."—Donald Ritchie, Japanese Cinema. ( 96 min ) ^ Top
Sun, May 20, 2007 at 7 PM	THE LIFE OF OHARU DIRECTOR: KENJI MIZOGUCHI JAPAN Winner of the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival, OHARU cemented Mizoguchi's international reputation and was, in his opinion, his masterpiece. Adapted from a classic picaresque novel by Ihara Saikaku, the drama unfolds in a painstakingly recreated 17th century Kyoto with Mizoguchi regular Kinuyo Tanaka starring in the title role as a beautiful court lady gradually reduced by circumstances to prostitution and beggary. Hailed for its exquisite compositions and breathtakingly sequenced shots, most critics place OHARU at the pinnacle of Mizoguchi's artistry. ( 135 min ) ^ Top
Thu, May 24, 2007 at 7 PM	STREET OF SHAME DIRECTOR: KENJI MIZOGUCHI JAPAN Mizoguchi's last film explores one of his hallmark concerns—the exploitation of women—with an especially bitter tone. Set in a Tokyo brothel called "Dreamland" and featuring an ensemble cast of superb actresses, the film profiles a group of prostitutes and examines their various reasons for entering the trade. "Probably the best of all [the] films examining the problems of women in postwar Japan . . . it was the very first outstanding film on Japanese contemporary life to command a large American audience."—Donald Richie, Japanese Cinema. ( 88 min ) ^ Top
Sun, May 27, 2007 at 7 PM	SANSHO THE BALIFF DIRECTOR: KENJI MIZOGUCHI JAPAN In 11th-century Japan, the family of an exiled provincial governor is kidnapped. His wife is sold into prostitution and his son and daughter are sold to the cruel Sansho. The son escapes, determined to find his mother and free the other slaves forced to work Sansho's manor. He will have great rewards and great despair. Mizoguchi's sweeping epic is based on a classic Japanese legend, a story that celebrates bravery, resilience, and selflessness. "A film that is both impassioned and elegiac, dynamic in its sense of the social struggle and the moral options, yet also achingly remote in its fragile beauty. The result is even more remarkable than it sounds."—Tony Rayns. ( 125 min ) ^ Top