In Tokyo, Osen is the servant girl of an unscrupulous antiques dealer, Kumazawa, who takes in the penniless Sokichi Hata. Read More »
Tag Archives: Kenji Mizoguchi
The Story Of Last Chrysanthemum (1939) Kenji Mizoguchi, Shôtarô Hanayagi, Kôkichi Takada, Ryôtarô Kawanami, Drama, Romance
In Tokyo in 1888, Kikunosuke Onoue, the adoptive son of an important actor, discovers that he is praised for his acting only because he is his father’s heir Read More »
Yuki fujin ezu / Portrait of Madame Yuki (1950) Kenji Mizoguchi, Michiyo Kogure, Yoshiko Kuga, Ken Uehara, Drama, Romance
Miyamoto Musashi / The Swordsman (1944) Kenji Mizoguchi, Chôjûrô Kawarasaki, Kan’emon Nakamura, Kigoro Ikushima, Action, Drama
Yokihi / Empress Yank Kwei Fei (1955) Kenji Mizoguchi, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Sô Yamamura, Drama, History, Romance
Joyû Sumako no koi / The Love of Sumako the Actress (1947) Kenji Mizoguchi, Kinuyo Tanaka, Sô Yamamura, Kikue Môri, Drama
The stage director Shimamura, who is bringing western theatre to Japan, falls in love with the outspoken actress Sumako Matsui, and leaves his family to be with her, while trying to keep his Art Theatre solvent.
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Osaka Elegy / Naniwa erejî (1936) Kenji Mizoguchi, Isuzu Yamada, Seiichi Takegawa, Chiyoko Ôkura, Drama
Ayako becomes the mistress of her boss, Mr. Asai, so she can pay her father’s debt, and prevent him from going to prison for embezzlement. Read More »
Waga koi wa moenu / Flame of My Love (1949) Kenji Mizoguchi, Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Mito, Kuniko Miyake, Drama, Romance
A woman’s struggle for equality in Japan in the 1880s. Eiko Hirayama leaves Okayama for Tokyo, where she helps the fledgling Liberal Party and falls in love with its leader Kentaro Omoi Read More »
Ugetsu monogatari / Ugetsu (1953) Kenji Mizoguchi, Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyô, Kinuyo Tanaka, Drama, Fantasy, War
In the beginning of the springtime in the period of the Japanese Civil Wars of the Sixteenth Century in Lake Biwa in the Province of Omi, the family man farmer and craftsman Genjurô travels to Nagahama to sell his wares and makes a small fortune.
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Sanshô dayû / Sansho the Bailiff (1954) Kenji Mizoguchi, Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyôko Kagawa, Drama
In mediaeval Japan a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.
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Musashino fujin / The Lady of Musashino (1951) Kenji Mizoguchi, Kinuyo Tanaka, Yukiko Todoroki, Masayuki Mori, Drama
Set in post-war Japan, The Lady of Musashino tells the story of Michiko, a disillusioned young woman trapped in a loveless marriage. She confides in her younger cousin, Tsutomo, and the two become close, but decide not to consummate their affair. He instead becomes involved with the flirtatious Tomiko, who is also conducting an affair with Michiko’s husband. When Michiko finds that her husband has abandoned her, she decides to take her fate into her own hands.
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Maria no Oyuki / Oyuki, the Virgin (1935) Kenji Mizoguchi
Oyuki, the Virgin is based on Kawaguchi Matsutaro’s adaptation of Maupassant’s “Boule de Suif” (“Lump of Fat,” also the inspiration for Ford’s Stagecoach). To this story Mizoguchi added some of his own elements. Maupassant’s original work, set during the Franco-Prussian War, is the story of a group of people who try to flee the battleground in a horsedrawn carriage. The bourgeois use the expression “lump of fat” to refer sarcastically to the prostitute who is riding along with them. When they are caught by the enemy, they offer to send her to the commander as a human sacrifice. This done, when they leave the battlefield the next day, all they do is censure her and call her vulgar.
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