When a married woman has an affair with a young musician, feudal Japanese law requires that both offenders pay with their lives. Read More »
Tag Archives: Masayuki Mori
Yokihi / Empress Yank Kwei Fei (1955) Kenji Mizoguchi, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Sô Yamamura, Drama, History, Romance
Tsuma to shite onna to shite / As a Wife, As a Woman (1961) Mikio Naruse, Hideko Takamine, Chikage Awashima, Masayuki Mori, Drama
The children of a distinguished professor find that the woman they have come to regard as their racy and slightly disreputable Ginza aunt is really their mother. Read More »
Kokoro / The Heart (1955) Kon Ichikawa, Masayuki Mori, Michiyo Aratama, Tatsuya Mihashi, Drama
Kon Ichikawa’s rich adaptation of Natsume Soseki’s classic novel depicts a complex relationship between a student and an older man he calls “sensei.” Read More »
Rashômon / Rashomon (1950) Akira Kurosawa, Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Crime, Drama
A priest, a woodcutter and another man are taking refuge from a rainstorm in the shell of a former gatehouse called Rashômon.
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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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Arakure / Untamed Woman (1957) Mikio Naruse, Hideko Takamine, Ken Uehara, Masayuki Mori, Drama
Set in the Taish? period of Japan (dating from 1912 to 1926), Untamed follows the fiery Oshima (in a superbly eccentric performance by Takamine) as she passes from one suitor to another, a series of calamities befalling her along the way. Characteristic of Naruse’s work, urban and rural settings are juxtaposed: the moody Tokyo streets against a majestic mountain village. At each point, the various situations Oshima is caught in seem uncannily bound up with her surroundings. It’s worth noting that the film, while not widely known, is singled out for praise by critic Chris Fujiwara.
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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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