| Elegies of Moonlight And Rain:
The Cinema of Kenji Mizoguchi Screenings of
these films will take place at the Aero March 9 -
12, 2005.
Born impoverished in 1898 Tokyo and exposed first-hand from an early
age to the systematic oppression of women in Japanese society – his sister was sold
as a geisha and his father abused his mother and sister – pantheon film director Kenji
Mizoguchi had numerous influences molding his worldview. From his early silent films
such as A PAPER DOLL’S WHISPER OF SPRING (KAMI NINGYORU NO SASAYAKI, 1926) through
his first sound masterworks such as OSAKA ELEGY (NANIWA EREJI, 1936) and STORY OF THE LAST
CHRYSANTHEMUM (ZANGIKU MONOGATARI, 1939) through such final treasures as UGETSU (1953) and
SANSHO THE BAILIFF (SANSHO DAYU, 1954), Mizoguchi emerged with a body of work that is as
sublimely timeless as it is transcendental, rising above the aggression and exploitation
found in the world-at-large. A painstaking attention to period detail as well as lighting,
frame composition and long, unbroken takes coupled with his intuitive outlook and empathy
for his characters, reveals a simple poetry of supernatural power. Along with Akira
Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu, Mizoguchi remains at the pinnacle of not just Japan’s
motion picture legacy, but of international cinema. "He is the Japanese director I
admire and respect the most…He never compromised. He never said, "This’ll
be enough."…he continually pushed every element until it reached his own
vision." – Akira Kurosawa.
We are pleased to present this short retrospective of some of
Mizoguchi’s most enduring masterpieces.
Friday, March 4 – 7:30 PM
Double Feature:
UGETSU (UGETSU MONOGATARI), 1953, Janus
Films, 94 min. Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi. An ambitious potter (Masayuki Mori) and
his devoted spouse (Kinuyo Tanaka) as well as a kindred couple (Eitaro Ozawa,
Mitsuko Mito) are torn apart by the civil war chaos of 16th century Japan. Both
men realize their material dreams but at a tragic cost to their respective mates. In
particular, Mori’s shallow success is reflected in his delirious romance with a
ghostly noblewoman (Machiko Kyo), an affair that will drive him to the brink of
madness. A poignant evocation of missed opportunities and the illusory nature of worldly
desires as well as one of the most haunting depictions of the supernatural ever committed
to celluloid. Winner of the 1953 Venice Film Festival Silver Lion Award. "If
poetry is manifest in each second, each shot filmed by Mizoguchi,it is because…it is
the instinctive reflection of the filmmaker’s creative nobility…the director of
UGETSU MONOGATARI can describe an adventure which is at the same time a cosmogony."
– Jean-Luc Godard. >> Also playing at the Aero on
March 11.
STORY OF THE LAST CHRYSANTHEMUM
(ZANGIKU MONOGATARI), 1939, Janus Films, 148 min. Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi. Chagrined
to learn that his acting success in 1885 Tokyo’s theatre world is entirely due to his
father’s reputation, novice thespian Kikunosuke (Shotaro Hanayanagi) leaves his
troupe to blaze his trail in the hinterlands, rising and falling solely by his own merits.
Soon he is joined by Otoku (Kakuko Mori), a former family servant fired for her honesty
and the budding romance between the two. Regarded as one of Mizoguchi’s finest films.
>> Also playing at the Aero on March 10.
Saturday, March 5 – 5:00 PM
LIFE OF OHARU (SAIKAKU ICHIDAI ONNA), 1952,
Janus Films, 137 min. Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi. Based on one of Japan’s most
revered novels, the 17th century The Woman Who Loved Love by Saikaku
Ihara, Kinuyo Tanaka is Oharu, a samurai’s daughter expelled from her station
as a lady-in-waiting at the Imperial Palace for falling in love with a man below her rank.
Driven into exile along with her parents, she soon resorts to being a kept woman, then
finally a common prostitute. Mizoguchi expertly walks a tightrope, delivering an
unflinching study of a sensitive woman’s emotional brutalization without manipulative
sentimentality. Another masterwork. With Ichiro Sugai, Toshiro Mifune.
>> Also playing at the Aero on March 12.
Saturday, March 5 – 8:00 PM
Double Feature:
STREET OF SHAME (AKASEN CHITAI), 1956,
Janus Films, 87 min. Maestro director Kenji Mizoguchi’s swansong is a moving
portrait of post-WWII working class prostitutes in Dreamland, a Tokyo brothel. Machiko
Kyo, Ayako Wakao, Aiko Mimasu and Michiyo Kogure supply only a few of the outstanding
performances as Mizoguchi crosscuts through a patchwork quilt of sagas, sympathetically
but unsentimentally examing each woman’s plight and dreams for a better life.
>> Also playing at the Aero on March 12.
SISTERS OF THE GION (GION NO
SHIMAI), 1936, Janus Films, 95 min. Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi. Yoko Umemura
and Isuzu Yamada portray two sisters who are both geishas in the Gion district and
have vastly different attitudes towards men. Umekichi (Umemura) is idealistic and
genuinely in love with her bankrupt suitor, but Omocha (Yamada) is a mercenary creature
always unscrupulously manipulating to elevate both their incomes. However, Fate has
less-than-kind futures in store for both siblings. Mizoguchi brilliantly manages to chart
a universal course not just particular to Japanese women but all people exploited by
economic forces outside their control.
>> Also playing at the Aero on March 11.
Sunday, March 6 – 5:00 PM
Double Feature:
SANSHO THE BAILIFF (SANSHO DAYU), 1954,
Janus Films, 120 min. Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi. In medieval Japan, a decent
noble family is splintered when the father, the compassionate provincial governor is
exiled. The mother is sold into prostitution and the son and daughter shipped to the slave
labor camp of oppressive Sansho The Bailiff (Eitaro Shindo). Kinuyo Tanaka, Kyoko
Kagawa, Akitake Kono, Noriko Tachibana, Yoshiaki Hanayanagi all turn in splendid
performances, perfectly embodying the slow grind of degradation and ultimately the
transcendence of suffering as times passes. One of Mizoguchi’s most enduring
classics.
>> Also playing at the Aero on March 9.
OSAKA ELEGY (NANIWA EREJI), 1936,
Janus Films, 90 min. Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi. Ayako (Isuzu Yamada) becomes her
boss’s mistress to financially assist her wayward father and student brother. But her
efforts go largely unappreciated by her family and set in motion a new spiral of
catastrophes. Mizoguchi’s first acknowledged masterwork is a simple tale transformed
by his intuitive mise-en-scene and the inspired performances into an emotionally
devastating powerhouse.
>> Also playing at the Aero on March 12. |
