SAT APRIL 30, 2022 7:30 PM THE LIFE OF OHARU / OSAKA ELEGY $8.00 (member) ; $13.00 (general admission) Aero Theatre | Takashi Shimura Retrospective Tickets are no longer on sale for this event.
ABOUT THE FILMS: THE LIFE OF OHARU, 1952, Janus Films, 136 min. Japan, Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi. A peerless chronicler of the soul who specialized in supremely emotional, visually exquisite films about the circumstances of women in Japanese society, Kenji Mizoguchi had already been directing movies for decades when he made THE LIFE OF OHARU in 1952. But this epic portrait of an inexorable fall from grace, starring the astounding Kinuyo Tanaka as an imperial lady-in-waiting who gradually descends to street prostitution, was the movie that gained the director international attention, ushering in a new golden period for him. FORMAT: 35mm OSAKA ELEGY, 1936, Janus Films, 71 min, Japan, Dir: Kenji Mizoguchi. A critical and popular triumph, OSAKA ELEGY established Mizoguchi as one of Japan’s major filmmakers. The director’s often-used leading actress Isuzu Yamada stars as Ayako, a switchboard operator trapped in a compromising, ruinous relationship with her boss to help support her wastrel father. With its fluid cinematography and deft storytelling, OSAKA ELEGY ushered in a new era of sound melodrama for Mizoguchi. Takashi Shimura plays a police inspector in one of his earliest film roles. FORMAT: DCP