Kenji Mizoguchi

[Scharphedin2]

Not strictly relating to Mizoguchi, although this article mentions specific clips from several silent Mizoguchi films.

Anyone here had the opportunity to use this research tool, or, maybe own it personally?

[Michael Kerpan]

Anyone here had the opportunity to use this research tool, or, maybe own it personally?

Lots of interesting clips. The interface is rather clunky -- but otherwise a nice thing to convince one's library to buy.

If one can get a library to buy it -- it's better. Not something one is going to watch over and over, but a nice (not very detailed) reference tool.

;~}

[Scharphedin2]

If one can get a library to buy it -- it's better. Not something one is going to watch over and over, but a nice (not very detailed) reference tool.

Michael, how many clips would you say this includes, and how lengthy are the excerpts. It is a lot of money, but if it is the only way of seeing any silent Japanese film... Certainly, there is no library around here that I could convince, and husband or not-husband, I don't think so... In lieu of this DVD tool, do you know of any other way to get to see any Japanese silent film? Anything out in Asia? I have looked fairly extensively at YesAsia!, but they seem to not even have silent film on their radar.

[Michael Kerpan]

In lieu of this DVD tool, do you know of any other way to get to see any Japanese silent film? Anything out in Asia? I have looked fairly extensively at YesAsia!, but they seem to not even have silent film on their radar.

Currently available in English-subbed form -- "Inn at Tokyo" from Panorama (Hong Kong) and Story of Floating Weeds (3 versions -- HK, Korean and US -- Criterion). All the Asian releases are available from YesAsia.

I believe "I Was Born But" is available on DVD with French subs. There is also this new set -- with several silents.

If you don't need subtitles at all -- all of Ozu's silent films are included in the box sets released by Shochiku.

[toiletduck!]

The mini retro is finally hitting Chicago the last two weeks of November at the Music Box (UGETSU the first week, everything else the second). They will be screening the same six from the Film Forum retro as well as UTAMORO AND HIS FIVE WOMEN.

(Also of note, the weekend matinee series for the next three months will be selections from Ebert's Great Movies, including Battle of Algiers, Trouble In Paradise, Tokyo Story, Wings Of Desire, and a shit ton of others)

-Toilet Dcuk

[Michael Kerpan]

I wonder how good the (at long last) new print of "Story of Late Chrysanthemums" will look?

Shochiku will release 7 Mizoguchi films on DVD.

[Steven H]

That's fantastic news. I'm less worried about the fifties films getting released (which a few companies seem interested in) than those thirties masterpieces, Osaka Elegy, Sisters of the Gion, and Story of the Last Chrysanthemum. The latter is available in Spain, but look terrible (from accounts, screencaptures, and my own assumption). Those three are serious film gems that I've been waiting years for the DVD producing world to get around to, and now that Shochiku has (theoretically) cleaned them up and announced them, I'm ecstatic.

I haven't seen his Famous Sword. Anyone have any comments on it who has?

[Scharphedin2]

Michael-Sensei-san, first of all thanks for always posting the latest news on Asian cinema here in the forum! Secondly, the Kadokawa set to be released by IVL with English subtitles is great news. However, an English subtitled release of this set from Shochiku would of course be even nicer. Based on your experience, do you have any feeling if that is likely to happen?

[Michael Kerpan]

I would say there is approximately zero chance that Shochiku will offer English subtitles on its Mizoguchi DVDs. They have not included them on any other historic releases to date (though they occasionally offer them on newer films). I would love to be proved wrong -- but I fear I won't be.

Ozu refused to allow people to address him as sensei (asd so did Naruse) -- while Mizoguchi liked being called this. I prefer to follow in Ozu's footsteps -- even in this Mizoguchi thread. In any event -- "sensei" and "san" are alternate choices that can't be combined. ;~}

[artfilmfan]

They didn't put any subtitles on them, did they?

"You idiots! What are you doing!", I told the company, and they said "Well, our people don't really want that." I said, "You don't know who your people are. You could sell this all over the world." And anyway, nobody listened. --Donald Richie

... And when Michael met the Shochiku executive who was in charge of the production of those releases, instead of fussing over the omission of the subtitles which Donald Richie referred to, Michael politely thanked that executive for making the films available on DVDs. In return, out of politeness, the executive offered Michael a tour of the Shochiku facility if Michael ever goes to Japan. You see, it's all about politeness and "sensei" or "san". We'll never get to have the subtitles.

[Scharphedin2]

Ozu refused to allow people to address him as sensei (asd so did Naruse) -- while Mizoguchi liked being called this. I prefer to follow in Ozu's footsteps -- even in this Mizoguchi thread. In any event -- "sensei" and "san" are alternate choices that can't be combined. ;~}

Sorry Michael, it was an attempt at a playful way of expressing my appreciation and respect.

I was actually not aware that "san" and "sensei" are mutually exclusive terms. Thanks for pointing this out. Although, thinking about it I could have sworn that I have seen/heard the words combined.

I would say there is approximately zero chance that Shochiku will offer English subtitles on its Mizoguchi DVDs. They have not included them on any other historic releases to date (though they occasionally offer them on newer films). I would love to be proved wrong -- but I fear I won't be.

I think my question was not very clear. What I meant was whether you are aware of IVL (or another Hong Kong label) having a relationship with Shockiku that would lead to a subsequent release of their Mizoguchi box with English subtitles (in the same manner as with the Kodukawa set).

[Michael Kerpan]

... And when Michael met the Shochiku executive who was in charge of the production of those releases, instead of fussing over the omission of the subtitles which Donald Richie referred to, Michael politely thanked that executive for making the films available on DVDs. In return, out of politeness, the executive offered Michael a tour of the Shochiku facility if Michael ever goes to Japan. You see, it's all about politeness and "sensei" or "san". We'll never get to have the subtitles.

Hey, I did tease them about the lack of subtitles -- and they apologized -- and they promised to consider them on future releases (including the Shimizu ones -- that never even came out)-- and I didn't really believe them. ;~}

I love Japanese politeness.

[Michael Kerpan]

Sorry Michael, it was an attempt at a playful way of expressing my appreciation and respect.

I was actually not aware that "san" and "sensei" are mutually exclusive terms. Thanks for pointing this out. Although, thinking about it I could have sworn that I have seen/heard the words combined.

No need to apologize -- just a tip for future reference. "-san" basically means "Mr." or Mrs." -- while "-sensei" refers to teachers, professors, doctors, lawyers (so technically "-sensei" could be considered correct). ;~}

I think my question was not very clear. What I meant was whether you are aware of IVL (or another Hong Kong label) having a relationship with Shockiku that would lead to a subsequent release of their Mizoguchi box with English subtitles (in the same manner as with the Kadokawa set).

As I understand it, Panorama has the rights to much/most/all (?) of Shochiku's back catalog (including all the Ozu) -- so I would guess they also have the rights to the Shochiku Mizoguchi and Naruse, etc. Since they haven't tackled most of the old Ozu films yet, I wonder if they will ever get around to these others.

[Scharphedin2]

Well, at least IVL will offer the opportunity to see another three Mizoguchi films (with English subtitles) by my reckoning, which in itself is cause for celebration. Add to that Peerpee's promise that Mizoguchi will join the collection early in 2007 (and if the speculation is correct with a whole slew of films). If correct, hopefully there will be at least one or two films that have not appeared anywhere else (with subs).

Seeing Mizoguchi's films is a long-standing ambition for me. Just this month I finally managed to view a total of eight of his films (everything that I could find with English subs). The Films Sans Frontieres sets were magnificent, and I highly recommend them to anyone with a similar interest to see these films. In terms of image quality, I think the disc featuring Crucified Lovers and Street Of Shame is close to the standards of Criterion. Almost flawless prints in strong transfers. Both films are masterpieces by any standards, and for anyone with any interest, I would not hesitate for a second in getting this package. Sansho the Bailiff was my favorite of all; it seemed close in quality to Criterion's Ugetsu, although the source print may be slightly more worn than Ugetsu, but then this film is so amazing that I would have watched it no matter what. The color films – Empress Yang Kwei Fei and New Tales of the Taira Clan – come across as somewhat weaker than the rest, both as films and in terms of print/transfer quality, but still very decent and perfectly watchable.

Artificial Eye's releases of Life of O-Haru and The Lady of Musashino are in somewhat rougher shape than the FSF titles. The prints themselves are damaged in several places, but that said, if one is really determined to see these films, then AE's editions are fine – definitely not so bad as some reviews would tend to make you think. I had seen Life of O-Haru before, and I really like the film, although I would probably tend to agree with other people in this thread that it is not among the very best of Mizoguchi's films (even from the small selection that I have managed to see). I had lower expectations of Lady of Musashino than any of the rest, and maybe for that very reason I was really surprised at how good I actually thought it was. The basic story is nothing special, but the character played by Tanaka (and her performance) is great, and there are some wonderful stand-out scenes here and there, especially when Tanaka and her nephew venture out into the countryside of Musashino, and the nephew's walk that concludes the film. Above all the suffering and heartache, there is also this sense of hope and possibility that I think is sometimes found in really good films from the years following immediately after the Second World War. So, since this is probably the film least likely to appear in a stronger version on DVD, I recommend it very much.

Criterion's release of Ugetsu needs no further comment. It is a great disc of a seminal film with great supplements. Ugetsu is the other Mizoguchi film that I had seen before (a long time ago), and I was possibly even more impressed with it now – a film with a very, very special mood.

I have yet to view The 47 Ronin, which I own in the “ancientâ€

[Arcadean]

Am I the only one here who thinks the New Tales of the Taira Clan is underrated? Also, I can't help adding that the colors on the version I saw weren't great (I couldn't help wondering perhaps if the color process used was unstable). I'm not an expert in this area, but I wonder about it when there is much praise aimed toward the colors of the film by Jonathan Rosenbaum (this is an offhand comment in his review of Fly High Run Far):

Composed mainly of short, economical scenes, flurries of action against breathtaking landscapes that stunningly reflect the seasons, this makes more intoxicating use of color than any Asian film I've seen since Mizoguchi's New Tales of the Taira Clan, and the story itself has an epic grandeur worthy of Mizoguchi.

There is also an opening comment in the original New York Times review by Eugene Archer:

Buried amid the weekend screenings at the New York Film Festival was one of the most beautiful pictures ever made.

Any comments on this?

[Michael Kerpan]

"Taira Clans" has its fans -- but I am not one of them. In my opinion, the weakest of his 50s films by far (despite some lovely minutes here and there).

Out of 30 Mizoguchi films seen, this is in my bottom five.

[kinjitsu]

Terrence Rafferty on the mini-Mizoguchi retro at the Film Forum.

Mizoguchi on DVD in Japan

[Michael Kerpan]

Also listed as ancillary releases -- Kaneto Shindo's "Aisai monogatrai" (1951), a 1956 re-make of "Gion no kyodai" (Sister of Gion" by Hiromasa Nomura, Kozaburo Yoshimura's "Osaka monogatari" (1957).

No discussion (I can see) of the pre-1936 films -- or of "My Love Has Been Burning", "Love of Sumako the Actress", "Victory of Women", "Victory Song", "Famous Sword Bijimaru" or "Miyamoto Musashi".

"Aien kyo" (1937) is already out (in an abysmal bootleg quality release). Not sure whether the 1938 "Aa kokyo" exists...

I just got the new release of "Portrait of Madame Yuki" -- it looks gorgeous (compared to anything I've seen previously at least). No subs -- not even Japanese ones. As a supplement, it has remains of a 1929 advertising film (for the newspaper Asahi) that Mizoguchi worked on -- Asahi wa kagayaku (Morning Sun Rises). Unfortunately, the dramatic sections that Mizoguchi would have directed weren't preserved -- only the scenes actually advertising the newspaper seem to have been considered worth saving.

[tryavna]

Anthony Lane chimes in over at The New Yorker (last four paragraphs).

[Michael Kerpan]

There are few more dedicated watchers of Mizoguchi films than myself -- but I just can't buy into the (over-heated) rhetoric used by Lane.

But thanks for the link. ;~}

[Michael Kerpan]

what sort of a "critic" would avoid reseeing a film which he says he found so powerful?

Sansho isn't even one of my very top Mizoguchi favorites -- and I watch it every couple of years or so. ;~}

(It isn't even my favorite Mizoguchi film from 1954 -- but what a year he had that year!).

[godardslave]

Sansho isn't even one of my very top Mizoguchi favorites -- and I watch it every couple of years or so. ;~}

(It isn't even my favorite Mizoguchi film from 1954 -- but what a year he had that year!).

Micheal, could you list your favorite 10 mizoguchi films?

[Michael Kerpan]

Micheal, could you list your favorite 10 mizoguchi films?

I've seen 30 -- and I think there are two more out there to see...

My most recent Mizoguchi "grade report":

Akasen chitai / Street of Shame (1956) A+
Chikamatsu monogatari / The Crucified Lovers (1954) A+
Zangiku monogatari / The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939) A+

Gion bayashi / Gion Festival Music / A Geisha (1953) A
Gion no shimai / Sisters of the Gion (1936) A
Saikaku ichidai onna / The Life of Oharu (1952) A
Taki no shiraito / The Water Magician (1933) A
Utamaro o meguru gonin no onna / Five Women Around Utamaro (1946) A

Aien kyo / The Straits of Love and Hate (1937) A-
Genroku chushingura / The 47 Ronin (1941) A-
Orizuru Osen / The Downfall of Osen (1935) A-
Joyû Sumako no koi / The Love of Sumako the Actress (1947) A-
Sanshô dayû / Sansho the Bailiff (1954) A-
Uwasa no onna / The Woman in the Rumor (1954) A-

Maria no Oyuki / Oyuki the Virgin (1935) B+
Naniwa erejî / Osaka Elegy (1936) B+
Yuki fujin ezu / Portrait of Madame Yuki (1950) B+
Yôkihi / Empress Yang Kwei Fei (1955) B+

Tokyo koshin-kyoku / Tokyo March (1929) B (tentative)
Ugetsu monogatari / Ugetsu (1953) B
Yoru no onnatachi / Women of the Night (1948) B

Furusato no uta / The Song of Home (1925) B- (tentative)
Gubijinsô / Poppies (1935) B-
Oyû-sama / Miss Oyu (1951) B-

Musashino fujin / The Lady from Musashino (1951) C+
Waga koi wa moenu / My Love Has Been Burning (1949) C+

Josei no shôri / The Victory of Women (1946) C
Meito bijomaru / The Famous Sword Bijomaru (1945) C
Shin heike monogatari / Legend of the Taira Clan (1955) C

Disclaimer: not a ranking of value -- but of affection

[tryavna]

(Tryava this certainly not a shot at you - Lane and Denby make me see red. It infuriates me this junk is considered appropriate for the supposed intellectually aware people who read the New Yorker. Seymour Hirsch or the sublime Arlene Croce they AINT!)

No worries, David. No offense taken. I agree that Lane is an inconsequential critic. I just posted the link because it was more easily accessible than Rafferty's.

I used to read Lane primarily for his occasionally hilarious razzing of truly horrible movies. (His review of the recent Lucky Number Sle7en was entertaining, I have to admit.) I find Denby marginally more admirable because at least he's unafraid to express his enthusiasm for a movie without resorting to Lane's purple prose. (I didn't agree with it, but Denby's positive review of Crash is by far the most specific in its praise that I've come across.)

At the same time, I don't take any of The New Yorker's regular critics very seriously any more -- with the exceptions of Menand (if he's still contributing, that is) and Alex Ross' excellent stuff on classical music. Since Remnick took charge, the magazine has been much better at investigative reporting.

[TheRanchHand]

Mizoguchi at The Los Angeles County Museum

Seven Masterpieces by Kenji Mizoguchi

June 8 - June 23

"With the death of Mizoguchi, Japanese film lost its truest creator."
—Akira Kurosawa

Kenji Mizoguchi began his career in the silent-film era and quickly became known for his vehement independence and uncompromising artistry. His works spanned many genres, from contemporary melodrama and historical epic to social realism and domestic tragedy, along with the occasional biography, ghost story, or samurai tale. He directed dozens of films, many of which were lost during World War II. Those that remain make up one of the most beautiful bodies of work in any art, of any time. Classics such as Ugetsu, Sansho the Bailiff, Story of the Late Chrysanthemums, and The Life of Oharu are unequaled in their pictorial and narrative richness and emotional force. It is little wonder that critics the world over have chosen Mizoguchi as one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema.

Mizoguchi's cinema often explores the interplay between art and life, the vanity of human ambition, transcendence through love after death, and the subjugation of women in Japan (perhaps the most contentious of his central themes). Whether set in Japan's medieval past or on the streets of 1950s Tokyo, his work has as its central focus a woman who sacrifices everything-and, consequently, is often driven into prostitution or concubinage-so that a debased man can achieve success or personal transformation. The Japanese film critic Tadao Sato attributes this persistent theme to Mizoguchi's feelings of guilt about the sacrifices his own mother and sister made for him. But can the intense determination with which Mizoguchi repeatedly treated the subject of women's subjugation and the force of his films' feminism, which audiences still find astounding today, be considered an act of expiation? In fact, with an art as complex as Mizoguchi's, some critics have questioned whether his cinema is feminist at all. By aestheticizing women's sacrifice and suffering, does Mizoguchi present a conservative worldview in which change is impossible and escape imaginable only through death?

While there is debate about the source and meaning of Mizoguchi's themes, there is little doubt of his sublime style. Elegant long takes and sequence shots reflect his one-scene/one-take method. Deep-focus compositions organize background and foreground to energize the space contained in the frame, and strong diagonals emphasize offscreen space. He had a marked propensity for the long shot as well. "I hate close-ups," he said, and his intricately executed pan and crane shots earned him comparisons to such stylists as F. W. Murnau and Max Ophüls.

Although infamous for his tyrannical working methods with writers, technicians, and actors, Mizoguchi told the most humane stories, designed the most exquisite images, achieved the most ethereal effects, and extracted the most nuanced performances. Great art is sometimes born of such abusive perfectionism, and there is little art greater than Mizoguchi's.

The seven films in this series were selected from among the Mizoguchi titles in the Janus Films library by James Quandt, senior programmer of the Cinematheque Ontario and organizer of the 1996 retrospective "Mizoguchi the Master." Our thanks to Mr. Quandt for the introduction and film descriptions, and to Sarah Finklea and Janus Films for making the films available in new 35mm prints.

June 8 | 7:30 pm Ugetsu
June 8 | 9:20 pm Sisters of the Gion

June 9 | 7:30 pm Sansho the Bailiff

June 15 | 7:30 pm Story of the Late Chrysanthemums

June 16 | 7:30 pm The Life of Oharu

June 22 & 23 | 7:30 pm Utamaro and His Five Women
June 22 & 23 | 9:15 pm Street of Shame