Mizoguchi and Japan

by Mark Le Fanu

For a majority of filmgoers, the names most usually associated with classic Japanese cinema are those of Kurosawa and Ozu. Yet during the early 1950s, at the same time that Kurosawa was becoming known to the public through the release of classics like Rashomon and The Seven Samurai , another Japanese director, Kenji Mizoguchi, quietly came out with a trilogy of films - The Life of Oharu , Ugetsu Monogatari and Sansho the Bailiff - that are the equal of Kurosawa's in mastery, and which by any account rank among the greatest and most enduring masterpieces of world cinema.

As a storyteller, Mizoguchi was drawn to the plight and oppression of women throughout the ages - it was, for him, the 'subject of subjects'. So in addition to the movies just mentioned, he is remembered for a string of masterly contemporary films that examined, with unprecedented candour and ferocity, the conditions of life in Japanese brothels and geisha houses. Yet, as well as being a moralist. Mizoguchi was a stylist. His films are considered by critics to be among the most beautiful ever made, from a purely pictorial point of view. Filmgoers who have responded enthusiastically in recent years to Chinese classics like Farewell My Concubine or to the colourful works of Zhang Yimou will be delighted to discover 'pre-echoes' of this cinema in such late films by this Japanese master as The Empress Yang Kwei Fei and Tales of the Taira Clan (both released in 1955) works in which colour, costume and decor are deployed with compelling refinement.

Despite his extraordinary qualities as a film-maker, Mizoguchi and Japan is the first full -length study in English for over 20 years of a director whose work is as vibrant now as it ever was in its heyday, and whom the French film review Cahiers du Cinema recently hailed 'the greatest of all cineastes.'

Mark Le Fanu's preface to the new ebook edition -

A Retrospective to the 2008 edition -

Genres: Film, Japan, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 3, 2005

Reviews

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Le Danu's book Mizoguchi And Japan (2008) is a great resource for understanding the director's contributions to Japanese cinema and analysis of his major films. Le Fanu makes his case for Mizoguchi among the pantheon of the world's great directors and gives context of his work and looks closely at some of the trends and motifs in his work. For example he starts out discussing his three masterpieces: The Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu (1953), and Sansho the Baliff (1954), in "The Great Triptych." This is followed by discussions of his films that deal with prostitutes and Geisha in the chapter "Geisha, Prostitution, and the Street." Here he discussed the following: Osaka Elegy and Sister of Gion (both 1936), The Straits of Love and Hate (1937), Women of the Night (1948), Gion Festival Music (1953), The Woman of Rumor (1954), and Street of Shame (1956). In "Visions of History" Le Fanu discusses his historical-based films such as The Loyal 47 Ronin (1941-2), Crucified Lovers (1954),The Empress Yang Kwei Fei (1955), and Tales of the Taira Clan (1955).Le Fanu also discusses the films that Mizoguchi made about "respectable women," for example, The Love of Sumiko the Actress (1947), My Love Has Been Burning (1949), A Picture of Madame Yuki (1950), Miss Oyu (1951), and The Lady from Musashino (1951). LeFanu addresses many aspect of Mizoguchis films aside from thematic content-such as his long drawn out one scene takes that is his forte and stylized Japanese acting among other topics. It is an informative and well-researched look at one of Japan's master filmmakers.

[Jamjars · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit niche, but this is a brilliant overview of Kenji Mizoguchi's films, including background information about the development of his main works and cultural information that helps to better understand the films.
I found this book fascinating and especially enjoyed the chapter on geisha. You can tell the research for this book has been very thorough; many of the texts and films by other directors mentioned in the book have been added to my read/watch list.
There are also brilliant photos in the book, including behind the scenes candid shots.