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Bookmark this pageUgetsu Monogatari (1953)
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Mizoguchi's best-known work, based on two stories by the 18th century writer Akinari Ueda (often described as the Japanese Maupassant), was one of a handful of Japanese films to sweep up numerous awards at European festivals in the early '50s. Its reputation as one of Mizoguchi's finest works and a landmark of the Japanese 'art' cinema has remained undented ever since. The director's unique establishment of atmosphere by means of long shot, long takes, sublimely graceful and unobtrusive camera movement, is everywhere evident in his treatment of the legend of a potter who leaves his family to market his wares during the ravages of a civil war, and is taken in and seduced by a ghost princess. A ravishingly composed, evocatively beautiful film.Author: RM
User reviews of this film
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- Frank Ross said...
- Posted on Jul 03 2010 13:34 The opening lines when the potter returns to his home, overjoyed with his success in the marketplace only to be berated by his wife for overconfidence; is perhaps the greatest evocation of deception, belying the ultimate unsettling feelings that his audience will suffer. This is Mizoguchi's great strength. Simply put, Ugetsu Monagatari is one of the finest films that cinema has to offer.
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Cast & crew
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Producer: Masaichi Nagata
Cast: Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyo, Sakae Ozawa, Mitsuko Mito, Kinuyo Tanaka full cast
Duration: 96 mins
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