Ugecu monogatari
Directed by:
Kenji MizoguchiScreenplay:
Yoshikata YodaCinematography:
Kazuo MiyagawaPlots(1)
By the time he made Ugetsu, Kenji Mizoguchi was already an elder statesman of Japanese cinema, fiercely revered by Akira Kurosawa and other directors of a younger generation. And with this exquisite ghost story, a fatalistic wartime tragedy derived from stories by Akinari Ueda and Guy de Maupassant, he created a touchstone of his art, his long takes and sweeping camera guiding the viewer through a delirious narrative about two villagers whose pursuit of fame and fortune leads them far astray from their loyal wives. Moving between the terrestrial and the otherworldly, Ugetsu reveals essential truths about the ravages of war, the plight of women, and the pride of men. (Criterion)
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A strong film, which is set in the past but is about the present, with ghosts but still about real people and fates that are highly realistic. This is a film that will captivate you with its honesty, its fantasy approach that unbelievably transforms into reality. A beautiful example of how the genre mix was already successful in Japanese execution a long time ago.
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Photo © Daiei Studios
