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KEN MIZOGUCHI'S FALLEN WOMEN
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Our Price: $59.95
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Though parsing the 30 year career of a celebrated director of over 90 films is difficult, this themed-set samples two prewar and postwar films that deal with one of Mizoguchi's major concerns: the plight of women under Japanese patriarchy. Banned in 1940, Osaka Elegy (1936, 71 mins.) is "Mizoguchi's satire of the ruthless, all-pervasive Osaka capitalism. In this film the mature Mizoguchi style emerges for the first time as he creates, entirely through visual means, a balance between the fate of the heroine Ayako and the corrupt, degenerate values of Osaka" (Joan Mellen, The Waves at Genji's Door). Set in the red-light district of Kyoto, Sisters of the Gion (1936, 69 mins.) tells of two sisters--the older trained as a geisha in the old tradition, the younger an apprentice devoted to the more progressive ideas. Women of the Night (1948, 74 mins.) deals with the lives of two Osaka sisters who are reduced to working as prostitutes during the Occupation. Mizoguchi's last film, Street of Shame (1956, 85 mins.), involves the dreams and problems of a group of prostitutes living in one gaudy Tokyo brothel, with a remarkable performance by the legendary Machiko Kyo. In Kenji Mizoguchi---Japan---1936-1956---299 mins.
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LADY OF MUSASHINO (REGION 2)
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Our Price: $79.95
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Kenji Mizoguchi (Ugetsu) weaves a story of love, infidelity and shame. A woman falls in love with her cousin after learning of her husband's philandering. Regardless of her husband's adultery, her betrayal is considered worse by the community and leads her to a drastic solution. In Japanese with English subtitles. Kenji Mizoguchi---Japan---1951---95 mins.
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LIFE OF OHARU
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Our Price: $79.95
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An enduring masterpiece of world cinema, from the director of Ugetsu. Life of Oharu is a poignant, exquisitely filmed portrait of a woman victimized by the brutal strictures of 17th-century feudal Japan. Mizoguchi shows remarkable insight into the psychology of his female protagonist, and photographs her with slow, graceful, hauntingly beautiful camera movements. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Kenji Mizoguchi---Japan---1952---130 mins.
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MISS OYU
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Our Price: $79.95
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Produced for Daiei Studios a year before The Life of Oharu, Mizoguchi's Miss Oyu shares much in common with the more widely known masterpiece. Kinuyo Tanaka again stars in a period melodrama concerned with suffering Japanese women, and their stories unfold in a series unobtrusive, long takes. In the title role, Tanaka plays widowed Oyu, who falls in love with Yuji Hori, but cannot marry him for fear that her son will lose his inheritance. The solution--having Oyu's younger sister pose as Hori's wife so the lovers can remain close--only leads to tragedy. In Japanese with English subtitles. Kenji Mizoguchi---Japan---1951---94 mins.
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SANSHO THE BAILIFF
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Our Price: $39.95
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Mizoguchi uses long takes, deep focus lensing, and fluid camera movements to convey the sorrow and resilience of a family torn apart by feudal barbarism.
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TAIRA CLAN SAGA
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Our Price: $29.95
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The last great color film by Mizoguchi. Set in the 12th century as the center of power in Japan shifted from feudal nobility to the Buddhist clergy, the story centers on Kiyomori, scion of the Taira clan of swordsmen. At the beginning of the film he quietly acquiesces to his father's authority; at the end he is in open revolt against it. Mizoguchi describes and analyzes this change in what amounts to the work of a major artist in full authority. "A film which I must call sublime even at the risk of sounding ridiculous," said Andrew Sarris of the epic scope of Shin Heike Monogatari, which is also known as The Sacrilegious Hero. In Japanese with English subtitles. Kenji Mizoguchi---Japan---1955---110 mins.
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UGETSU
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Our Price: $39.95
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Kenji Mizoguchi's poetic film is set in feudal, war-ravaged, 16th-century Japan and focuses on the opposite fortunes of two peasants who abandon their families to accumulate wealth and prestige and find emptiness and despair. The film is remarkable for its expressive photography, diagonal compositions and uninterrupted takes. With Machiko Kyo and Masayuki Mori. "Scenes of everyday life alternate with those of a dreamlike, erotic intensity. At the end it is difficult to remember where reality stops and hallucination begins" (Newsweek). Japanese with English subtitles. Newly remastered, translated and subtitled print. Presented in original aspect ratio. Kenji Mizoguchi---Japan---1953---96 mins.
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UGETSU MONOGATARI / OYU-SAMA
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Our Price: $79.95
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Two from Kenji Mizoguchi. The poetic film Ugetsu Monogatari (1953, 97 mins.), or simply Ugetsu, is set in feudal, war-ravaged, 16th-century Japan and focuses on the opposite fortunes of two peasants who abandon their families to accumulate wealth and prestige and find emptiness and despair. The film is remarkable for its expressive photography, diagonal compositions and uninterrupted takes. With Machiko Kyo and Masayuki Mori. Then in Mizoguchi's Oyu-Sama (Miss Oyu, 1951, 94 mins.), Kinuyo Tanaka stars in a period melodrama concerned with suffering Japanese women, and their stories unfold in a series unobtrusive, long takes. In the title role, Tanaka plays widowed Oyu, who falls in love with Yuji Hori, but cannot marry him for fear that her son will lose his inheritance. The solution--having Oyu's younger sister pose as Hori's wife so the lovers can remain close--only leads to tragedy.
Kenji Mizoguchi---Japan---1953/1951---191 mins.
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UTAMARO & HIS FIVE WOMEN/ CINQ
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Our Price: $89.95
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Mizoguchi's exquisite film about the artistic life of Tokyo during the 18th century is a portrait of Edo artist Utamaro (Minnosuke Bando) and his relationship to women. Utamaro stands at the center of the lives of five women who compete for his attention in a picture that is remarkably modern for its attitude toward the rights of women. The scenarist, Yoshikata Yoda, stated that the film was an unconscious portrait of Mizoguchi himself. With Kinuyo Tanaka, Kotaro Bando, and Hiroko Kawasaki. In Japanese. Kenji Mizoguchi---Japan---1946---89 mins.
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YOKIHI / AKASEN CHITAI (PRINCESS YANG KWEI FEI / STREET OF SHAME)
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Our Price: $79.95
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Two films by Kenji Mizoguchi. Princess Yang Kwei Fei (Yokihi, 1955, 92 mins.) is Mizoguchi's jidai-geki about a young servant girl who is transformed into a princess and then destroyed by the shifting loyalties, betrayal and revenge around her. Mizoguchi's use of color, decor and diagonal compositions is fluid and baroque and perfectly reflects the characters' emotional conditions. Street of Shame (Akasen Chitai, 1956, 86 mins.) is the final film by the great director. A story about the dreams and problems of a group of prostitutes living in one gaudy Tokyo brothel, the film features a remarkable performance by the legendary Machiko Kyo. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Kenji Mizoguchi---Japan---1955/1956---178 mins.
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