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Post by johndav on Jan 24, 2006 12:02:19 GMT
Kenji Mizoguchi (1898-1956)I'm rating out of 100, to more easily separate the films' scores, and cos of Sansho i'm probably underrating a few. (Otherwise the top 5 would get the full 10/10) So, Sansho the Bailiff 100 (the peak of cinema) Story of the Late Chrysanthemums 99 (utter genius) Tales of the Taira Clan 98 ((often undervalued, i do love it!) Ugetsu Monogatari 97 The Life of Oharu 96 The Loyal 47 Ronin 94 (extraordinary majestic spatial exploration with imperious disdain for action) Miss Oyu 92 (lovely little gem, really 9.5/ 10) Lady of Musashino 91 (another that's undervalued, a hidden treasure) Yang Kwei Fei 91 Osaka Elegy 90 Chikamatsu Monogatari 90 (a Kurosawa favourite) Sisters of the Gion 89 Street of Shame 87 A Geisha 82 most notable ones to see (all appear in Sight + Sound critics' poll top 10's): Straits of Love and Hate My Love has been Burning Five Women around Utamaro p.s as i said before, Cahiers du Cinema are quite right. And he still very much needs champions. Imagine if music or literature critics voted not for Shakespeare, Bach/Beethoven/Mozart, but for someone only a tiny minority of people have ever heard of, never mind experienced. Such has been the appalling strange neglect of Mizoguchi.
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Post by johndav on Jan 28, 2006 20:01:40 GMT
Here's how some others rate him:
"The three-clawed fiend" (Yoda)
"The master among masters in the Japanese film world" (Tadao Sato)
"Undoubtedly his country's greatest film-maker" (Eric Rohmer)
"One can only compare what is comparable and equal in ambition. Mizoguchi alone imposes the sense of a specific language and world answerable only to him" (Jacques Rivette)
"Subtlety of mise-en-scene is carried to its highest degree" (Jean-Luc Godard)
"Kenji Mizoguchi is to the cinema what Bach is to music, Cervantes is to literature, Shakespeare is to the theatre, Titian is to painting: the very greatest" (Jean Douchet)
"The Japanese director i most admire" (Akira Kurosawa)
"Think of Mizoguchi and you'll realise what tremendous emotional power is carried by these exalted figures who soar above the earth" (Andrei Tarkovsky)
"This man they call Mizoguchi is an idiot" (Mizoguchi)
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Post by johndav on Jan 29, 2006 9:36:22 GMT
For its supreme mastery of deep space, long takes, fluid camerawork, luminous silvery cinematography, choreography, composition, feeling for nature, haunting use of sound, its sense of longing, humanism and compassion, emotional and spiritual depth, finally going beyond the boundaries of its engrossing, powerful and poignant narrative to the wider universe. As David Bordwell says in his magnificent book Figures Traced in Light (a must for any serious student of cinema) of a scene in The Life of Oharu, Mizoguchi brings "the denotative, expressive and decorative aspects of the image into remarkable harmony".
It's a work of imperious intellect, devoid of pretentiousness, with deep soul. Its range is vast, its intimacy all the more touching for its respectful discretion. It's historical but timeless. I'm even tempted now to add, thinking of harmony, it's an epic mix of male and female. It has the most sensitive lyrical delicacy, interspersed with bursts of aggressive action. It respects decent traditions while overthrowing cruelty, it supports revolution against oppression while championing individual moral virtues. It deals with issues of family separation and identity, with female suffering and self-sacrifice (sympathetically and movingly) within a story whose main antagonists are male.
For all the entrancing tracking shots and exquisite beauty, Mizoguchi was not a flashy director, but an unobtrusive master like Renoir. Before Welles and Wyler, he'd already experimented with deep space and bold foregrounds (and some quietly astounding lighting effects), progressing to a less ostentatious control of mise-en-scene. Whereas Kane demands to be noticed, every frame proclaiming its greatness, Mizoguchi was already demonstrating a far more subtle and delicate maturity, and kept extending and refining his intricate staging strategies to leave others far behind.
And not for him the still prevailing audience manipulations of fast editing and close-ups. He's light years from the Hollywood orthodoxies of eyeline match, shot-reverse-shot, relentless intercutting, never mind the ever more hysterical inflated effects of juvenile brash pygmies who imagine themselves (and are too often perceived) as giants.
Mizoguchi's own statement that his preference for the long take "allows me to work all the spectator's perceptual capacities to the utmost" may partly expain why he is yet to be fully appreciated by the film-going public. In fact, though he should be a household name- Douchet is right!-, he's yet to be discovered.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Mar 13, 2006 2:26:46 GMT
1. Tales of Ugetsu (1953) 8/10 2. The Life of Oharu (1952) 8/10 3. The Lady from Musashino (1951) 5/10
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Nov 25, 2007 15:12:54 GMT
1. The Life of Oharu 1952 2. Sansho the Bailiff 1954
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Post by svsg on Dec 2, 2007 5:49:28 GMT
I just read all the posts in the thread and boy, what superlatives are being thrown around! I am ultra curious to watch his movies now. Any must-watch suggestions? If you do, please mention the order in which I should watch them too.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Dec 2, 2007 13:39:19 GMT
I thought you'd like Sansho more than that. Thoughts? I think I will too, when I revisit it. I watched it at a time when I was seeing about fifteen to twenty films a week. A lot of them are blurred by now (which isn't a good sign, but take into account the context in which I was seeing them). I don't remember anything about it, only that I loved it (I originally rated it three stars).
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Post by svsg on Dec 8, 2007 5:40:59 GMT
Sansho the Bailiff
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Post by Anasazie on Nov 1, 2008 9:13:46 GMT
1. Osaka Elegy (1936) [blue]9/10[/blue] 2. Tales of Ugetsu (1953) [blue]9/10[/blue] 3. Street of Shame (1956) [blue]9/10[/blue] 4. My Love Has Been Burning (1949) [blue]8/10[/blue] 5. The Life of Oharu (1952) [blue]8/10[/blue] 6. Sansho the Bailiff (1954) [blue]8/10[/blue] 7. The Woman in the Rumour (1954) [blue]7/10[/blue] 8. Sisters of Gion (1936) [blue]7/10[/blue] 9. Princess Yang Kwei-fei (1955) [blue]6/10[/blue] 10. The Crucified Lovers (1954) [blue]6/10[/blue] 11. Utamaro and His Five Women (1946) [blue]5/10[/blue] 12. Tales of the Taira Clan (1955) [blue]4/10[/blue]
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Post by quentincompson on Nov 2, 2008 22:45:15 GMT
1.Tales of Ugetsu(1953) 10/10 2.Life of Oharu(1952) 9/10 3.Street of Shame(1956) 8/10 4.Sansho the Bailiff(1954) 8/10 5.A Geisha(1953) 8/10 6.Osaka Elegy(1936) 7/10 7.Sisters of the Gion (1936)7/10 8.Princess Yang Kwei Fei(1955) 6/10 9.Taira Clan Saga(1955) 5/10
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jul 25, 2009 6:45:28 GMT
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Post by theundergroundman on Jul 25, 2009 22:39:36 GMT
1. Ugetsu (1953) - [blue]9.5/10[/blue] 2. Sansho the Bailiff (1954) - [blue]9/10[/blue] 3. A Geisha (1953) - [blue]8/10[/blue] 4. Sisters of Gion (1936) - [blue]7/10[/blue] 5. Utamaro and His Five Women (1946) - [blue]6/10[/blue]
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