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Ugetsu (1953)
Topic Started: Apr 21 2008, 09:36 PM (175 Views)
Laughing Gravy
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In 16th century feudal Japan, we follow two men who leave their wives, one to sell pottery to competing armies and the other who dreams of becoming a mighty samurai. Both men bring disaster to their families.

The Criterion packaging describes this film as a ghost story; it's not, really, because the line between the living and the dead is too blurred. There are spirits in the film, but they inhabit the same world as we do, just with different physical rules, I guess you'd say.

Genjuro (Masayuki Mori) is the serious fellow, who wants to sell enough pottery to become rich and buy his wife expensive gifts. She wants nothing more than for the two of them to be together with their young son. In the city, he is bewitched by the wealthy Lady Wakasa, who may be a ghost, an enchantress, a vampire, or just a woman.

Tobei (Sakae Ozawa) is the comical goof who wants to be a great warrior so that his wife will be proud of him; she refers to his ambitious dreams as making him look like "the village idiot."

This film (directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, who also did Sansho the Bailiff, another film I admired very much) goes nowhere for 45 minutes, but does so beautifully, with stunning photography and incredible scenery (the director doesn't like to use close-ups, so you WILL notice the incredible scenery). Halfway into the picture, though, I began to get engrossed by what was going on, and by the crossing of the boundries between night and day, between commitment and infatuation, and between the living and the dead. The last 45 minutes of this film are as beautiful and fascinating as any film in recent memory.

The Criterion offering is a 2-disc set crammed with bonus material, including a book that includes the three short stories on which the film is based. It's a beautiful print of the film, too. Highly recommended, but pay attention and be patient. It'll reward you in the end.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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panzer the great & terrible
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Mouth Breather
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You sure are watching some fine movies lately, Mr. G.

Kurosawa thought Mizoguchi was the greatest Japanese director. I think I read somewhere that Ozu did too, but I can't find the reference.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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