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Kenji Mizoguchi |
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Director / Screenwriter |
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1898 - 1956 |
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Born May 16,
Tokyo, Japan |
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Key
Production Country: Japan |
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Key Genres: Drama,
Period Film, Melodrama, Historical Film |
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Key
Collaborators: Yoshikata Yoda (Screenwriter),
Eitaro Shindo (Leading Character Player), Hiroshi Mizutani (Production
Designer), Masaichi Nagata (Producer), Kinuyo Tanaka (Leading Player), Ichiro Sugai (Character Player),
Kazuo Miyagawa (Cinematographer), Fumio Hayasaka (Composer), Minoru Miki
(Cinematographer), Matsutaro Kawagichi (Screenwriter) |
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Highly
Recommended: The Story of the
Last Chrysanthemums (1939)*, The Life of Oharu
(1952)*, Ugetsu monogatari (1953)*, Sansho the Bailiff (1954)*,
Chikamatsu monogatari (1954)* |
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Recommended:
Osaka Elegy (1936),
Sisters of the Gion (1936)**, The Straits of Love and Hate (1937), Utamaro and His Five Women (1946), Miss Oyu (1951), Gion Bayashi (1953),
Uwasa no onna (1954)**, Princess Yang Kwei Fei (1955)*,
Street of Shame (1956) |
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Worth a Look: Gion
Festival (1933)**, The 47 Ronin (1941)*, My Love Has
Been Burning (1949), The Lady from Musashino (1951), Shin heike
monogatari (1955) |
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* Listed in TSPDT's
1,000 Greatest Films
section; **
Listed in TSPDT's
Ain't Nobody's Blues But My Own
section. |
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Links:
[
Amazon
] [
IMDB ]
[
TCMDB ] [
All-Movie
Guide ]
[
Senses
of Cinema: Great Directors ] [
Film Reference ]
[
Bright
Lights Film Journal Article ] [
Strictly
Film School ] [
Classic
Film and Television Home Page ] [
Off Screen Article (1997) ] [
Wikipedia ] [
Sight & Sound Article (2008)
] [
The Criterion Collection ] |
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Books:
[
Kenji Mizoguchi and the Art of Japanese Cinema ]
[
Mizoguchi and Japan ] [
Patterns
of Time: Mizoguchi and the 1930s ] [
Mizoguchi ] |
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"His
main theme was the social condition of the Japanese woman
and her role in a society polarized between traditional and
modernizing forces. His interest in and profound
understanding of female psychology are consistent features
of his films." -
(The
MacMillan International Film Encyclopedia, 1994)
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"He
excelled at period films, but he was equally interested in
modern stories. He has no superior at the unfolding of
narrative by way of camera movement, and he was a great
director of actresses - notably Isuzu, Yamada, Kinuyo
Tanaka, and Machiko Kyo. Ugetsu monogatari is
probably the Mizoguchi seen by most cinema-goers - and it is
enough to sustain his reputation." -
David
Thomson (The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, 2002) |
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"A
profound influence on the New Wave directors, Mizoguchi
continues to fascinate those in the forefront of the art (Godard,
Straub,
Rivette).
A passionate but contemplative artist, struggling with
issues crucial to cinema and society, Mizoguchi will
continue to reward anyone who looks closely at his films.
His awesome talent, self-discipline, and productivity
guarantee this." -
Dudley
Andrew (The St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia, 1998) |
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"If
Mizoguchi captivates us, it is because he never sets out
deliberately to do so and never takes sides with the
spectator. He seems to be the only Japanese director who is
completely Japanese and yet is also the only one that
achieves a true universality, that of an individual." -
Jacques Rivette |
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"A premier director of women who explored the psychology of
females and their roles in Japanese society." -
William R. Meyer (The Film Buff's Catalog, 1978) |
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Please
note that the rating given for this director (see top-right) is based
only on the films we have seen (listed above). Films by this director
that we haven't seen include The Love of Sumako the Actress (1947) and
Women of the Night (1948). |
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