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 Mizoguchi Kenji (1898-1956)
Mizoguchi was one of the earliest directors of gendai-geki but
is best known internationally for two jidai-geki classics: The Life of Oharu (Saikaku Ichidai Onna, 1952), which won a directorial prize at
the Venice Film Festival, and Ugetsu (Ugetsu Monogatari, 1953), which won the festival's Silver Lion
the following year. A native of Tokyo, Mizoguchi started his career
in 1922 as a studio director making films which dealt with the
poor and class conflict. Many of his films dealt with the theme
of a woman's sacrifice for a man or her family. One of these works,
Osaka Elegy (Naniwa Ereji, 1936), brought a new level of realism to early
Japanese cinema and is considered among the best early films made
in this country.
 Ugetsu was based on two of the nine stories of the supernatural
in Ueda Akinari's collection 'Tales of Moonlight and Rain' (Ugetsu
Monogatari) and a short story by Guy de Maupassant. It draws on
Noh theater and was highly praised for its acting performances
and camera work. It tells the tale of two 16th century men and
the fates befallen by their families while they seek their fotune
in war-torn Kyoto. In the scene at left, the former potter Genjuro
is bewitched by the spirit of his late wife, killed by soldiers.
His brother-in-law Tobei, once a farmer, returns home to find
his wife now in a brothel.
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