Ugetsu Monogatari

Director: Kenji Mizoguchi Kenji Mizoguchi

Overview

Presented in a manner as eerie as it is heartbreaking, this film is a gorgeous supernatural fable about the folly of men with dreams larger than their abilities, and the women who suffer as a result. In 16th century Japan, Genjuro (Masayuki Mori) is a potter who longs for wealth and luxury, while Tobei (Sakae Ozawa), a farmer, dreams of the glories of the samurai to the point of ignoring his wife (Mitsuko Mito). Though a war rages around them, they venture to town to sell their wares. Genjuro becomes bewitched by a beautiful yet vengeful ghost (Machiko Kyo), while his wife (Kinuyo Tanaka) is murdered by a soldier; Tobei becomes a noted warrior, while his wife descends into prostitution after being raped while searching for her husband.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/06/2017
UPC:	0715515198516
Original Release:	1953
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Time:	1:37:00
Sales rank:	11,606

Special Features

Audio commentary by critic, filmmaker, and festival programmer Tony Rayns Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director, a 1975 documentary by Kaneto Shindo Two Worlds Intertwined, a 2005 appreciation of Ugetsu by Masahiro Shinoda Process and Production, a 2005 interview with Tokuzo Tanaka, first assistant director on Ugetsu Interview from 1992 with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa Trailers

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Machiko Kyo	Lady Wakasa
Masayuki Mori	Genjuro, Pottery Maker
Kinuyo Tanaka	Miyagi, Genjuro's Wife
Sakae Ozawa	Tobei, Genjuro's Brotherin-Law
Mitsuko Mito	Ohama, Tobei's Wife
Ikio Sawamura	Genichi
Kikue Mori	Ukon
Ryosuke Kagawa	Village master
Sugisaku Aoyama	Old Priest
Shozo Nanbu	Shinto Priest
Kichijiro Ueda	Shop Owner
Mitsusaburo Ramon	Captain of Tamba Soldiers
Kichijiro Tsuchida	Silk Merchant

Technical Credits

Yoshikata Yoda

Kenji Mizoguchi	Director
Fumio Hayasaka	Score Composer
Kisaku Ito	Art Director
Tadaoto Kainoscho	Costumes/Costume Designer
Kazuo Miyagawa	Cinematographer
Mitsuji Miyata	Editor
Masaichi Nagata	Producer
Ichiro Saito	Score Composer
Yoshikata Yoda	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Displaying all of the hallmarks of Kenji Mizoguchi's quietly affecting style, this landmark film has been one of the most highly praised Japanese movies, garnering the admiration of such directors as Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette, as well as a Silver Lion from the Venice Film Festival. Mizoguchi's fluid camerawork expands this otherworldly tragedy into a profound meditation on the transience of human life. In one of the film's most noted scenes, Genjuro relaxes in a hot spring as his beautiful spirit-lover disrobes. The camera coyly pans away, tilts downwards, and tracks along the ground. The barren ripples of ground dissolve to a Zen rock garden; then the camera tilts up to reveal the couple picnicking at a lakeside park. In this one elegant device, Mizoguchi evokes not only the passage of time but also emptiness and impermanence, as he passes the viewer through an unpeopled space. His signature lyricism frames unfolding human dramas as one small part of life's immutable ebb and flow. A brilliant summation of Mizoguchi's motifs and visual poetry, Ugetsu remains one of the masterpieces of world cinema.

All Movie Guide - Jonathan Crow