Mizoguchi and neo-realism

[Michael E Kerpan, Jr.]

I can't provide a specific answer -- but I do have a (somewhat rhetorical) 
question of my own.

I wonder if Douchet, when he wrote his comment, was aware that 1930s Japanese 
cinema pre-figured neo-realism to a rather remarkable extent? ?Mizoguchi 
would not need to have drawn on European models, he only needed to look back 
at the 1930s films of Ozu and Naruse (et al.). -- and his own works 
like "Naniwa ereji" (Osaka Elegy).

MEK

++++++++++

On Saturday 09 June 2007 05:59, Mathieu Capel wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> Just a little question for mizoguchian specialists : a french critic,
> Jean Douchet, wrote some ten years ago that Mizoguchi's Yoru no
> onnatachi, released in 1948, was in some way influenced by italian
> neo-realism. But if I'm not wrong, and Oshima Nagisa confirmed that in
> his "taikenteki sengo eigaron", these italian movies had been all
> released in Japan from 1949 to 1950...
> I was just wondering if Mizoguchi ever had the chance to see these
> movies before shooting his own Yoru no onnatachi... Could someone help
> me for that ? Thanks a lot.
>
> Mathieu Capel
> Paris