Mizoguchi at Lyon and 'Sight and Sound'

[Michael Kerpan]

As for me, as to the late 40s--

Utamaro and Sumako easily top my list.  I find My Love
Has Been Burning quite problematic in comparison.  At
points, it is almost as turgid as Victory of Women and
at others it is as over-the-top dramatically as Women
of the Night (if not more).  All in all, I like WotN a
lot better, because of the much higher quotient of
breath-taking cinematography in this (and Tanaka's
performance here is almost as remarkable as that in
Sumako.

All the (very) early 50s films strike me as
dramatically over-wrought -- but Lady of Musashino
wins hands down on the "fundamental dramatic
unbelievability" score.  Some of the most abrupt (and
peculiar) editing in all of Mizoguchi's work doesn't
help.  Not even Tanaka can really bring off her almost
impossible character.  Some gorgeous cinematography
here, but I think Oyu-sama and Madame Yuki are even
better in this respect. I like both these two films --
but favor Madame Yuki.  I think this one is more
structurally interesting, especially in the way is
uses Yoshiko Kuga as a viewpoint character. There is
lots to like in Oyu-sama, but it has some of the
script and/or editing lapses of Musashino (albeit to a
much lesser degree). but it is undeniably nice to look
at.

MEK

--- Alexander Jacoby <a_p_jacoby at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> Thanks Roger for mentioning my piece (and good to
> hear Mark's Forest of Pressure is getting some of
> the acclaim it deserves too). Ironically given the
> context of your post, the original draft of my
> article had rather more about Mizo's late forties
> work and particularly about the way that these
> films, made during the Occupation, emphasise the
> influence of Western ideologies and art forms on
> Japan (particularly true of My Love Has Been Burning
> and Actress Sumako, set during the Meiji Period).
> The draft had to be trimmed and since the piece was
> emerging in the context of the MofC DVD releases,
> the fifties films had to take priority.
>    
>   I'd be interested in list members' relative
> valuations of the Occupation era Mizoguchi films
> (including the bourgeois melodramas of the early
> fifties). It seems to be generally agreed that
> Utamaro and My Love Has Been Burning are the best,
> and I think I include myself in that agreement...
> but seeing Actress Sumako again recently, I was
> struck by how good that was too. Miss Oyu seems to
> me the most complex of the three early fities
> melodramas, but I also think Portrait of Madame Yuki
> is a tremendously underrated film.
>    
>   ALEX
>    
> 
>        
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