The 47 Ronin
1941 ‘Genroku chushingura’ Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
Synopsis
Lord Asano resists a bribery attempt by a member of the Shogun's court. His honesty, however, is useless against the corruption of the administration, and he is forced to commit harakiri. His samurai retinue are dispersed as masterless ronin. The leader of the samurai, Oichi, plots with a loyal band of ronin to seek revenge for their master's dishonor.
Cast
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This epic Kenji Mizoguchi two-part adaptation of Seika Mayama's play Genroku Chûshingura, with its complex ripped-from-the-18th-century-headlines plot about public humiliation and private honor, unfolds as a series of passionate conversations spanning the course of a year as one lord dares to challenge an increasingly corrupt system and his loyal samurai deal with the fall-out. This is a polite way of saying that The 47 Ronin basically consists of four dozen identically-dressed Japanese men scooting around on their knees and yelling for four hours, but don't be discouraged: Mizoguchi slowly and expertly wrings every ounce of pathos from the tale, adding new dimensions every time you start to get antsy for the inevitable orgy of (off-screen) belly-slitting that serves as the…
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A neat story, but it is hard to get used to the extremes in acting. It is either very cold and aloof or completely hysterical. And it’s SO LONG. But I was looking for that today. So, yay.
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This epic Kenji Mizoguchi two-part adaptation of Seika Mayama's play Genroku Chûshingura, with its complex ripped-from-the-18th-century-headlines plot about public humiliation and private honor, unfolds as a series of passionate conversations spanning the course of a year as one lord dares to challenge an increasingly corrupt system and his loyal samurai deal with the fall-out. This is a polite way of saying that The 47 Ronin basically consists of four dozen identically-dressed Japanese men scooting around on their knees and yelling for four hours, but don't be discouraged: Mizoguchi slowly and expertly wrings every ounce of pathos from the tale, adding new dimensions every time you start to get antsy for the inevitable orgy of (off-screen) belly-slitting that serves as the…
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Excellant film. Only complaint was it was little too long.
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Watching this almost 4 hour film about the honor of samurais one starts to understand why Japan lost the war. A place where honor trumps sanity and life does not have a big future. The fact that The Japanese military commissioned Mizoguchi to make this, planing to use it as a propaganda tells volumes. The DVD I have of this film is very dark so it might have affected my experience of this film. Mizoguchi goes out of his way to skip any action the film could offer. He shows nothing that one would normally consider cinematic. No fight scenes, in a samurai film and even one with 47 plus samurais. I'm not saying it is beautifully filmed. The framing and the movement of the camera is flawless but for some reason I was never captured by the film. It is a fin film and well worth watching but not the Mizoguchi I'm the most found off.