1953 ‘雨月物語’ Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
In the civil wars of 16th century Japan, two ambitious peasants in Nakanogo want to make their fortunes. The potter Genjuro intends to sell his wares for vast profits in the local city, Omizo, while his brother-in-law Tobei wishes to become a samurai. A respected sage warns them against seeking profit in times of war but his advice goes unheeded, and their insistency leads to the ruin of their families.
The ambition and arrogance of two men radically change the fate of their families in a period of transition and conflict in Japan. Genjūrō is a farmer who also produces pottery to earn more money; Tōbei, on the other hand, dreams of becoming a samurai. Recklessly, and driven by that great desire to acquire wealth and power, they leave their families behind to follow their futile and selfish dreams. Ugetsu Monogatari combines spirituality, fantastic elements, melodrama and social criticism in a masterful way; another great work of Kenji Mizoguchi who displays all his talent with an impeccable mise in scène. This is a story about the paths we take in search of happiness and the consequences of our actions and decisions on the lives of others; it's a great tragedy about utopian happiness, flagrant guilt and regret.
A glorious cinematic feast for the eyes! A haunting tale with supernatural overtones that will beguile you with its powerfully seductive storyline about man's lust for money and power! And how easily they will sacrifice everything truly meaningful to get it!
A masterfully crafted fable filled with consequences, great loss, regrets and redemption!
65/100
This troubles me.
For as long as I've maintained a film log ("Since 1992"), I've made a point of noting theatrical screenings vs. any form of home video. That's because I don't fully trust the latter. The advent of first DVD and then Blu-ray has helped, to be sure, and I'm not one of those zealots who insists that you haven't seen the movie unless/until you've seen a good 35mm print. But I do often wonder, when underwhelmed by a classic that had previously made me swoon on celluloid, whether seeing it in a diminished condition is largely responsible for the shift.
Here's something I wrote on a private forum after watching Tsai Ming-liang's The River twice in quick…
Ugetsu is based partially from a classic Japanese folklore literature "Tales of Moonlight and Rain" by author Ueda Akinari. Upon seeing the film again I really want to venture out and find this collection of stories. Mizoguchi's film brilliantly and flawlessly mixes Japanese folklore and morality tales of war, greed and consequence into an unforgettable film experience.
Japanese folklore and culture has always been a huge fascination for me. Ever since I begun developing a love for cinema, I had noticed my draw was mostly towards Japanese films and films by Ingmar Bergman. There is just something about the films from Japan, either that or its a stated fact that Japan is just simply a cinematic prosperous country. I mean…
🎧don't go chasin waterfalls
cuz a sex ghost at the end will seduce you🎤
I could talk about how much I loved Mizoguchi's restrained, free-flowing compositions. I could talk about how haunting and epic the film's wonderful score is. I could talk about the elegantly rendered tragedy at the centre of this. I could talk about how once again, Mizoguchi makes us feel the pain of a woman's struggle.
I could talk about many things, but no words could explain the indescribable feeling I had during Ugetsu's stunning final shot, where Mizoguchi's camera pans up from the heart-wrenching tragedy we've just witnessed and overlooks the vastness of our past, and inevitability of our present. It's the kind of feeling that films were made for.
Masterful.
The ambition and arrogance of two men radically change the fate of their families in a period of transition and conflict in Japan. Genjūrō is a farmer who also produces pottery to earn more money; Tōbei, on the other hand, dreams of becoming a samurai. Recklessly, and driven by that great desire to acquire wealth and power, they leave their families behind to follow their futile and selfish dreams. Ugetsu Monogatari combines spirituality, fantastic elements, melodrama and social criticism in a masterful way; another great work of Kenji Mizoguchi who displays all his talent with an impeccable mise in scène. This is a story about the paths we take in search of happiness and the consequences of our actions and decisions on the lives of others; it's a great tragedy about utopian happiness, flagrant guilt and regret.
Beautiful, human, and haunting. Perhaps my favorite film score of all time.
Il folklore giapponese qui prende vita e si trasforma in una fiaba nera che si base principalmente "sull'ideale dell'ostrica", tanto caro a Giovanni Verga. Il debole è destinato a rimanere relegato alla sua misera condizione di vita e non gli è concessa nessuna via di fuga. Un prigioniero che, nonostante tutti i suoi sforzi per evadere da quella realtà, rimane attaccato allo scoglio sui è nato, obbligato a vivere secondo i valori della famiglia, del lavoro e delle tradizioni ataviche. "Ugetsu" porta in scena quindi un racconto drammatico, a tratti gotico, che attraverso le molte figure legate alla tradizione giapponese, porta un insegnamento tanto struggente, quanto soffocante. Un capolavoro visivo e narrativo unico, con una delle migliori fotografie dell'epoca e…
Part period drama, part-morality tale and part ghost story, “Ugetsu” is a unique viewing experience. As an example of the golden age of Japanese cinema, it might remind the viewer of “Rashomon” or other similar pieces, but it stands as its own work.
The film takes as its inspiration several stories from “Ugetsu Monogatari” by Akinari Ueda. Set in the 16th century, the main plot follows Genjuro (Masayuki Mori), a potter who is finding quite a bit of success with his work, but whose business is threatened by an ongoing civil war and the armies that are ravaging the countryside. One night he must take his wife Miyagi (Kinuyo Tanaka) and son Genichi (Ikio Sawamura) and flee the village due…
MomSaysItsOK 1,000 films
In April 2018, the subreddit /r/TrueFilm voted for a canon of 1000 films. Close to 300 users submitted a list…
Peter Stanley 1,199 films
All the films from all the editions, including those subsequently removed, presently totalling 1199. An easy way of seeing how…
Jon Hillman 1,000 films
The 2018 (4th) edition of the list.
