Ugetsu Monogatari
Surely this is a nice film, and I thought it was suspenseful and all, but… that’s it? In comparison to Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai”, or even Ozu’s “Tokyo Story”, I felt strangely underwhelmed by this film. Ultimately, I guess I have expected something more like an epic, but what I found was a small film about small people. It probably was intended to be that way, but I just didn’t expect that.
“Ugetsu Monogatari” is the story of the adventure of mostly two farmer families who struggle through their lives, who – during the war – take risks to sell their goods and have to confront themselves with their own lives and the future of their families. It’s a little bit of each: A bit of a ghost story, a historical drama from the days of samurais and full of lovely, rather comical domestic quarrels. But then again, comparing this to “Confessions”, which is a much more modern and arguably lesser film, “Ugetsu Monogatari” just feels so irrelevant. Normally I like films about normal people instead of kings and queens, and it was a good story, but what makes it memorable? Nothing really comes to mind – I find it hard to relate to the film.
I also don’t like Machiko Kyou! Hahahaha. I still think she looks strange, and her acting skills don’t really impress me. She sort of works as a femme fatale, I guess, but that’s it. Nevertheless, I love the scenes in which she wears a straw hat and a large veil, which she incidentally does in both “Rashomon” and “Ugetsu Monogatari”. It looks awesome on her.
Finally, it makes me wonder what else Mizoguchi did. Considering how little I liked “Tokyo Story”, it’s possible that I would prefer his other works. Let’s see what Japan’s woman director Mizoguchi can do.
Isn’t Mizoguchi a man? If (s)he’s a woman, my curiosity would grow further.
“Woman director” refers to a director who places an emphasis in portraying woman in his movies and/or who was very good with his actresses. I do think that Mizoguchi’s women are much less one-sided than Kurosawa’s and Ozu’s, so I have some high hopes in that regard.
And no, there is no such thing as a good female director. XD Not counting Sofia Coppola, Jane Campion and Kathryn Bigelow, that is – but they are all pretty young.