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| Kenji
Mizoguchi |
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| Director
/ Screenwriter / Producer |
| 1898 - 1956 |
| Born May 16,
Tokyo, Japan |
| Key
Production Country: Japan
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Key Genres: Drama,
Period Film, Melodrama, Historical Film |
| Key
Collaborators: Yoshikata Yoda (Screenwriter),
Eitaro Shindo (Leading Character Player), Masaichi Nagata (Producer),
Hiroshi Mizutani (Production Designer), Ichiro Sugai (Character Player),
Kazuo Miyagawa (Cinematographer), Kinuyo Tanaka (Leading Player), Fumio
Hayasaka (Composer), Matsutaro Kawagichi (Screenwriter), Minoru Miki
(Cinematographer) |
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Highly
Recommended: The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939), The Life of Oharu
(1952), Ugetsu monogatari (1953), Sansho the Bailiff (1954) |
| Recommended: Sisters
of Gion (1936), The Straits of Love and Hate (1937), Miss Oyu (1951), Gion Bayashi (1953), Princess Yang Kwei Fei (1955),
Street of Shame (1956) |
| Links:
[
IMDB ] [ All-Movie
Guide ] [ Senses
of Cinema: Great Directors ] [
Film Reference ]
[ Bright
Lights Film Journal Article ] [ Strictly
Film School ] [ Classic
Film and Television Home Page ] [
Off Screen Article (1997) ] [
Ephraim Katz Biography ] [
Sight & Sound Article (2008)
] |
| Books:
[
Mizoguchi and Japan ] [ Patterns
of Time: Mizoguchi and the 1930s ] [ Mizoguchi ] |
| DVD's:
[ Amazon
] |
| 1,000
Greatest Films:
The 47 Ronin (1941), Utamaro and His Five Women (1946),
Miss Oyu (1951), The Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu monogatari (1953), Sansho
the Bailiff (1954), Princess Yang Kwei Fei (1955), Shin heike monogatari
(1955), Street of Shame
(1956) |
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"His
main theme was the social condition of the Japanese woman
and her role in a society polarized between traditional and
modernizing forces. His interest in and profound
understanding of female psychology are consistent features
of his films." - (The
MacMillan International Film Encyclopedia, 1994) |
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"He
excelled at period films, but he was equally interested in
modern stories. He has no superior at the unfolding of
narrative by way of camera movement, and he was a great
director of actresses - notably Isuzu, Yamada, Kinuyo
Tanaka, and Machiko Kyo. Ugetsu monogatari is
probably the Mizoguchi seen by most cinema-goers - and it is
enough to sustain his reputation." - David
Thomson (The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, 2002) |
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"A
profound influence on the New Wave directors, Mizoguchi
continues to fascinate those in the forefront of the art (Godard,
Straub, Rivette).
A passionate but contemplative artist, struggling with
issues crucial to cinema and society, Mizoguchi will
continue to reward anyone who looks closely at his films.
His awesome talent, self-discipline, and productivity
guarantee this." - Dudley
Andrew (The St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia, 1998) |
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"If
Mizoguchi captivates us, it is because he never sets out
deliberately to do so and never takes sides with the
spectator. He seems to be the only Japanese director who is
completely Japanese and yet is also the only one that
achieves a true universality, that of an individual." -
Jacques Rivette |
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"A premier director of women who explored the psychology of
females and their roles in Japanese society." -
William R. Meyer (The Film Buff's Catalog, 1978) |
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