Kenji Mizoguchi Ugetsu Monogatari

Winner of the 1952 Venice Film Festival silver lion award, Kenji Mizoguchi’s compelling chronicle of female suffering is an exquisitely crafted tragedy. A portrait and criticism of feudal Japan as seen through the eyes of a woman, THE LIFE OF O-HARU tells the story of O-Haru (Kinuyo Tanaka), a beautiful courtesan in 17th century Japan, who falls in love with a commoner (Toshiro Mifune) and is punished for her lapse from social grace by being sent into exile. DVD info.

Based on a centuries old tale with roots in real events, Chikamatsu Monogatari [A Tale From Chikamatsu, aka The Crucified Lovers] tells the hauntingly tragic story of a forbidden love affair between a merchant’s wife, Osan (Kyoko Kagawa), and her husband’s employee, Mohei (Kazuo Hasegawa), in an era when the punishment for adultery was crucifixion. When a series of innocent events lead to the false accusation of an affair between Osan and Mohei, the accused pair are forced to flee an almost certain death sentence. On the run, the outlaw couple grow closer together, drawn inexorably towards the romantic crime of which they are accused. In the hands of Mizoguchi, Chikamatsu Monogatari depicts two people caught up in a constricted world where true love and social obligation are at odds. His portrayal of the lovers’ dilemma lead famed director Akira Kurosawa to describe the film as “a great masterpiece that could only have been made by Mizoguchi.”
The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Mizoguchi’s films for the first time on home video in the UK - Chikamatsu Monogatari is only available as a twinpack with Uwasa no Onna.

"Hiroku kaibyoden" opens in 1729. Lord Tangonokami Nabeshime (Koichi Uenoyama) of Saga Prefecture takes a fancy to a blind monk's sister, Sayo (Mitsuya Kamei). Monk Matashichiro (Akihisa Toda) refuses to bow to Lord Nabeshime's lecherous interest in Sayo. The lord and chamberlain ultimately kill the monk during their regular game of Go. Sayo, ordered to leave Saga the next morning, commits suicide by cutting open her stomach, asking the cat Tama to lap her blood as she dies so that the cat can gain supernatural powers and curse the castle…

Special Forces commander Captain Tadamori returns to Kyoto after successfully defeating the uprising of pirates in the western sea of Japan. But because the high courtiers dislike career soldiers gaining power and influence, they ignore the will of ex-Emperor Toba and refuse to reward the captain. Reward recommender Lord Tokinobu is punished, and the captain sends his son Kiyomori to the Lord's residence, where he falls in love with Tokiko, the Lord's daughter. Meanwhile, Kiyomori finds out that he is possibly the ex-Emperor's son…

Shindo's directorial debut is the fictionalized account of the death of his first wife. Following the breakout of the Pacific War, the Japanese film industry was forcibly downsized. Numazaki, a mediocre screenwriter, faces imminent dismissal. His wife Takako encourages him to seek work in Kyoto.