Kenji Mizoguchi

Kenji Mizoguchi (溝口 健二 Mizoguchi Kenji; May 16, 1898 – August 24, 1956) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Source: http://silentgents. ... Source: http://silentgents. ... May 16 is the 136th day of the year (137th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 236th day of the year (237th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Screenwriters, scenarists or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies and television programs are made. ...

Biography

Early years

Mizoguchi was born in Tokyo, the son of a roofing carpenter. One of three children, the family was modestly middle-class until his father tried to make a living selling raincoats to soldiers during the Russo-Japanese war. The war ended too quickly for the investment to succeed; his family circumstances turned abject and they had to give his elder sister up for adoption and moved from Hongo to Asakusa. The adopted family eventually sold her as a geisha, an event which profoundly affected Mizoguchi's outlook on life. Between this and his father's brutal treatment of his mother and sister, he maintained a fierce resistance against him throughout his life.   , literally Eastern capital) is a unique subnational administrative region of Japan with characteristics of both a prefecture and a city. ... The middle class, in colloquial usage, consists of those people who have a degree of economic independence, but not a great deal of social influence or power. ... Combatants Russian Empire Montenegro[1] Empire of Japan Commanders Emperor Nicholas II Aleksey Kuropatkin Stepan Makarov â€  Emperor Meiji Oyama Iwao Heihachiro Togo The Russo–Japanese War (Japanese: Nichi-Ro Sensō, Russian: , Chinese: , February 10, 1904 – September 5, 1905) was a conflict that grew out of the rival imperialist ambitions of... For the woman who was at one point the oldest person on Earth, see Kamato Hongo. ... Sensoji Temple The Kaminarimon is the outer gate of the Sensoji, Asakusas famous temple. ... Women posing as maiko (geisha apprentices), Kyoto, Japan wearing traditional furisode and okobo Geisha ) are traditional, female Japanese entertainers, whose skills include performing various Japanese arts, such as classical music and dance. ...

He quit school at the age of 13 to work and to study graphic arts at the Aohashi Institute, and his first job was as an advertising designer in Kobe, in 1913. In 1915 his mother died, and his elder sister, putting his father in an old folks home, took in her two younger brothers in Tokyo. Mizoguchi later entered the Tokyo filming industry as an actor in 1920; three years later he would become a full-fledged director, at the Nikkatsu Corporation, helming Aini yomigaeruhi (The Resurrection of Love), his first movie, during a strike. Kobe ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture and a prominent port city in Japan with a population of about 1. ...   , literally Eastern capital) is a unique subnational administrative region of Japan with characteristics of both a prefecture and a city. ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... Nikkatsu Corporation (日活株式会社) is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. ...

Film career

Mizoguchi's early works had been exploratory, mainly genre works like adaptations of Eugene O'Neill, Leo Tolstoy and remakes of German Expressionism. In these early films Mizoguchi worked quickly, sometimes churning out a film in weeks. These would account for over fifty films from the 1920s and 1930s, the majority of which are now lost. Eugene Gladstone ONeill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was a Nobel- and four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright. ... Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (September 9 [O.S. August 28] 1828 – November 20 [O.S. November 7] 1910) (Russian: , IPA:  ), commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer – novelist, essayist, dramatist and philosopher – as well as pacifist Christian anarchist and educational reformer. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

After the Great Kantō earthquake on September 1, 1923 Mizoguchi moved to Nikkatsu’s Kyoto studios and was working there until a scandal caused him to be temporarily suspended: Yuriko Ichijo, a call girl whom he was co-habiting with, attacked and wounded Mizoguchi's back with a razor-blade. Great Kanto Earthquake The Great Kanto Earthquake (関東大震災 Kantō daishinsai) struck the Kanto plain on the Japanese main island of Honshu at 11:58 on the morning of September 1, 1923. ... Kyoto )   is a city in the central part of the island of HonshÅ«, Japan. ...

Several of his later films were keiko eiga or "tendency films", in which Mizoguchi first explored his socialist tendencies and moulded his famous signature preoccupations. Later in his life Mizoguchi maintained that his career as a serious director did not begin until Sisters of Gion and Naniwa Elegy, both dating from 1936. A tendency film or keikō-eiga is a name given to the socially-conscious, left-leaning films produced in Japan during the 1920s and 30s. ... Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ... Osaka Elegy (浪華悲歌, in Japanese) is a 1936 film by Kenji Mizoguchi, probably the first well-known film from his middle period. ...

In his middle films, Mizoguchi began to be hailed as a director of "new realism": social documents of a Japan that is making its transition from feudalism into modernism. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939) won a prize with the Education Department; like the two abovementioned films, it explores the deprecatory role of women in an unfairly male-centered society. During this time, Mizoguchi also developed his famous "one-scene-one-shot" approach to cinema. The meticulousness and authenticity of his set designer Hiroshi Mizutani would contribute to Mizoguchi's frequent use of wide-angled lensing. Roland pledges his fealty to Charlemagne; from a manuscript of a chanson de geste. ... For Christian theological modernism, see Liberal Christianity and Modernism (Roman Catholicism). ... The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (残菊物語 Zangiku monogatari, 1939) is a Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. ... Scenic design also known as Stage design is the creation of theatrical scenery. ...

Kenji Mizoguchi travelling through Europe, 1953

During the war, Mizoguchi was forced to make compromises for the military government as propaganda; the most famous is a retelling of the Samurai bushido classic The 47 Ronin (1941), an epic jidai geki ("historical drama"). Image File history File linksMetadata Kenji_Mizoguchi_-_in_Europe,_1953. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Kenji_Mizoguchi_-_in_Europe,_1953. ... Soviet Propaganda Poster during the World War II. The text reads Red Army Fighter, SAVE US! Chinese propaganda poster from during the Cultural Revolution. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Japanese samurai in armor, 1860s. ... The 47 Ronin (American title), or Genroku chushingura , was a film produced in 1941, and originally released in Japan just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. ...

Post-war recognition

Although regarded, like his compatriot Yasujiro Ozu, as outdated and old-fashioned by Japanese audience immediately after the war, Mizoguchi was rediscovered particularly by Cahiers du cinéma critics like Jacques Rivette in the West. After a phase inspired by Japanese women's suffrage, which produced radical films like Victory of the Women (1946) and My Love Has Been Burning (1949), Mizoguchi took a turn to the jidai-geki — or period drama, re-made from stories from Japanese folklore or period history — together with long-time screenwriter and collaborator Yoshikata Yoda. It was to be his most celebrated series of works, including The Life of Oharu (1952), which won him international recognition and which he considered his best film, and Ugetsu (1953), which won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Sansho the Bailiff (1954) takes a premise from feudal Japan and reworks it as a Confucian morality tale. Of his nearly 100 films, only two — Tales of the Taira Clan (1955) and Princess Yang Kwei-Fei (1955) — were made in colour. Yasujiro Ozu (小津 安二郎 Ozu Yasujirō) (December 12, 1903 - December 12, 1963) was an influential Japanese film director. ... Cahiers du cinéma is an influential French film magazine founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Lo Duca. ... Jacques Rivette (born March 1, 1928) is a French film director. ... Jidaigeki (時代劇) is a genre of film and television or theater play in Japan. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Life of Oharu (西鶴一代女 Saikaku Ichidai Onna) is a 1952 film by director Kenji Mizoguchi starring Kinuyo Tanaka as Oharu, a one-time concubine of a daimyō (and mother of a later daimyō) who struggles to escape the stigma of having been sold... Ugetsu, aka Ugetsu Monogatari (雨月物語), is a 1953 film by acclaimed Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi. ... The Venice Film Festival (it: Mostra Internazionale dArte Cinematografica) is the oldest Film Festival in the World (began in the 1932) and takes place every year in late August/early September on the Lido di Venezia in the historic Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi, in Venice, Italy. ... Sansho the Bailiff (山椒大夫 Sanshō DayÅ«) is a 1954 film by Japanese film director Kenji Mizoguchi. ... Confucianism (儒家 Pinyin: rújiā The School of the Scholars), sometimes translated as the School of Literati, is an East Asian ethical, religious and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of Confucius. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Mizoguchi died in Kyoto of leukemia at the age of 58, by which time he had become recognized as one of the three masters of Japanese cinema, together with Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa. In all he made (according to his memory) about 75 films, although most of his early ones were lost. In 1975, Kaneto Shindo filmed a documentary about Mizoguchi, Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director. Kyoto )   is a city in the central part of the island of HonshÅ«, Japan. ... Leukemia or leukaemia (see spelling differences) is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow and is characterized by an abnormal proliferation (production by multiplication) of blood cells, usually white blood cells (leukocytes). ... Cinema has a history in Japan that spans more than 100 years. ... Yasujiro Ozu (小津 安二郎 Ozu Yasujirō) (December 12, 1903 - December 12, 1963) was an influential Japanese film director. ... Akira Kurosawa , 23 March 1910—6 September 1998) was a prominent Japanese film director, film producer, and screenwriter. ... Kaneto Shindo , born 28 April 1912) in Hiroshima, Japan is a Japanese film director. ...

Themes, aesthetics, trivia

Mizoguchi's films are well known for their championing of women. He has been called the first major feminist director, though modern audiences may find that his themes do not line up with the modern concept of feminism. Typically he revealed women's position in the Japanese society as downtrodden and oppressed, and showed that they may be capable of greater nobility between the sexes. He made many films on the plight of the geisha, but his protagonists could derive from anywhere: prostitutes, workers, street activists, housewives, and feudal princesses. Feminism is a social theory and political movement primarily informed and motivated by the experience of women. ... Feminism comprises a number of social, cultural and political movements, theories and moral philosophies that are concerned with the impact of cultural, political, and economic practices and inequalities on discrimination against women. ...

Screenwriter Yoshikata Yoda, Actress Kinuyo Tanaka, and Kenji Mizoguchi visit Paris, 1953

His films have an aesthetic that is reminiscent of Japanese art. He favours long takes and rich, painterly mise-en-scene, seldom with the Western-favoured device of the close-up; a typical scene can take a few minutes, and places emphasis on lighting and placement — much like the works of Josef von Sternberg. Its formalized beauty is balanced by its involvement with the audience through the subject-matter, which skillfully invites sympathy with the main characters; in his finest works the emotionalism can be extraordinarily moving. Image File history File linksMetadata Yoshikata_Yoda,_Kinuyo_Tanaka,_Kenji_Mizoguchi_-_in_Paris,_1953. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Yoshikata_Yoda,_Kinuyo_Tanaka,_Kenji_Mizoguchi_-_in_Paris,_1953. ... Bronze statue of Amida Buddha at Kotokuin in Kamakura (1252 CE) Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper, and a myriad of other types of works of art. ... In film theory, mise-en-scène [mizA~sEn] refers to everything that is to appear before the camera and its arrangement -- sets, props, actors, costumes, camera movements and performances. ... Close Up is a half hour long New Zealand current affairs program produced by Television New Zealand. ... Josef von Sternberg (29 May 1894 – 22 December 1969) was an Austrian-American film director. ...

Mizoguchi's obsession with rehearsals is infamous, and could become a nightmare for his actresses. His preference for a long take meant there was little room for errors: there are stories of him rehearsing one shot nearly a hundred times. Kinuyo Tanaka, Mizoguchi's regular actress, once recounted that Mizoguchi asked her to read a whole library in preparation of a role. Kinuyo Tanaka (田中絹代 Tanaka Kinuyo, 28 November 1910 - 21 March 1977) was a Japanese actress and director. ...

Mizoguchi himself cited L’Herbier, Von Sternberg, Wyler and Ford as his influences. Marcel LHerbier Marcel LHerbier, Légion dhonneur (April 23, 1888 or 1890 – November 26, 1979) was a French writer, producer and director. ... Josef von Sternberg (29 May 1894 – 22 December 1969) was an Austrian-American film director. ... William Wyler (July 1, 1902–July 27, 1981) was a prolific, Oscar-winning motion picture director. ... John Ford (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973) was an American film director famous for westerns such as Stagecoach and The Searchers and adaptations of such classic 20th century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath. ...

Selected filmography

1936 Sisters of the Gion (祇園の姉妹 Gion no kyodai)

1936 Naniwa Elegy aka Osaka Elegy (浪華悲歌 Naniwa hika or Naniwa erejī)

1939 The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (残菊物語 Zangiku monogatari)

1941 The 47 Ronin aka The Loyal 47 Ronin of the Genroku Era (元禄忠臣蔵 Genroku chushingura)

1946 Utamaro and His Five Women aka Five Women Around Utamaro (歌麿をめぐる五人の女 Utamaro o meguru gonin no onna)

1951 Miss Oyu (お遊さま Oyū-sama)

1952 The Life of Oharu (西鶴一代女 Saikaku ichidai onna)

1953 A Geisha aka Gion Music Festival (祇園囃子 Gion bayashi)

1953 Ugetsu aka Tales of the Pale and Silvery Moon After the Rain (雨月物語 Ugetsu monogatari)

1954 The Woman in the Rumor aka The Crucified Woman (噂の女 Uwasa no onna)

1954 Sansho the Bailiff (山椒大夫 Sanshō dayū)

1954 The Crucified Lovers aka A Story by Chikamatsu (近松物語 Chikamatsu monogatari)

1955 Tales of the Taira Clan aka Taira Clan Saga (新平家物語 Shin Heike monogatari)

1955 Princess Yang Kwei-Fei aka The Empress Yang Kuei-Fei (楊貴妃 Yōkihi)

1956 Street of Shame (赤線地帯 Akasen chitai)

Osaka Elegy (浪華悲歌, in Japanese) is a 1936 film by Kenji Mizoguchi, probably the first well-known film from his middle period. ... The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (残菊物語 Zangiku monogatari, 1939) is a Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. ... The 47 Ronin (American title), or Genroku chushingura , was a film produced in 1941, and originally released in Japan just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. ... The Life of Oharu (西鶴一代女 Saikaku Ichidai Onna) is a 1952 film by director Kenji Mizoguchi starring Kinuyo Tanaka as Oharu, a one-time concubine of a daimyō (and mother of a later daimyō) who struggles to escape the stigma of having been sold... A Geisha (祇園囃子, Gion bayashi) is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. ... Ugetsu, aka Ugetsu Monogatari (雨月物語), is a 1953 film by acclaimed Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi. ... Sansho the Bailiff (山椒大夫 Sanshō DayÅ«) is a 1954 film by Japanese film director Kenji Mizoguchi. ... The Crucified Lovers, also known internationally by its Japanese title Chikamatsu Monogatari (A Story From Chikamatsu) is a film from 1954, directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. ...

External links

• Acquarello: "Kenji Mizoguchi". Strictly Film School
• Camper, Fred: "Adventures in Space: The Loyal 47 Ronin". Chicago Reader, 1997
• Chika Kinoshita: "Choreography of Desire: Analysing Kinuyo Tanaka’s Acting in Mizoguchi’s Films". Screening the Past, 13 Dec 2001
• Gallagher, Tag: "Mizoguchi and Freedom". Screening the Past, 13 Dec 2001
• Jacoby, Alex: "Kenji Mizoguchi". Senses of Cinema, Great Directors: A Critical Database
• Morris, Gary: "The Spirit Moves: The World of Kenji Mizoguchi". Bright Lights Film Journal, 22 Sept 1998
• Thomson, David: "Ugetsu Monogatari". Independent, 23 June 2002
• Kenji Mizoguchi at the Internet Movie Database
• (Japanese) Kenji Mizoguchi at the Japanese Movie Database