Kenji Mizoguchi and the Art of Japanese Cinema

210 Pages·2008·31.96 MB·English

by  Tadao Sato

Kenji Mizoguchi
and the Art ofJapanese Cinema
Tadao Sato
"KenjiMizoguchiwasunquestionablyoneof
theverygreatestof allfilm-makersandnowat
lastthereisabookinEnglishfromadistinguished
Japanesecriticthattellsuswhy.Fewinthe West
haveseensomanyMizoguchifilmsasTadao
Sato, norstudiedthemsodeeplyandwithsuch
sympathy.Thisisaninvaluablebookabout
ageniusofthecinema."
DerekMalcolm,HonoraryPresident
oftheInternationalFederationofFilmCritics
ReviewsofMizoguchi'sWork
i'Cjneofthe20thcentury's "WithMizoguchi,formand
grea;estfilmmakers" idea,atmosphere andfeeling
NewYorkTimes areindivisible...hisfilms
areassembledoutofimages
'OnequaltermswithEisenstein, ofbreathtakingexactness...
Grif]ithandRenoir" aworldwhichirresistibly
jdan-LucGodard capturesandenfoldsthe
spectator"
'(cid:127)Thejjapanese directorIadmire TheTimes
themost"
AkinKurosawa "Ifyouhaveneverwitnessed
thevisualequivalentofperfect
'(cid:127)No praiseistoohighforhim" pitch,orunderstoodhowa
GrscnWelles singletrackingshotcanfeellike
adeclarationoffaith,hereis
"Heis capableofgoingbeyond yourchance.Mizoguchi'swork
thelimitationsofcoherent maybrimwiththefearsof
logic,andconveyingthedeep afatalist,yetitalsogleams
CQm])lexityandtruthofthe withunexpectedhope."
irmpElpableconnectionsand TheNewYorker
hiddmphenomenaoflife"
Ajid]eiTarkovsky "Ifanyarthasjustifiedthis
medium,sooftencrude,
"Thegreatestofallcineastes" thoughtlessandmundane,
CahiersduCinema itistheartofKenjiMizoguchi.
SensesofCinema
"Whe1thenameKenji
Mizcguchiisintoned,every 'Japan'sKenjiMizoguchi
pieceofcameraequipment ismorethansimply
onesrthshouldexecutea pantheonworthy(andsuperior
deepbow.Mizoguchi'sgende tohisbetter-knowmpeers
bitunwaveringcamera AkiraKurosawaand
nurturesandobserveshis YasujiroOzu).He's
characters'oftentragiclives absolutelynecessary."
with;m emotionalismthatis, TimeOutNewYork
paradoxically,asintense as
anycommittedtofilm,yet "Thismantheycall
freecfmelodrama." Mizoguchiisanidiot"
The1'JewYorkSun KenjiMizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi and the
Art ofJapanese Cinema

Kenji Mizoguchi and the
Art of Japanese Cinema
Tadao Sato
Translated by
Brij Tankha
Edited by
ArunaVasudev & Latika Padgaonkar
Oxford •NewYork
Thepublishergratefullyacknowledgesthe supportofJapan Foundation
andNETPAC inthe publicationofthis book.
EnglishEdition
Firstpublishedin2008 by
Berg
Editorialoffices:
1stFloor,AngelCourt, 81StClementsStreet,Oxford, 0X4 lAW,UK
175 FifthAvenue,NewYork, NY 10010,USA
Englishlanguagetranslation©NETPAC (Networkforthe Promotion
ofAsianCinema)2008
Originalwork©Tadao Sato, 1982. OriginallypublishedinJapanese
as TheWorldofKenjiMizoguchi byChikumaShobo PublishingCo. Ltd.,Tokyo
All rightsreserved.
No partofthis publicationmaybe reproducedinany form
or byany meanswithoutthe writtenpermissionofBerg.
Berg isthe imprintofOxfordInternationalPublishersLtd.
LibraryofCongressCataloguing-in-PublicationData
Sato,Tadao, 1930-
[MizoguchiKenji no sekai. English]
Kenji Mizoguchiandthe art ofJapanesecinema/Tadao Sato ;
translatedbyBrijTankha ;editedbyArunaVasudev&Latika
Padgaonkar.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesand index.
ISBN978-1-84788-231-8 (cloth)— ISBN978-1-84788-230-1
(pbk.) 1. Mizoguchi,Kenji, 1898-1956.2. Motionpicturepro
ducersanddirectors—Japan—Biography. 1.Vasudev,Aruna. II.
Padgaonkar,Latika. III.Title.
PN1998.3.M58S2813 2008
791.430233092—dc22 2008010839
BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData
A cataloguerecordforthis bookisavailable from the BritishLibrary.
ISBN978 184788231 8(Cloth)
ISBN978 184788 230 1(Paper)
TypesetbyAvocetTypeset, Chilton,Aylesbury, Bucks
Printedby the MPG Books Group in the UK
www.bergpublishers.com
Contents
Author's Note vii
Editors'Note ix
1 AnOriginal Spirit 1
2 EncounteringtheNewSchoolTheatre 15
3 From New SchoolTheatre to Naturalism-Realism 31
4 Social Realism 41
5 TheFateofMatinee Idols 55
6 ArtImitates Life 69
7 ThreeTraditionalArt Films{Geidomono) 77
8 A DifficultWoman 85
9 Recreating the Classics 97
10 TheLastWorks 131
11 The DialecticofCamera and Performance 143
12 Looking Up,LookingDown 163
ListofIllustrations 181
Mizoguchi's Filmography 183
ListofEnglish and OriginalTitles ofFilms ofOther Directors Cited
in the Book 187
Index 189

Author's Note
Between 1922 and 1956 Mizoguchi Kenji made eighty-six films. Among them,
LifeofOharu (1952), Ugetsu(1953),Sansho theBailiff(1954)aremasterpieces,
widely recognized as the finest expressions of the Asian aesthetic tradition.
However, there are many other powerful works as well that deal with the painful
experienceofpeoplecaught intheprocess ofmodernization ofJapanese society.
This book is an examination ofMizoguchi Kenji's films, but my main interest
was toevaluate the positionofhis work withinJapan's social and cultural history.
Ihaveoften been asked byforeigners interested inJapanese cinema: who among
thegreatdirectors,MizoguchiKenji,OzuYasujiroandKurosawaAkira,isthemost
faithfultoJapanesetradition,andwhohasbeenmostinfluencedbyWesternculture?
Tothis question myanswer has alwaysbeen that there has neverbeen a single,
pure Japanese culture. Because of the existence of a feudal hierarchy until the
middle ofthenineteenthcentury, Japaneseculture and itsethical and aesthetic sen
sibilitieswerevery differentfromwhatthey aretoday.Itwasaround thistimethat
the class system wasabolished andWesternizationand modernization began.The
two processes were integrated then and they remain fused even today. However,
when itcomes to subtle artistic expression, the continuing influence ofthe earlier
class culture on the artist is sharply revealed. Kurosawa Akira, who came from a
samurai family,expressedthesamurai ethical andaesthetictradition with skill;Ozu
Yasujiro,who belonged to a well-offmerchant family,though he himselfwas not
particularly rich, made films that are the finest expression of the petit bourgeois
culture created during Japan's modernization; Mizoguchi Kenji's brilliance lay in
transferring to the screen the style ofkabuki and the tradition ofJapanese dance,
bothproductsofthemerchantculture offeudal Japan. Finally,thename ofImamura
Shohei, the film-maker who learnt the most from the largest social class - the
farmers - must be mentioned. This is how these directors were linked to tradition
intheirown specialway,but each inhis own way struggled, underthe influenceof
Westernization, to create a modemsense ofselfandtransformthe individual.
I wrote a series ofbiographies ofthese directors from the perspective ofthis
relationship betweenJapanesefilms and Japanese culture.This book is one ofthe
series.Therefore,morethanthe usualsortofstudyoffilm, this isasocialandcul
turalhistory.This ismy critical method.
Tadao Sato