Best title

Ugetsu has the most beautiful title ever: "Tales of a Pale and Mysterious Moon After the Rain." I love how evocative that is. Another Japanese title I really adore is "The Sailor Who fell From Grace WIth the Sea." I've only read the novel by Yukio Mishima; I have not seen the movie with — egads! — Kris Kristofferson. Has anyone seen it? I am also very intrigued by the title of this new Brad Pitt movie "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." Are any film titles especially meaningful or poetic to you?

Visual Style

From commentary I’ve gathered that during the 30s Mizoguchi adhered rather strictly to a formal set of rules about filmmaking. One of these was to film each scene in a single shot. While that would have some clear advantages, it would also leave you at risk of creating a ponderous and sluggish movie. The task would be all the harder since they didn’t have zoom lens back then.

By the time of our movie, Mizoguchi had relaxed on his rules and expanded his camera toolkit. So while he still did mostly long takes and avoided close-ups and cut-away reaction shots, he was using cuts as internal punctuation in scenes.

What do you think of the visual style of this movie? And besides the camera work, what about the visual details? One thing I noticed is that we are not shown battle scenes between the armies. We see the fighters frequently, but mostly we see them looting and scrounging for food.

Mizoguchi as a Social Critic

Mizoguchi made quite a few movies in his life. The only other one I’ve seen is “Sansho the Bailiff” which was made a year after our film. It is a good film, but is rather rambling and doesn’t have quite the impact of the tightly focused and integrated “Ugetsu”. For at least a few years when he was younger, he moved in leftist circles and made at least one movie that offended the authorities. He is known for movies that focus on women and their suffering. On the other hand, at least in his latter years, he seemed to support traditional gender roles and, for instance, didn’t want women as filmmakers.

If you wanted to draw some broader conclusions from our movie, one would be that Mizoguchi is showing that women suffer worse in war. But do you think he draws our attention to the role the structure of society plays in this? I suspect that in his other films he generally doesn’t, but I would very much like to see more of them and find out.

A Commercial Consideration?

Mizoguchi reportedly wanted to have Tobei coldly and cynically advance his military career and forget about his suffering wife. But the studio baulked at the idea and talked Mizoguchi into having the two reconcile.

Since it was never made, we can have little idea how good Mizoguchi’s version would have been. But I have my doubts. There is that good scene in the brothel where, right before he finds his wife, Tobei is boasting about his skills and knowledge in warcraft. He namedrops many famous writers who he has never read, and he offers up as deep wisdom the shallowest ideas. Clearly this man would soon crash and burn in a culture of proudly professional warriors. Also, by having Tobei go back home with his wife, there is a more resonate parallel between the two couples, and particularly between the two men and what they have learned about themselves and their world.

Ghosts?

Have you listened to the commentary track by Tony Rayns? He suggests that instead of ghosts, Lady Wakasa and her servant are delusions that Genjuro has during a spell of madness. I had that same idea the first time I saw the film right at the scene where Lady Wakasa’s father’s helmet starts chanting. But I like that Mizoguchi doesn’t force our hand and allows us to see the Lady Wakasa interlude as either supernatural or madness.

Likewise, that wonderful scene with the boat in the fog is the most ghostly in the whole movie. But the other boat that appears out of the gloom carries a wounded man who takes a drink and then dies—not a ghost at all.

DAMN IT

I rented Yi-Yi!

I'll look for Ugetsu after work tonight. Bloody hell.

The Characters

The movie has four characters that we follow with differing degrees of attention. What do you think of the characters and the balance between them?

Ugetsu

Why don’t we start our discussion of “Ugetsu” with the broad what-did-you-think-of-the-movie question?

A few things that might be worth considering as background:

This movie came out in 1953 just after the restrictions of the U.S. occupation had been lifted. And prior to the American controls, the Japanese military government had long controlled the content of film. So there was a new freedom at this time. But there were also new commercial pressures. Mizoguchi was at a big studio that was releasing a feature film a week. Other studios were as well. And there were imports.

“Ugetsu” was made near the end of Mizoguchi’s long career. I gather that he had explored quite a few different styles of filmmaking over the years.

Japanese filmmakers were having some success internationally with movies that had historical settings, for instance, Kurosawa, but films set in contemporary Japan, such as those of Ozu, were not watched much abroad.

A Ghost Story, Perhaps?

Criterion should be applauded twice. First, they are bringing back important films that are otherwise unavailable, and second, they do their transfers to DVD with the highest standards and the greatest care. A wonderful example is their edition of Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu” which is deserving on both accounts.

This movie shows a smooth mastery of every facet of filmmaking. Mizoguchi pays close attention to endless details, but it is all on behalf of his well integrated and multi-layered story. If you are half as taken with this film as I am, you will want to watch it at least once more.