There are essentially four hugely influential and significant directors from Japanese cinema’s first half-century: Mikio Naruse, Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu, and Kenji Mizoguchi. Both Kurosawa and Ozu are easily the best known internationally; Naruse and Mizoguchi less so. Let’s focus … Continue reading “I, Yang Yuhuan, am not a Puppet” | The Empress Yang Kwei-Fei (1955)
I just don’t understand,’ mutters a woodcutter (Takashi Shimizu), and he shelters under the half-ruined eaves of the Rashomon gate with a priest (Minoru Chiaki) and a passer-by (Kichijiru Ueda). The woodcutter has just returned from a trial by the … Continue reading REVIEW: Rashomon (1950)
Readers should note that this essay substantially reveals the storyline of the film. When English-speaking audiences discovered Japanese cinema in the early 1950s, it was through a series of acclaimed period dramas including Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon and Kenji Mizoguchi’s The … Continue reading “Do you want me that much?” | Gate of Hell (1953)
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